Official Luthiers Forum!

Got an email this morning from Grizzly Tools for this neat little Doweling Jig. It got me thinking, would this work for drilling slot head tuner holes? 25.00 bucks, so the price is right




DIRECT LINK

_________________
Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I use the same jig for drilling the holes in the end grain of neck tenons.

If you use it for tuner holes, make sure you drill the holes before routing the slots.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

"I use the same jig for drilling the holes in the end grain of neck tenons"

Another "why didn't I think of that?" moment. I've been trying to design a jig to do the same thing. Sometimes I think I'm too stupid to go on building guitars.

_________________
Pete
http://www.petewoodmanguitars.com

provided the drill bushings are available in the correct size, and you can be sufficiently precise in locating your holes, and your headstock is long enough to clamp the jig in the correct position, it will work fine.

but with little work and cost you could make your own along the line of lmi's jig, or buy it at about twice the cost have have a lot less fiddling around to do.

Lance...IMHO,

there comes a time in the life of the luthier when, I feel, it is better to invest in a tool that will give consistent, repeatable results.
To wit, if you plan to offer slothead tuning as a viable option to your catalog...and you can reasonably expect to sell this option maybe 10% of the time...then get or develop a tool/jig that will do multiple tasks. I struggled with doing one-off items, such a slotheads, early in my building career. When I got REALLY serious, and the demand warranted it, I went to a jig that does both the side tuner hole locating/drilling AND the slothead routing in one set-up.
Once it was set to the tapper of my headstock, nothing had to be changed and all holes/slots were done in one "task".
So, my advice is to either develop your own tool/jig or examine the commercially available jigs, some of which I believe are available from OLF sponsors.
Yes, it is an investment up front, but it will probably be paid off buy the time you do the second slothead, not to mention what the value of your time will be to build you own.
Plus, it's a tax deductible piece of equipment.

_________________
Hank Mauel

As Hank says, having a dedicated tool is really nice.

That said though, it is also nice to have a small milling machine. I can set mine up in a few minutes for drilling tuner holes in a slothead and I know the 3 on a plate tuner will fit perfectly. Slot heads are more of a pain, but that is why we charge more for them. I actually use the milling machine to cut the slots too.

It is really nice to have the milling maching as many things come up for them. Mine is just a little guy and is not really that good for cutting big chuncks of steal like the ones I used back in my ol' toolmaking days but it is great for making alum fixtures, slotting, accurate layout of holes, slots in bridges (and pins) etc. My machine sits idle quite a bit, but it great to have it when I need it.

I have just been marking them carefully and holding the headstock in a drill press vise, making sure it is a right angles to the bit (a good brad point bit is the only way to go for this).

But I think Hank's advice is sound.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

You get what you pay for. I have the jig from Chris at Luthiers Tools
It is awesome. Not only is it great for slotted tuners, but does the headstock
slots as well. Like most of Chris's jigs, it is a bit expensive, but very well
made and will last a lifetime!!!!!

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

^ ditto... I haven't even used mine yet, but it's obviously a good design and well made. It even centers itself.

_________________
______________________________
Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I use the old stanley drill guide that I have had for 30 years and it works great.
I have a slot cutting jig that I made.
I just used the whole set up and am going to post some pics of the process -I was just waiting for the picture upload to get fixed.

[QUOTE=azimmer1] You get what you pay for. I have the jig from Chris at Luthiers Tools
It is awesome. Not only is it great for slotted tuners, but does the headstock
slots as well. Like most of Chris's jigs, it is a bit expensive, but very well
made and will last a lifetime!!!!!

[/QUOTE]


That's the one I settled on after 1) making my own a long time ago and 2) using the LMI jig, which only did one side at a time.
It works like a champ, and was "paid for" the first time I used it, with a little left over for a burger and fries!

_________________
Hank Mauel