run #003, what we've learnt & what's next

thought i'd start using this blog to keep everyone a bit more in the loop. up until now we've mostly relied on instagram or emails, but i think it's important people know what's actually going on behind the scenes

we're coming towards the end of run #003 now and, overall, it's been a really good run. it's also easily been the biggest learning experience we've had since starting klang. the biggest change has been ronny moving the workshop from kunming to huizhou, near shenzhen. if you've ever looked at a map of china, you'll know that's very far. moving heavy machinery thousands of kilometres, setting up a new assembly workshop and opening a separate woodworking shop all at once was a lot

looking back, we probably started the move a little earlier than we should have. we'd already lost around a week because of the may holiday, so we were behind schedule before we'd really got going. adding a workshop move towards the end of production definitely slowed things down, but it was something we knew we needed to do if klang was going to keep growing

the move puts us much closer to our cnc partners and case manufacturer, which means less time moving parts around china and more time building guitars. it's also given us the room to develop bolt-on necks, baritones, basses (eventually) and spend more time developing new pickups. the goal hasn't changed - we still want series builds down to around a two month wait from the start of production

run #003 was also our first production run of 20 guitars. the previous run was five. going from five to twenty taught us loads. we've built new jigs, refined parts of the production process and, because of what we've learnt, stripped the series back even further. the aim is more repetition, fewer variables and more consistency across every build. in the long run that means better guitars and shorter wait times

on top of that, the typhoons in huizhou completely threw logistics out the window. that's obviously out of our control, but it doesn't change the fact that some customers are still waiting for their guitars and that's fucked. we're getting the remaining builds out as quickly as we can and keeping everyone updated along the way

one of the biggest things we've built during this run isn't actually a guitar. i've spent a lot of time building a production system that's completely custom to us, allowing us to track every stage of every build internally. alongside that we've launched the customer build tracker, so you can see exactly where your guitar is without having to email us asking for updates

we've also been working on some new pickups. the original tb90s aren't going anywhere, but we've developed a tweaked version that's much more noise rock focused - clangy, aggressive and definitely inspired by albini's sort of sound. we've also got a new high-output p90-sized humbucker aimed for you doomers

bolt-on necks are finally underway too. we're starting with fender heel specs and jm/st models before moving onto the tele, bass vi and eventually a p bass. they'll most likely end up with a 3x3 headstock, but we're still working that out

thanks again to everyone who's backed us over the last few months. i'll keep using this page to share what's happening at klang, both the good stuff and the bits we're still figuring out

- will / klang