Official Luthiers Forum!

I've decided that I'm no longer going to make any promises as to when the shop will be up and running...

Penn State has had some connectors on back order for well over 6 weeks now and I can't finish the shop without them, I was able to run the ductwork from the shed to the shop and got as far as I could before I had to join it to a tool and I can't do that until they ship me my parts!!    

But while working on the ductwork I noticed a very strange thing, the mechanical shed was always about 10 degrees cooler than the shop. How could that be if it's a small shed in the sun, finally I figured out that I had insulated the shed very very well and that the shop walls have NO insulation in them   

So yesterday we rented an insulation blower and after drilling large holes in the walls, blew in attic insulation. I would have done foam but you can't get the equipment and need to hire a contractor, I just didn't want to spend the money (it would have cost me my powermatic after all so more drastic measures where needed!!). It made a terrible mess and I'm still waiting to see if it had any effect (it's better than having nothing in the walls), but while cleaning we moved the shop around and finally decided that I need to clear out a little more space. I have my workbench in the middle of the shop and one for repairs against the wall.

So that leads me to my question, how large does a repair bench need to be?? the reason for the bench is to do setups and repairs, I think I can get away with a very small one just big enough to hold the guitar. I don't like to do setups on the big bench because I use it for construction and like to seperate that from setups.

Part of our problem is that the CNC table is pretty big, so I need to compress where I can and that old workbench is in my sites :), it's about 6ft long at this point and I think that's just too dang big for just doing setups and things. I'd like to stuff another tool along that wall if possible....

I'll post pictures later this week of my progress, the CNC machine ships today so I should have it this week, but the sad part is I'll be in Seattle all next week to take a class in Rhino 3D to get my chops down. I have so much work backing up it's just getting stupid, as soon as I get those parts I can finish the dust collection in about 2 days. We did hook up some 4" tubing to it yesterday to vaccum the shop, that thing will suck up golf balls. My wife finally got frustrated and took it away and finished vaccuming because I kept trying things to see how powerful it was...

Cheers

-Paul-

_________________
-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Hi Paul

I reckon your setup bench would be just perfect at a ;itt;e over the size of the guitar, that way you won't be tempted to put tools etc down where they could com into contact with a finished guitar. You might want to consider a tray or something underneath to keep you set up equipment in while your working.

You could also add a flip up table leaf in case you ever have to work on a bass guitar.

_________________
Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Hey Paul,

Have you seen Kevin Ryans site with his setup bench?

Here it is



And another shot with Kevin hard at work.



And one more so you get it.

Rod True38915.6590393518

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I don't believe he does any actual work there. Its too neat. Nah, must've been staged just for pictures.

_________________
Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

DING DING DING DING DING...

We have a winner!!!!

That's a great idea, I'm going to build one just like that, do you have some larger pictures you can email me?? I'd like to see what some of the little things on there are, I'll build it with one of the sides, the whole thing should only be about 3- 4ft long total. I'll mount shelves on the wall for storage going up so I'll have room for all my little parts and tools.

Does it slide out?? it looks like he has it on sliders?

Awesome idea, I'm sketching it up right now to figure out how much wood I'll need...

You just made my week Rod!!

-Paul-Sprockett38915.6678125

_________________
-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I'm glad your so stoked on it Paul. I too think this is a great set up bench.

Unfortunatly, those pics are right off Kevins web site. I don't know any more about them than we can see in the picks.

You could try giving Kevin a call, I bet he would be glad to help you out.

I think you could be right about the sliders, that would sure help get the extension arm out of the way.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

What I realy can't wait to see from you Paul are some pictures of some recent guitars.

I'm sure your getting anxious to start building again. How long has it been any way, or is that just too hard to think about right now.

Also looking forward to seeing some pics of your new shop. It's going to be the envy of many of us here.

Have fun.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

It's been about 10 months....

I have never stopped thinking about it, I've been super super frustrated with the shop because everything I do takes twice as long as I thought and I keep running into problems. I had a vision going in and I have steadfastly refused to let it go, so much for my retirement but I'd rather be building guitars than doing anything else. I was ready to strangle people over the debacle with the shed, but we spent a weekend and rebuilt it ourselves and in the long run got what we needed, but every piece of this shop has been like that.

I'll be building a uke later this week but it's not the same (it's for a class I'm teaching and is from a kit), I have some new ideas I'm itching to try. So currently here is where we are at:

1. I have to get air conditioning installed, it's just too hot to work during the day. They come out today for the estimate.

2. I have to finish the dust collection, I have %90 of the parts and have already done the hardest part and tested the system, just waiting on penn state now.

3. I have to build at least 6 more cabinets (including this new one) to get storage in the shop for tools and parts.

4. We are getting a new table saw, putting my old one to 220 really showed it's age and it's been giving me problems.

5. The very very last piece is that I'm building a new workbench, the CNC table I built was a test bed for it and it turned out great (the boys hate it because it's so heavy I make them move it for me).

Once those 5 things are done I'm %100 back in the game, I could start without the last two items but really don't want too unless I'm forced. We have the resources to do this right and I promised myself that I would take the time and get a shop not only that I could be proud of but that would fit my needs. I expect the CNC to take a couple of months to make anything of value, I have no practical experience with them like Watkins so I have to learn everything as I go. Just setting it up is going to be a major undertaking...

My neighbor thought I was nuts until he sat in the shop and let me explain my vision, then he thought it was totally cool

-Paul-Sprockett38915.6858217593

_________________
-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Hang in there Paul, the trying times are almost over, you've done the hardest part up till now, i'll be here to see pics of that great shop and tools of yours in a few weeks or days, i hope, for you!

Rod, thanks also for sharing those pics, very clever way to work indeed!

Serge

Wow, what a journey for you guys Paul. I sure hope that your in Idaho for a long time after all of this.

As the great one just said, hang in there, your almost done, than it's on to the real fun. Can't wait to see the "new ideas"

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson