Collaboration idea

[Oby]

Hi all,
I have an idea for a project which originally I was going to tackle on my own but the idea has grown into something much bigger. The idea is to build a handful of one-off custom guitars using timber recovered from some of the places around Australia affected by the bush fires. Then raffle/auction these guitars to raise money for the various volunteer fire fighting services in each of the states.
I can handle bodies no problem but necks and fret work are out of my league so I'd be limited to off-the-shelf necks if I did this on my own.
Anyone interested in collaborating on a project like this?

[FrankenWashie]

I’d be happy to participate, provided the mechanism for sale, the intended charity and the scope and timeframe of commitment were clear.

[Hardcoretroubadour]

I'm happy to assist with a build, but probably not up to scratch building necks. I'm based in brissie. I have a mate with a fractal burner that can give some cool effects for neck and body.

[Oby]

Thanks guys. Glad I'm not the only one interested.
FrankenWashie makes a good point. Mechanisms for sale, etc. Everything needs to be completely transparent of course.
It's still an "idea under construction". I wanted to know if others would be interested in helping with the builds before I start approaching people who can assist with the other stuff like sales/auctions/whatever. Plus I need to wait for some of my firefighting friends to have a break from fighting fires before I ask them about sourcing timber.
Also need to figure out who gets the proceeds. There's hundreds of individual fire stations and local units so helping them all will be spreading thing too thin. Maybe if we do one for each state/territory and donate the proceeds to whatever organisation is responsible for the volunteer services in that state/territory.
Getting publicity shouldn't be too hard. TV journalists are so lazy these days we can write the "news" article for them.
Lots of ducks need to line up before we start firing any shots. As they taught me many years ago in the Army Reserves... prior preparation and planning prevents p^^^poor performance.

[Oby]

Still working out some details. I'm open to other suggestions of course.
1. I contacted Adam and he has kindly offered to assist with some discounts for kits/parts if required. Once I know more I'll discuss it further with him.
2. It's up to each builder how much they want to spend on parts, etc. I suggest we keep things reasonably equal but if somebody wants to throw a special upgraded bridge or some other expensive part into the build that's their choice.
3. When I have something to show I'm planning on contacting some TV shows like The Project and/or some breakfast shows and see if they can help promote.
4. I think an auction for each guitar is the way to go. Trying to sell them for fixed price doesn't seem to work in my head. Correct me if I'm wrong. Ebay would be the easiest option but I don't know if there are better option for charity or fund raising. I'm still looking into that. Also have to find out how to make it transparent like using an escrow or whatever. Preferably some service that charges little or no fees. We're not raising money for lawyers and bankers.
5. I'm unsure whether all the proceeds should be split equally or whether each guitar gets matched to one of the state/territories and then luck will decide how much each of them gets. Another thing I need to check into is whether there is a national body more appropriate instead of individual state/territories. I know we don't have a dedicated national fire service but there might be a national group that represents the volunteers.
That's all for now.

[dave.king1]

Have a look at Everyday Hero, I used it a few years ago and it worked well.

We did a group Movember thing and to join the Movember group you had to donate to an Everyday Hero that I set up with all donations there going to Beyond Blue.

Raised about $500.00 for BB and close to $5K for Movember

[Oby]

Thanks for the suggestion about Everyday Hero. I've been checking out their web site and maybe I'm not looking in the right place. It looks like I have to pay a few hundred bucks to start an account. I'm still searching their site to see if there is another channel set up for what we're doing.

[Andy40]

If FrankenWashies in then I can assist too.

I don't have much in relation to wood working tools but I can custom wind pick ups.

I can also assist with any electronics on the guitars and general building assistance if required.

[Oby]

Thanks Andy that makes 4 of us so far.

[Oby]

I've been talking to a few people about promotions and also spoke to somebody who volunteers in Tassie. Getting a better idea of what they need and it's starting to feel more than a little ambitious. At a national level if somebody dropped $1 million in their hands they'd say thanks but really it doesn't make much difference. The sort of funding they need can only really come from government.
All the fund raising seems to be concentrated at the local level like individual volunteer brigades might raise money for their fire station or their area. Even at the state level it seems to be up to government to give them the money they need.

So I'm always open to suggestions but I'm thinking it might be better to try and raise money for our local brigades wherever they happen to be. Or pick one you like. The math just doesn't seem to work otherwise.
I have no idea how much we can get for a hand-built custom one-off guitar at auction. FrankenWashie can probably get $5k or more for some of the work I've seen him do. That's almost pointless when you spread across an entire state/territory but it would be a huge deal to a local volunteer brigade.