Questions / comments about Electric instruments

[Nelson Instruments]

Those Socialites are growing on me....

A couple of questions:

What woods do you use? Do you use reclaimed woods at all?

Also, are you able or willing to do custom projects? Imthinking e.g. longer-scale 24-fret neck, a baritone, that kind of thing.

For necks I use hard maple. I generally do either 2 or 3 piece necks and the grain is as close to quarter sawn as I can get it.
For the fingerboards I had been using Wenge because I like the darker color. The only problem I have found with it is that it has fairly large pores so when doing inlays it can be tricky to get everything clean.
The basses were the first instruments were I tried Padauk for fingerboards and I must say I LOVE it. I love the brick red color and it works really well.
For the "wings" of the bodies I usually use basswood because it is light weight and is strong enough to withstand the rigors of playing. On the shaded socialite pictured above I used Cherry for the body wings because it has more pronounced grain than basswood. The amber natural bass as pictured on my website has basswood wings and I think the grain came through well enough that unless someone wanted a different wood, I would just stick with that.

I don't really get into doing one-off things. I might end up, at some point, releasing baritone and 12-string versions of the coquette, Socialite, and Attache but until then I wouldn't build them.
My vision is keeping prices low. One of the ways that I am able to price my instruments so reasonably is that I jig up once. After I build all of the jigs then building multiple instruments is the easy part. Jigging up takes a LOT of time and work. So were I to go through the hassle to jig up to make one guitar I would have to charge the same amount that I would potentially be making to make as many guitars as I could make in that time.
I hope that makes sense. With the "plan 9" guitars that will be coming out late spring they are going to be somewhat modular in construction. So the Bodies and necks can be paired when an order for something comes in, and then I just have to attach the correct neck and drill the holes for the bridge in the right place.
On the current electrics it is unfortunately not nearly that simple. It would take a lot of pattern making, jigging, and design work to make changes like that.
that isn't to say that it won't happen though. Just not that this moment.

[Nelson Instruments]

Sorry if this is asked already in your forum but have you ever done an electric in the same style finish as the acoustics? I love that natural aged/distressed/reclaimed look of the wood, it's loverly.

I am guessing that you are referring to the "shaded" finish on the acoustics. The look you are talking about has to do with how the color is applied. Instead of spraying shaded lacquer, I apply the color by hand by rubbing dyes directly into the wood. That is what gives it that warm/rich look.

[Ryan]

Right on, it looks really good. One could have that on an electric model? (I don't know anything about wood or finishes, sorry if these are dumb questions)

[Nelson Instruments]

Not a dumb question at all! If you look at the Coquette and Socialite models, the Shaded finish basically the same thing except the colors are lighter. I could easily put that color on an electric. The only thing to keep in mind is that dye doesn't soak into maple or cherry evenly so sometimes it can look a tad uneven. Cherry doesn't take dye evenly either. I would imagine that basswood would accept it well.
However you might like the look of it being slightly uneven as it would lend to the rustic vibe. That is the way sunbursts were applied before lacquer and spray equipment came onto the scene.

[Ryan]

Right on, Bobby, thanks for the info!

[Nelson Instruments]

You are welcome! Always happy to answer any questions that might be rattling around in your brain! =-)

[ifeellikeatourist]

Would you consider doing a run of coquettes/socialites without pickguards? Or would that require you to route the body totally differently? I generally hate pickguard-less guitars, but I think these guitars, with the neck thru construction and all, might look really cool with a natural finish and no pickguard.

[Nelson Instruments]

I like the idea and agree that it would be neat to show off the center stripe, however the pickups need to be set into the body and to ditch the guard would require a total reworking of the routes for the pickups and wiring.
plus there would still be some kind of guard to mount the controls to. Otherwise the controls would be loaded from the rear in a control cavity with a cover.
I like the simplicity involved with attaching everything to the guard and just attaching it to the guitar.
But you're thinking and I like that. I am thinking of building one bass VI this summer in either the coquette or socialite, or a hybrid of them. Might be a fun instrument!

[ifeellikeatourist]

I can't believe I haven't asked this yet, but would a maple fretboard be a possibility on the electrics?

I've gotten the drift that you want to stay away from custom stuff that can't easily be substituted/tweaked during the normal production process, but I don't necessarily know enough about the production process to determine what would or wouldn't be an easy change. So, sorry if we keep bugging you with these questions about custom stuff. I know you do maple necks, so I thought maybe it would be possible? Or is it more complicated than that?

I'm a maple fretboard Tele guy, and while I was oogling over the coquette earlier today--I do that about once a day--I was thinking a maple fretboard is about the only thing that could make it sexier.

[Nelson Instruments]

Different fingerboards are easily done! If it is a specialty wood (for example I am building an ft-27 acoustic for someone right now and they wanted a certain rosewood) you pay the extra for what it costs to buy and ship to me.
Maple is something I keep on hand.
As a matter of fact I have an order coming in for a Coquette bass in baby blue with a maple board, white knobs, white pickups, white headstock veneer, and the logo will be painted white instead of black.
It is gonna be swanky!
So yes maple fingerboard is possible.
The only reason I am not a fan of them is that you have to lacquer the board and frets, which makes it a pain to refret later on.
But that is not my concern so if ya wants it you can have it.
What color would you want with that maple board?
I still have a little room in the spring/summer production schedule if you decide to order one.
Down payment for orders is $500.

[ifeellikeatourist]

I would love to see how that baby blue coquette looks! I would either be interested in baby blue or seafoam green if I was ordering a custom coquette. They look great with the standard fingerboards, but I would especially dig maple with those colors.

I have decided that my next guitar will almost definitely be a Nelson; however, I don't think I'll be ready to buy another guitar right away as my wife and I just bought our first house and I'm on a little bit of a gear buying freeze for the time being. The worst part is that I am interested in both an acoustic and an electric, and I can't decide which one I would like to get first! Hopefully sometime within the next two years I will be able to get one of them. Until then ill just be drooling over your website every day...

[bigchiefbc]

I don't suppose you have any future plans to offer a bass with the Socialite body style do you? Because I think that would look pretty fucking awesome.

[Nelson Instruments]

So funny thing. I have a baby blue Coquette hanging in my basement waiting for hardware. If I can sell the last 3 attaches and the last bass I will be able to put hardware on them.
I have baby blue, teal green, amber natural, walnut brown, and lipstick red Coquettes, and I have red, teal, and blue socialites.

Regarding the Socialite bass, it is possible but the balance point would move causing it to be neck heavy.
I could do a compromise and have the upper horn be the coquette with the lower horn from the socialite. That way you could have access to the highest frets while keeping the balance point where it needs to be.
However if you don't care if the bass is neck heavy we could just do the socialite body shape and be done with it. =-)

[bigchiefbc]

Regarding the Socialite bass, it is possible but the balance point would move causing it to be neck heavy.
I could do a compromise and have the upper horn be the coquette with the lower horn from the socialite. That way you could have access to the highest frets while keeping the balance point where it needs to be.
However if you don't care if the bass is neck heavy we could just do the socialite body shape and be done with it. =-)

Sweet, I think it would like pretty cool with the coquette upper horn actually. Man, once my wife gets back to work, I'll give it a bit more thought...

[Nelson Instruments]

Right on! It would indeed be a fun project! Keep me posted! Oh and I hope your wife is able to find work. It's tough out there!