A willingness to seek an unconventional solution to a conventional problem helped the Fender Custom Guitar Shop increase its CNC output by nearly 400 percent. At the same time, it is maintaining the finite specifications that produce the delicate tone and beauty of a Fender Custom Shop guitar. A turn to a metal machining CNC rather than a woodworking CNC was responsible.
Steve Boulanger, head of Fender Custom Shop engineering and tooling, had a problem. In early 1998, Fender was in the process of consolidating its production into one larger plant located in Corona, Calif. The company had been operating out of several smaller, separate buildings at the time. In an effort to become more efficient and better control quality, the brass at Fender knew it needed one large production space.
Boulanger’s task during the consolidation was to maintain turnaround time in the production of Custom Shop guitars without sacrificing the quality that collectors and guitar enthusiasts expect from a Fender Custom Shop product. He found his solution when he added the Haas VF-4, a machining tool originally designed for cutting metals. Installed in February of 1998 with custom modifications by Boulanger, the VF-4 allows the shop to cut three bodies or four necks in one cycle — and cut them to the required precision quality standards.
Boulanger’s decision to add the Haas to the shop came after examining a number of traditional metal and woodcutting machines. “I come from a metal machining background so I approached things from that point of view,” Boulanger said. “We considered other well known machines, but went with the Haas because it had a wider, heavier base and better dust shielding than the other brands of metal cutting mills. Also, it uses 40-taper tooling, which is heavier than what is available on most woodworking machines. The control seemed more user-friendly than the others. I thought the attention to detail of the Haas was the best. When I found out the machine was available with a 10,000-RPM spindle, I decided it would be the best buy for the money. Of course the price being cheaper than the woodworking machines didn’t hurt.”
Modifying Metal Machining for Wood
To make the machine integrate fully into the custom shop, Boulanger developed and installed a vacuum fixture to hold production pieces in place. “Vacuum fixturing is pretty commonplace throughout the woodworking industry,” Boulanger said. “It just seemed a natural way to modify a machine that was geared for the metal working industry.” Boulanger first built a manifold out of 2x2 tubing, which he attached to the table. Vacuum lines were run from a vacuum generator to the manifold. Then vacuum lines were run from the manifold to separate fixtures. “Each one is separate,” he said. “This gives us the ability to turn each fixture on and off. It’s less intrusive on the machine that way.” Boulanger said it cost the Custom Shop approximately $115,000 to install the Haas, although he estimated that the cost probably would be less today. “Prices on the machine have gone down since our purchase,” he said.
The VF-4 was added to a shop that already boasted a wide array of woodworking machines.
“We have a variety of machinery in our shop — some of it custom-made, some of it standard woodworking with custom fixturing. We currently have an Onsrud and an Eckstrom-Carlson pin router, a Jett and a Robland shaper, an eighteen inch Powermatic planer, a Davis and Wells twenty-inch bandsaw, a Powermatic fourteen-inch bandsaw, several custom-made dead head sanders, a custom-made edge router, two Kearney and Trecker horizontal mills, a Seimec radial arm saw, a Sandingmaster wide-belt sander, a swing sander and numerous drill presses set up for variety of operations,” Boulanger said.
In addition to the VF-4, Fender recently added the Robland T-120 shaper to its arsenal of machines. Boulanger said the shaper has exceeded expectations in terms of its versatility. “We purchased a Robland T-120 shaper from Laguna Tools,” Boulanger said. “We currently are tooling up to transfer the horizontal mill neck machining operations to the new shaper, but we keep finding new uses for this tool, so we are looking at buying two more. We also are looking at doing some body contouring. We will be ovaling the fretboards and doing neck rear contouring to begin with. This fits our image because it’s the same way (company founder) Leo Fender did it.”
Intricate Sanding Process is Key
One feature that sets Fender guitars apart is the intricate sanding process, virtually all of which is done by hand. Fender Custom Shop has body spreads and neck 
blanks manufactured to specific dimensions. These usually do not require pre-sanding unless slight modifications are needed to allow them to hook to the vacuum assembly. “Our thickness spec allows for this, so we can use our Sandingmaster wide-belt sander to sand the neck or body blank until it vacuums down securely,” Boulanger said.
After the material leaves the Haas, the remainder of the sanding is done by hand to insure the quality and attention to detail that the Fender Custom Shop guitar demands. “All of our product is hand-sanded to specific samples,” Boulanger said. “We have catalogued many of the older shapes by year and month and we try to duplicate these shapes as faithfully as possible in the sanding process. Of course each “Master Builder” has his own methods, and these necks and bodies are done individually by them. Too much or too little and it’s wrong. Our customers are very picky. When they receive their Fender Custom Shop guitar, we don’t want them to be satisfied...we want them to be overwhelmed.”
The body is first hand-sanded after it comes off the Haas and has gone through contour operations and wire hole drilling. After the body is sealed and painted with lacquer if color permits, it goes through intermediate or color sanding and then back to paint for more lacquer. Another final sanding and the instrument returns for final clear top coating, also lacquer. Then the guitar is returned to the shop where it is buffed to a high gloss and given to either a team-builder or a Master Builder for assembly. “Our assembly techniques are as old as the luthier profession itself with small files, scrapers, screwdrivers and the like,” said Boulanger. “In our business, attention to detail is everything. We constantly are refining the process to make our product as authentic as possible.” The product is then ready to be shipped.
Increased Production
Boulanger said current plans call for Fender Custom Shop to nearly double production. “Our goal is to increase production from fifteen to twenty units per day to thirty to forty per day,” Boulanger noted. “Even though our daily 
production keeps going up, the market demands are going up even faster. Our back-orders have increased significantly even though we’re making more guitars per day now than we were six months ago!” Production should reach at least thirty units per day by early May.
“Material usage really depends on the model types we’re making that month,” Boulanger continued. “The yield for ash is different than the yield from alder, mahogany, body maple, korina, or body rosewood etc. Also, some models, basses for example, take a bigger body spread than others. Our mill manager told me that if we allow for the current yield, it would be about eight and one half board-feet per body spread and about three board-feet for neck blanks. One body spread and one neck blank per guitar is about fifty one hundred board-feet of body material and eighteen hundred board feet of neck material per month at our current rate. We have some body spreads made for us, but more figured spreads have to be book-matched and we do this in the Fender Custom Shop.”
Fender custom guitars are built to a specific order list. According to Boulanger, there is no typical customer. “Our customers run the gamut,” Boulanger said. “Some save up for years to have the guitar of their dreams built. Others simply want to buy the best and choose a Fender guitar. Some buy the guitar with the intention of playing it. Others buy it for art purposes. We have people from all walks of life – from rock stars to accountants – who place custom orders with Fender.”
The Fender Custom Shop manufactures production or “team-built” guitars that are built to represent a certain year and model. The shop also builds more personalized guitars that are constructed one at a time by “Master Builders.” Currently the turnaround time for a “team-built” product is about three to four months. For a one-of-a-kind “Master Built” product, turnaround time runs in the six- to eight- month range, but Boulanger said Fender Custom Shop is currently working to significantly decrease these times.
In addition, the shop also produces small runs of certain guitar types to test for bigger orders. “Sometimes we’ll do a short run, kind of a pilot program for the bigger orders,” Boulanger said. “We do some research and development because it might be easier for us to turn out a small run than it would be to crank up the main plant. We wear a lot of hats around here.”
Boulanger has been with Fender guitars since 1971 and has served in his current capacity as tooling and CNC engineer for the shop since 1989.
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