My dream finally coming true...

[mrkrishna]

Here is the original post I made hoping for comments. Only Mastersound said anything, so I hoped that maybe it was just that no one read it.....After 20 years of dreaming about a very particular #body style,I am going to be starting up a limited production emando factory sometime in the next two years.I have already spent almost a solid year doing the research, and spending money buying some of the tools, and a lot of flame maple, so have come a long way towards this goal. The factory will be up here in northern British Columbia (Google Prince George BC). I am right now working on #both a 4 and 5
string bridge/tailpiece combo that I will either be casting, or milling from solid stock (then nickle plating) Also,I will be making both 4 and 5 pole stacked humbucking pickups. (Both of these #products will be for sale at some point.) I have never been fond of the lack of space that an emando with 2 humbucking pickups have, so that is why the stacked pickup.(it's the same size as a single coil).The mandos will be 4, 5, and 8 string, and I might only offer them with a 14.5 inch scale. At #least that is the way I am thinking right now (unless talked out of it). # I was sick of using 'guitar' parts for my emandos, and I know #others on this site #agree. After many conversations on this site, I made the decision to actually make them myself. Just these two things are going to cost me about 6 months time and effort, and lets not talk about how much this is going to cost! # I am planning on having the pickups and tailpiece/bridges in hand before the 1st prototypes are built... #I am researching casting (in all the different forms) right now, and trying to figure out which metal to use...(I am leaning towards brass, but aluminum is much easier to work with.maybe just the prototype bridge out of aluminum?). I am also becoming much better at blueprint reading.Also, I have 3 or 4 mentors lined up to help with all the different aspects of this very large project, including one guy who has set up 3 small instrument factories that are still running. I hope to have a question sheet(maybe to be posted on this site) ready for emando players sometime in the next 2 months that will help me make some critical decisions.I have already had lots of help on this from the many Luthiers and players on this site. I am not planning to get rich, and am taking #precautions so that I wont be going bankrupt in the next 10 years. #Please wish me God's blessing in this endevor/obsession, and any words of encouragement or suggestions would be welcome. Kerry K

[mandolooter]

GOODLUCK bro...maybe i'll get up that way this summer!

[leonardbakers]

Kerry,

Best of luck in your endeavor.

I'd sure be interested in a 5-pole pick-up and one of your tailpieces when you have your business up-and-running.

Leonard B. Akers

[mrkrishna]

If it was possible, I would have 60 or 80 bridges finished, as well as 50 each of the bridge and neck pickups built. HUGE outlay of cash. I'm going to be doing everything in a pretty organized way, so maybe 2 dozen pickups and 20 of each of the bridges. It's a very large learning curve on this, but with a little help from my friends...Kerry

[PaulD]

Kerry; my two cents...

I wouldn't recommend building up a large inventory of a particular inventory item unless you have already determined the demand for that item, maybe through pre-sales or a market survey. Rather than stocking up on inventory you may be better off putting time and money into your facilities and relationships so you can produce inventory "on demand." You may put time and money into pickups only to find that completed emandos are where the demand is, in which case having your money tied up in the pickup inventory could choke your cash flow. Conversely, you may put your resources into mando bodies and hardware only to find out you need to have more pickups to sell to other builders. Cash flow problems are a common killer of small businesses, but the ability to quickly react to market demands can be a real strength.

You may even consider contracting the casting and machine work and focussing on running the business and winding coils until you figure out where it's going. It would suck to put money into foundry equipment only to find out you're better off machining from billets rather than casting. If the business takes off you can always buy the machines and equipment to bring this part of the business in-house.

It looks like you've already been working on the supply chain relationships, which is good, and it looks like you've done quite a bit of homework and found some good mentors. It sounds like you've got a market niche that is currently unfilled. I'm sure you'll take my "two cents" with a grain of salt, as you should, but I hope it gives you something useful to chew on. Best of luck... I'm sure you'll let us all know how it goes.

Paul Doubek

[mrkrishna]

I want a 'whole bunch' of two cents worth. I took a small business course few years ago, and will be taking a local one soon that will entitle me to a chunk of gov. funding. I plan on having most of the tools paid for before production starts, so I won't have to worry about going bankrupt. Just so you know, the biggest problem I am having right now, is the design and construction of the bridge. Untill I have at least a prototype in my hand, I will have a hard time(Verry!) building the 1st of the benchtop prototype bodies. It dictates the break angle for the neck so... that, and the pickups are the biggest design problems . I would love to get them in hand,in the #s I mentioned, so I won't have to think about it again for a few years.I'm certainly not planning to buy all the wood I'll be needing for the 1st 40 axes, but most of the rest of my plan seems to be workable.There is someone here in town that has a fully equiped Luthier's shop. I may be able to use his shop to build the 1st 3 or 4 if I have those parts, and just can't wait...Man, all of the problems that I have had with this project over the last year are just making me smile more at the thought of having just 1 in my hot little hands.

[mrkrishna]

I was talking to one of the guys that will be helping me on this project on Sat. #We agreed that even if I had 100 grand #in hand right now to do everything, I STILL would not be able to move up the forcasted date. My problems will take brainwork, not cash to solve....Kerry

[fred d]

best of luck my friend It takes a lot of guts to try something new and I for one have a lot of respect for you so much so if the price is right I,ll buy a couple I also started a different Idea for a product but alas I was 5 years early for the demand (primitive archery gear) and my wife devorsed me and I went crazy 20 yr married but I for one have the greatest admiration for those with the #### to try things GOD SPEED

[mrkrishna]

464 views and only 4 posts not by me. When I first came to the board, something like this happened too... I really need input on this project, and if I can't get it here......Kerry K

[Tom C]

Well, we're just a bunch of acoustic idiots here who have no business sense. After all, we all buy instruments we can't afford only to sell them and buy even nicer ones we can't afford. If you can't get you info here we won't be affended we you look on the thousands of other sites that exist on this planet. Maybe try Emando.com. Those guys probably have the holes in the wall where lightning comes from.

[mrkrishna]

Emando . com seems to be tied at the hip to this place. Am I wrong?...

[Chris Baird]

Kerry, I am interested in your project. Lay out some of your problems and we can discuss them. As of yet I really don't see much to give input on. I personally would be in the market for some good emando hardware.

[mrkrishna]

I have already receieved several inquiries from both builders and at least #one dealer, and someone looking at import rights for the States.(That was a cool email. Made me feel like an #real entrepenure) I am getting the question sheet ready to be posted. At this point in such a large project(this is the biggest one for me), #I still don't have all the questions ready...I did not think I had posted this whole thing too soon.... Kerry

[mandroid]

a centrifical [spinning] casting machine works great for wax investment casting, the detail that can be put into the finished piece is incredible.
a hard mould for pouring the wax investment only needs to be made once.

[delsbrother]

Put me in for a five pole pickup/bridge!

[mrkrishna]

Anyone else?

[Magnus Geijer]

I have three solidbody electrics in various stages of non-completion. I might very well be interested in bridges/pickups, if the price is right. Probably leaning more toward 4-string than 5.

/Magnus

[leonardbakers]

Kerry,

How 'bout a tremelo tailpiece and rocker bridge to match? A stacked humbucker pick-up to help out with the available top-space crunch would be nice too.

Leonard B. Akers

[sledge]

Steve Ryder sells mandolin pick-ups in single-coil, stacked humbucker and humbucker models.

http://www.sjryder.com/pickups.htm

sledge

[mrkrishna]

I've known about that site since I started doing research on this project. His work is terrific, and he has a great rep here on the site, but I can't afford to be spending 200.US on pickups for every axe I build. I'm doing a lot of reading up on this, and it looks like, for maybe under a grand,I'll be able to start winding my own. For me, it's the learning curve time, not the initial price of startup of this section of my project that's the problem. I seem to be spending hours everyday on the internet getting details nailed down.Kerry K