I'm not going to argue either position, but rather argue that it depends on your skill and proficiency with tools. *I*, as a moderately competent woodworker who happens to not have access to a fully equipped shop, would end up buying the following just to get started (with my off-the-cuff guess on cost):
1. a jointer (~$600) 2. a planer (~$500) 3. a bandsaw (~$500) 4. a router (~$150) 5. a table saw (~$500) 6. a pile of hand tools (~$1000) etc… (7. Almost forgot, a space to put all this in. I'd have to rent some space for a few hundred a month.) Start adding those up, and even if I'm buying just average-grade tools, we're talking some pretty serious money (at least for me), probably about the cost of a decent instrument before I've even started. ($3250 is the total I get there, and I suspect I'm seriously undercounting here since I've not factored in a lathe or other things I consider essential.) Now somebody else, more proficient than I am, will look at that list and tell me I don’t need 1-5 (or a lathe) because you can do it without them. That's certainly true, if by “you” they mean somebody other than me, somebody with the skill and knowledge to use those tools. I know professional makers of hurdy-gurdies who use primarily hand tools (one, in particular, whom I know seems to have a hand drill—used in truing wheels—a drill press, and not much else besides planes and hand saws). So you can do it, if you have the skills to work with a particular tool set. But that's not me, so high cost in tools is the only model that would work for me. If you already have the tools (power or hand), however, and are proficient in their use, then your cost will be your time (which certainly has a value) and in your materials. Maybe you'll be really good and get everything right the first time, but if you're like me, you'll end up making three or four of everything and eat up a lot of wood and time before you get to what you want. So that's a lot of time and money right there. I think this seeming conflict of opinion comes because we are all in different situations. We have different goals for what we want. We have different amounts of time. We place different value on money. Some of us greatly value making things ourselves and others do not. So what seems a daunting prospect for one will be really quite a low bar for another. My guess is that if you want to produce a top-grade instrument, and that is your primary goal, the naysayers are probably right: you'll spend more to do it than you'd spend to buy one. On the other hand, if your primary goal is the satisfaction of making something yourself and you have the time and the ability, you can come out under cost on each instrument, but you'll probably have to make four or five before you end up with a really good instrument. (There are exceptions, of course: some of you are probably so talented you could do it on your first try, but I've also seen a number of first gurdies, and I have yet to see one in person that wasn't plagued with problems.) So if there is this dichotomy of opinion, I think it because we all view the equation from our own inputs and there is no single correct answer. -Arle On Oct 26, 2011, at 02:00 , Steven Tucker wrote: > So this discussion seems to have boiled down to two camps, those who say it's > possible to make a good instrument for a low cost by spending enough time on > the project, and those who say it's impossible to make any instrument without > spending more money than buying a professionally made one. > > So those of you who say it'll cost you more to build one than buy one, where > are your numbers? What exactly is it that is going to cost more money? I'm > seriously interested in specifically what you are thinking the money will go > towards. Do you truly believe you can't build a good sounding instrument > without spending thousands of dollars on exotic hard woods (and therefore a > beginner will ruin more expensive wood than a new instrument will cost.) Or > do you believe that only a $600 block plane will make the proper top for a > good sounding instrument? > > Lets have some specifics, not just a generalized "it'll cost more" statement. > > -Steve > > On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 10:27 PM, Kazimierz Verkmastare <[email protected]> wrote > > [snip]. . . > > It is a project done for enjoyment, and because I am wasting resources as I > am building knowledge, it is NOT going to be significantly more economical > than if I had commissioned it. ... that it will end up expensive (the cost is > truly inversely proportional to your skill and resources), > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "hurdygurdy" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy > > The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at > http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new > subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
