$33 Mystery Body

[Ricky]

Just to build on the earlier comment regarding how the size affects the weight charged.
The process is called 'Volumetric Weight Calculation'.
All airfreight is based on an assumption that a certain size of package will weigh at least 1 kg.
Any package is measured and then the mimumum 'weight' calculated using a 'Divisor'.
Currently DHL use a divisor of 5000.

So, if a package measures 100cm x 50cm x 10cm then the calculation is
( 100 x 50 x 10 ) / 5000 = 10kg

That is the minimum you will be charged.

Sorry for the verbage but I worked for DHL for 20 years in this very area.

I guess it is worth knowing if you are considering sending fairly light items (keep the packaging small).

Cheers
Ricky

[fender3x]

I am very appreciative for all of the advice and counsel that I receive here, and don't much care which heading the build goes under. It was more a rumination than a serious question. I have some nut blanks, some knobs and a few pots. Those are clearly parts and not a build. When I got a neck, that was probably still not a build. Probably still just parts. But a neck is closer to a build than a nut blank.

On my last build I got the body from the Fretwire, and it was the only thing I acquired from them. A body is not much closer to a build than a neck, yet they posted pics of the bass I made from their body as one of "their builds" So maybe the quintessential part of build is the acquisition of the body? Or maybe parts are parts, but a neck only shows intention and a body shows that you have begun?

When do parts become a build? I figured it was a non-PB build, but it made me wonder where the line was. I, too, feel that a PB neck does not make it a PB build. But I don't feel it's quite rational. My satisfaction with the product usually has more to do with the neck than with anything else. It's also where most of the setup time and effort goes. So why does the body feel more like it's where the build begins? I realized when I dry-fit the neck with the body and decided "I am keeping this body" that the build had begun. Whose build is it? All we know is that it is a mating PB and obscure Sino-NewJersyian parentage....

[Simon Barden]

Whereas Amazon work on the reverse principle and use the largest packaging they can find to send the smallest items.

[fender3x]

Whereas Amazon work on the reverse principle and use the largest packaging they can find to send the smallest items.

My wife is an environmental engineer and the incredible size of Amazon boxes for small, nearly worthless items drives her, as they say in German, "Ganz aus dem Häuschen." Fortunately this was from an eBay seller and the packing was minimal. There are even a couple of dents to prove it.

Ricky's explanation for the weight calculation is interesting, and would certainly explain the weight discrepancy between what FedEx showed on their website and what the package actually weighed. Another mystery solved!

[McCreed]

I think most of us come into the site and sort by 'New Posts' so it doesn't really matter where it is in the forum to get traffic.

That's almost worthy of a poll in another forum!
I am definitely a "New Posts" guy.

[jugglindan]

This has taken an oddly philosophical turn. If I replace the tuners, pickups, or bridge on my guitar, is it the same guitar? What if I repaint it? What about replacing the neck? Or replacing the body but keeping everything else? At what point does it become a different guitar?

As for new posts, I like the condensed view that the forum home page gives of new posts, but it fails when there is more than one page.

[McCreed]

When is a build not a build??? I guess it's a fine line that is open to interpretation.

To me, a "build" is when it begins with at least an unfinished body.
To others it may be buying a finished neck and separate finished body (say a Warmoth body and Fender neck) and adding the hardware.

Starting with an unfinished body means there will be sanding & shaping involved, preparation for finishing, and then finishing followed by all the assembly/set up etc. If you add an unfinished neck to the mix, all the above applies plus likely fret work, possibly even re-fret or re-radius work.

That, to me, is a fairly comprehensive process which is beyond what I would just consider "mods" and therefore worthy of the "build" moniker.

Of course with a "scratch build", there is no question...

[fender3x]

I made a couple of discoveries.

I told the seller that I was keeping the body, but that I was not 100% happy. It was badly packed which resulted in some dents. It was also not "maple"...which I told them was fine with me, but they might have happier campers if they told people t he body was paulownia, which is getting more popular and for which the body was competitively priced. This would be better, I thought than to continue claiming that it is maple. I didn't ask them for anything, and I also told them I was not going to leave bad Their response was to give me an additional $3 off the price. That brings it to under $30 with shipping. Discovery one is that you should always tell an ebay seller if you are not 100% happy. I have made this discovery before, but for all the times I have been disappointed by the sellers response, I think there have been at least half again as many where I was pleasantly surprised.

Another discovery is that the old wet-rag-and-iron trick really does remove dents. There were a couple of pretty good sized dents in this thing, and I did not really think this would work. It did work, and amazingly well. Even on one that I thought might be a gouge. The only place it did not work may actually be nick from round-over routing that I am pretty sure I can sand out.

The third discovery, that will surprise no one, buying a finished paulownia body from Guitar Fetish for $54 US would have been cheaper if I had factored in the cost of the finish. I have already spent over $40 on dye stain and pore filler...and that's only enough if the top coat I have on hand will be sufficient, and my stock of sandpaper holds out. I am not sorry about that, but their can't be a completely rational reason why I am not sorry... which is probably the fourth discovery.

[jugglindan]

The third discovery, that will surprise no one, buying a finished paulownia body from Guitar Fetish for $54 US would have been cheaper if I had factored in the cost of the finish. I have already spent over $40 on dye stain and pore filler...and that's only enough if the top coat I have on hand will be sufficient, and my stock of sandpaper holds out. I am not sorry about that, but their can't be a completely rational reason why I am not sorry... which is probably the fourth discovery.

Effort Justification:

people sometimes come to love what they suffer to achieve

[fender3x]

Effort Justification:

people sometimes come to love what they suffer to achieve

I have no doubt that is part of it.