Luthiers - how many hours?

[Simon Fay]

There's OCD and then there's me ... I spend about 160 hours for a basic guitar. Stuff that I can't seem to help myself from doing:

• fine sand my kerfing before installation
• spending at least a few hours per guitar getting the interior components immaculate before I "close the box and this is after I already spent a lot of time prepping the top, rim, and back
• polishing bridge pins, tuner bushings, etc ...

The little things really do add up. If I wanted to build a guitar on the level of fit and finish of your average Taylor/Martin, then I could shave off 60 hours or so. Also, some of my inefficiency is tied to my very small workshop. Larger shop allows you to switch tasks much easier.