Do you need to be able to play an instrument before you can make one?

Personally I think it helps but I’ve heard of a lot of builders that don’t play at all. Leo Fender was probably the most prolific guitar designer ever (Fender, Music Man, G&L) and he didn’t play at all. One thing to consider is there are so many playing styles. Just because you play doesn’t mean your experience will have any relevance to the customer’s needs/desires. That being said I play myself and can’t really imagine building anything that I don’t have at least some kind of passing interest in using.


How long have you been doing this and how did you get to where you are today?

I started building in 2003 at the Roberto Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, AZ. From there I apprenticed at the First Act Custom Shop in Boston, MA. I’m back in Northern California building part-time as a serious hobby.




Do you make acoustic guitars as well?

I was trained to and built an acoustic guitar at school. I’ve been slowly refining a new acoustic design for the past 4 years and hope to build one in the next year or so. Building acoustics requires some addition large tools/jigs that I haven’t had the room, time, or money to deal with yet. For the past few years I’ve really focused on 6-string electric guitars although I have aspirations to build many types of stringed instrument in the future.




How does construction affect play?

You can setup almost any guitar to play decently, but construction wise on a custom guitar there’s a lot you can do. When you think about the way an electric instrument plays the neck is the main element. The body plays a smaller part being a holder for the electric parts, bridge and controls. It also needs to be comfortable, hold the strap buttons in the correct location, and be styled in a way that impresses the customer. The neck on the other hand has many important features/elements to be customized for each instrument. A few of the main ones are neck width, thickness, carve style ( C, D, V, etc), fingerboard radius, fret size/material, and fingerboard/fret end treatment. I do all of this by hand. I’ve used the same rasp and file for every neck I’ve ever carved.


Can you give us a quick run down of the steps of construction?

I actually did a full write-up on the overall Project Process a while back but the piece never got used. I put it up as a scrap so everyone can check it out.

[link]

As far as the physical construction goes the very broad strokes are Raw Lumber, Dimensioning, Glue-Ups, Profiling/Shaping, Final Sanding, then Finishing. There are a few luthiery specific processes mixed in there like fretting, neck carving, electronics, etc.


How difficult is it to do the carving on your Carved Topped Wenge SF3 Guitar?



Wenge is an especially hard wood but otherwise it’s basically the same steps as one of my normal carve tops. I haven’t got around to doing a write-up yet but there’s a step-by-step progression using photos on my website here:
[link]


When will we see the next piece of your Inspiration series and what inspires this series?

The next in the Inspiration Series will most likely be a Rickenbacker/Mosrite Ventures hybrid guitar done in my style. Like everything I do the Inspiration Series is pretty open. I’m a fan of a lot of weird stringed instruments and over time I’ll try to work those elements into my overall design scheme to help keep things fresh. As far as where ideas come from, my brain works like the ocean on drift wood. I never sit up in the middle of the night and have a 'Eureka' moment (well, not often). Most of my ideas come in slow and evolve over either the course of a few design drafts (over months or years) or the course of a few instruments. Other than the body shape silhouettes pretty much everything has been a solution to a problem or challenge I've come up with. Everything has the idea of evolution or progression behind it... always growing and refining.




What kind of finishes do you use and are there any advantages to them?

The two main finishes I offer are gloss polyester and natural oil/wax. After years of struggling I’ve finally started outsourcing my gloss finish work. I’ve found for a relatively small percentage of the instrument’s selling price I can pay someone else to do the finish work and save myself a considerable amount of time to spend on parts of the process I actually enjoy. The oil finishes are carefully done in my shop (flammable rags) and are a lot of fun for me personally. As far as the finished product goes I like both. Some people prefer to feel the raw/oil/wax wood under their hands, some people like the high gloss. As long as the instrument is well maintained and kept clean I’m happy with either.



Do you do the photography?



I do all my own instrument photography (and some for fun, see ~stenchcroft ). There are a few details about my setup at the Project Process link above but my setup has changed slightly since then. I’ve started using a DSLR and hanging the instruments for better full length straight-on shots. The main issue with lighting anything 3D and super glossy is controlling reflections. The alignment of the camera, the item, and the lights all come into play along with a hundred other things. Some key details I’ve collected over the years are thinking about the direction of the light in relation to the instrument, keeping it clean of smudges and dust, aligning the hardware (tuning keys) for consistency, and using light/shadows to highlight key features (carved tops, contours, etc).



What marketing strategies have worked for you?


You could make the best [anything] in the world but unless people know about it the [anything] is just going to sit there. I would say the best marketing you can do is treat the customers you have managed to collect as well as possible and make them happy. I’ve paid for two listings in guitar magazine buyer’s guides (2004 and 2007). Both were handled pretty poorly by their info collection/print people so that's probably the end of paid and print advertising for me. Almost everything has been word of mouth and setting up a nice website with lots of photos for people to enjoy. Now that my website is pretty well established and I have a good few customers out there playing my instruments and spreading the word, I've got a lot of referral and even some repeat business this way.



Do you belong to any organizations and what benefits are there?

I was a member of ASIA (Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans) and The Guild of American Luthiers for a while but didn’t see any advantages other than getting a few infrequent magazines. I didn’t have any money when my membership renewal came up so I let them expire. I’d like to join NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) someday but I think it’s most likely cost prohibitive for such a small builder.



What could be the best thing that could happen for Scott French Guitars in the next few years?

I don't know about this one... I'd say more orders but I've already turned down a lot of work in the last 6 months. I'd say more money per guitar but I've been raising my prices fairly steadily for the past few years and will continue to do so. If I could learn to work quickly and efficiently in the shop (and more often) that would be great, but I doubt it will change. The best thing that could happen to me personally would be to find a nice design job at a large guitar company so I could get some of my stuff out to a wider audience for less money per instrument. I've had my eye out for something like that and will probably try to make it happen at 2008 winter NAMM.


How do you measure your own success?

My main goal for a long time has been to own a house or commercial building zoned for living so I would have a place to work on my guitar projects, cars, keep my dogs, etc. It become pretty obvious with California prices and the little money I make with building that its not really possible. I guess the whole thing has been a failure if you think about it in life supporting role. As a hobby/art form I don't know how to measure success. I'm never completely happy with anything I finish and always have 25 ideas for everything 1 thing I have the time/money to build. On an instrument to instrument, customer to customer basis I think I've always done what needed to be done to make sure they are happy. The fact that my instruments are out there being used to make music makes me feel pretty successful, and even people without the money or desire to own a custom guitar seem to like my design and craftsmanship so thats another success. I think finding balance might be the final goal... where I can use these skills to actually make enough money to support the lifestyle I want to have. It may take a whole lifetime so who knows.


Thanks,
Scott French



*Scott-French

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Deviant of Many Talents
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Deviant since Jun 30, 2005, 12:58 AM

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//*cl2007