The Callaham Machine Shop

What separates us from other boutique and major manufacturers is our machine shop. Our shop is dedicated to the string instrument industry. We do everything from custom prototypes, small production runs, specialized tooling, and one off parts.

Most custom items are simple enough to make that we can generally turn them around in a few days. These items include special studs for ABR-1's, Tele control plates with custom hole locations, and custom number neck plates. Naturally, we make custom blocks. However, they are expensive; A one-off custom block will cost $150-$180. Parts that will need plating will take longer. We generally send plating every two weeks, so these parts take four weeks.

The minimum machine shop charge is $35.00, and labor can range from $70.00 - $100.00 per hour. We prefer to have mechanical drawings; otherwise you will be charged an engineering fee which will vary based on difficulty.

Inquiries should be sent via e-mail.

Custom Control Plate with Gibson toggle-switch hole.

Custom miniature ABR-1s and billet aluminum Tailpieces for the Gibson Custom Shop.

Custom offset ABR-1 stud with a custom spherical thumbwheel. Offset studs allow installation on guitars with stud spacing different from stock Gibson stud spacing, or allow proper bridge location for intonation. Spherical thumbwheels are used in conjunction with Bigsby equipped instruments.

A Bigsby set up in a special fixture for truing its base. Many Bigsbys require further machining to sit level.

Pricing is based heavily around how much design and setup work is required. Remember that custom machining requires many setup and take-down steps, so it is hard to do most jobs in less than an hour. Even very simple parts will typically take a minimum of one hour of work.

We are happy to quote most custom work, but please keep in mind that some jobs -although possible- would require far too much design and production work to be cost effective to you the customer.