Luthier's Resource: OEMs & Suppliers

BTL

BTL

Commercial User
Sep 26, 2006
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Odessa, FL
Disclosures
Brad Lowe, Lowe Custom Guitars
#1
This thread is for builders who are looking for specific items or vendors that can provide parts or services with minimum order quantities that are in line with what forum members are likely to be able to meet and/or need.

Some of these may be wholesale and/or OEM-type vendors, so you may need to have a registered "fictitious name" for your business and/or a resale/sales tax certificate from your state in order to get the best possible pricing.

I will continue to update the list as we go. These are all US-based vendors unless otherwise noted.

CNC Neck & Body OEMS:
Sound Guitar Works Sound Guitar Works
Alloy Guitars Alloy Guitars USA – Custom Guitar Bodies, Necks & DIY Guitar Kits
NC Solutions NC Solutions
NextGen Guitars (Canada) Parts for Amps, Guitars, Pedals, and Pickups - Next Gen Musical Ltd.

Neck & Body Blank OEMs:
American Specialty Hardwoods American Specialty Hardwoods - Music Woods, Tonewoods, Billets, and Gunstock Supplier.

Metal Working:
Send Cut Send SendCutSend | Online Laser Cutting and Waterjet Cutting
Merlin5 CNC Products Custom Guitar Parts Made in the USA
Armadillo Guitar Armadillo Guitar
ETS Hardware (Germany) Home

CNC Bone Nuts:
Merlin5 CNC Products Custom Guitar Parts Made in the USA

3D Printing:
Hubs Manufacturing Hubs | On-demand Manufacturing: Quotes in Seconds, Parts in Days

Painters:
Wilkins Guitars - Poly https://www.wilkinsguitars.com/
Moe Colors - Poly Moe Colors Moe Colors Facebook
Starr Guitars - Nitro Starr Guitars, LLC

Parts & Hardware:
Allparts Allparts® - Guitar and Bass Parts Supplier
WD Music WD Music Products, Inc.
CE Distribution CE Distribution
Advanced Plating Advanced Plating Inc.

Electronic Components:
Heilind Electronics https://www.heilind.com/
Jameco Electronics https://www.jameco.com/
Digi-Key www.digikey.com/

Chrome Plating:
Advanced Plating Advanced Plating Inc.
Van Nuys Plating VanNuysPlating.com

Headstock Logos:
D T Metronic (Germany) Inlets
Scary Creative Scary Creative | Just another WordPress site

Lumber Suppliers:
Keim Lumber Keim Lumber
Woodcraft Woodcraft
Secret Stash Hardwoods Secret Stash Hardwoods
Mayan Hardwoods Mayan Hardwood Inc. – Classic Wood Lumber Supplier

Nitro Lacquer:
Gracey’s Graceys Vintage Finishes Offers Nitrocellulose Finishes
Oxford Guitar Supply (Canada) https://oxfordguitarsupply.com/

Luthier Supply:
StewMac Everything for building and repairing stringed instruments! - StewMac
Philadelphia Luthier Tools Philadelphia Luthier Tools & Supplies Guitar building tools and parts
Luthier’s Mercantile Wood and Supplies Guitar Makers - Luthiers Mercantile International, Inc

Hardware:
McMaster-Carr www.McMaster-Carr.com

Metal Stock:
Online Metals www.OnlineMetals.com
 
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#8
ardgedee said:
Might want to note which country these businesses are in, to make life a little easier for people outside the US (who might want to contribute links to useful resources of their own).
Click to expand...

Great feedback! I updated the OP and will continue to do so as long as that option remains available. I may post a few anecdotes and samples in subsequent posts just to give folks an idea of what to expect if/when they reach out to a particular vendor.
 
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#11
Barticus said:
Lumber suppliers (US)
Keim Lumber
Woodcraft
Secret Stash Hardwoods
Click to expand...

I don't see that any of those are guitar-centric or offer wholesale pricing to guitar builders. Not to say they don't belong here, just clarifying my understanding. For example, that's the reason I didn't include StewMac, LMII, or Philadelphia Luthier Tools in the OP, but perhaps I should?
 
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#13
BeeTL said:
I don't see that any of those are guitar-centric or offer wholesale pricing to guitar builders. Not to say they don't belong here, just clarifying my understanding. For example, that's the reason I didn't include StewMac, LMII, or Philadelphia Luthier Tools in the OP, but perhaps I should?
Click to expand...
My feeling is that if this is a reference, it's probably good to throw everything in unless there are good reasons not to (such as their being problematic, difficult to reach, or something).

People who are just starting out probably don't know about LMII or PLT. I sure didn't before I began reading the Luthier Corner.
 
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#14
A few:
Dragonplate (CF stiffeners, will wholesale, or did a few years ago)
Sung-Il (repping a few hardware brands, they are Korean but will reply in English)
Gotoh (but you need to buy a LOT)
Tatsuta (titanium parts, Japan)
Masecraft (inlay material)
Meinl (Germany, though just looking now, seems like they are not doing what they used to, wholesaling parts)

A point of note for my Canadian friends - scratch WD Music off your list. They have an 'exclusive distribution agreement' with Yorkville Sound (aka Long & McQuade) and they only carry a very small portion of the expansive WD catalog. I've fought this battle for years and have given up. I even sent a lengthy email addressed to both of them politely and apologetically registering my displeasure and I received form replies from both. o_O Done. The western canadian rep for L&M told me straight up that there is comparatively so little demand for parts in their stores that they only stock and source things they know will sell tons. WD will absolutely not sell other products to me wholesale directly, even when pooling together other luthiers for a large group buy (over 5k). I took that same tactic to L&M and they also refused to order things outside of their usual orders. Rant over. :D
 
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#15
BeeTL said:
I don't see that any of those are guitar-centric or offer wholesale pricing to guitar builders. Not to say they don't belong here, just clarifying my understanding. For example, that's the reason I didn't include StewMac, LMII, or Philadelphia Luthier Tools in the OP, but perhaps I should?
Click to expand...
Ah okay, Keim has one of the largest exotic woods selections in the US and they have a specific guitar woods dept… I just had them dimension and sand rough lumber for me (just got 12 Wenge and rosewood finger boards down, ziricote and Macassar fingerboards and several birdseye neck blanks, black limba and swamp ash 1-piece body blanks, etc) many other woods that are specific to luthiers (bubinga, white ebony, and another huge selection, etc).

But I understand you have specific criteria, so I’ll delete my contribution. :thumbsup:
 
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#16
Barticus said:
Ah okay, Keim has one of the largest exotic woods selections in the US and they have a specific guitar woods dept… I just had them dimension and sand rough lumber for me (just got 12 Wenge and rosewood finger boards down, ziricote and Macassar fingerboards and several birdseye neck blanks, black limba and swamp ash 1-piece body blanks, etc) many other woods that are specific to luthiers (bubinga, white ebony, and another huge selection, etc).

But I understand you have specific criteria, so I’ll delete my contribution. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Actually, please don't! Based on the last few posts, I'm going to update post #1 and start adding in even more resources. This will be a Luthier Wiki page...:laugh:
 
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#17
These are my main suppliers, where I buy almost all of my materials and parts:

General hardware; screws and bolts: McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr

Metal bar stock, online and shipped: Online Metals OnlineMetals.com® | Buy Metal and Plastics at Online Metals | OnlineMetals.com®

Electronics parts; jacks, pots, capacitors, etc.: Digi-Key https://www.digikey.com/

Epoxies; West Systems and Total Boat: West Marine West System | West Marine

Tuners: Hipshot; of course

Pickguard material: WD; of course

Fingerboards: LMII; of course

Hardwoods, mostly maple and walnut: Mayan Hardwoods. Mayan Hardwood Inc. – Classic Wood Lumber Supplier They are in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles.

Chrome and Nickel plating: Van Nuys Plating. Van Nuys Metal Plating |Van Nuys Plating Inc. - VanNuysPlating.com They do mail order, and they have a lot of experience specifically with small musical instrument hardware. High quality work. Not cheap, but worth it.

Type I decorative Anodizing: Mid-Valley Anodizing, in Burbank, CA. I can't seem to find their web site, but I believe that they still do mail order.
 
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