Official Luthiers Forum!

i have been coming here for a bout a month. trying to get info on building . i have two books with full plans mandolin and acoustic. i just want to make a really nice acoustic, and re store an old sold-body guitar i have.( re-fret finish etc..). can someone recommend some basic tools i will need..like a good band saw under 400 bucks that Will do a good job. and post some links on were to get a good set of files and chisels.not too expensive. i kind of know what tools i need i just dont want to spend 1000 or more for a band saw.and i dont want to go buy a band saw only to find out something will not cut right on it..... And i cant believe i paid 2300 bucks to get a Gibson j 50, and then i see the guitars that you guys have built here like Steve Kinnaird's guitar last posted here, incredible!! i don't even need to here it it just looks so good!

anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks.

sorry about the long post.
markwatson39058.8812847222

Mark, I check Craig's list out rather regularly. You never know what you will find in your backyard. I scored a belt sander with a tub of new and used belts for $25. The guy who was selling the sander was also selling off wood he had been squirreling away for years. I left with several 7' 1/2" Honduran mahogany boards for a song. I told him what I was planning on doing with them and he almost gave them to me.

On a more personal note, what part of the country hail from? We might be cousins.

_________________
Aoibeann

I recently bought a 14" Delta for $125 and a very nice large -no name- drill press for $100. Both at auction.

Band saw only needed to be cleaned up / set up. Drill press needs clean up and new switch.

Bargins on used stuff can be had. Patience....

Watch the newspaper (online) and (as suggested by Lillian) Craig's list. E-Bay can be good if you can pick it up so you can check it out plus avoid shipping costs.

If you live close to a large city you may want to look for used machinery dealers. Often you can find good quality old machines that are in decent shape (may just require a clean and coat of paint) for a resonable price.

_________________
Brad
Avon, OH

Mark-
I don't think you need a band saw to build an acoustic guitar, though it is helpful. You can do a lot with a jigsaw (saber saw?), or for that matter a hand coping saw- whatever you have. You're not planning on resawing your own wood for a first guitar, I assume.
A drill press is handy since you can chuck a sanding drum in it, and lots of people use a Wagner Safety Planer in the drill press for thicknessing jobs (pegheads, etc- some people even do tops,backs and sides with them).
A few good hand tools and a Dremel or laminate trimmer will get you a long way.
I'd advise against used power tools unless you know what you are doing, and are getting a very good price as well. By the time you refurbish an older power tool, you will often spend much more than you would with a new, serviceable offshore tool.
What do you own now? Throw out a list and I'm sure folks will have lots of ideas for additions to your inventory!
Cheers
John

unlike john i am a fan of used, good quality stationary power tools. they are almost indestructable if used remotely correctly. for instance my unisaw is a 1953 model out of a cabinet makers shop and will still pass the nickel test. my walker-turner bandsaw is of a similar era, and still functions perfectly.

that being said if all you are interested in at present is building one( well we've heard that one before, right) you won't need a bandsaw. hand tools, well thats how they were made for centuries. the power just makes some things easier and faster.crazymanmichael39059.3830671296

Michael-
I just bought a 1953 Beaver tablesaw and got it running yesterday. It's a nice little cast-iron saw that I'm going to use for fingerboard slotting, bridges, and other jobs I don't want to be leaning over the 10-inch saw to do.
Old tools are great, but it can be almost a separate hobby to get them running properly again, get the wiring to a safe state, etc.
Sorry if I gave the wrong impression there!
John

I have a different approach as well. This is the exhaustivel list of my
luthiery specific tools:

- Coping saw.
- Porter Cable sander.
- Dremel w/stew mac router base, binding guide, and circle cutter.
- 1/2" chisel.
- Dial caliper.
- Feeler gauge set.
- Sanding block.
- Small Razor saw.
- Bender w/light bulbs.
- Some clamps.
- A machine rule
- The infamous yardstick.

This is my build site.
Most people will probably shudder at the way I clamped my braces, but
it's the result you want--not the tool. Being in production is a different
story, but this is how I enjoy it.

Now on the flip side, I ran the shop for a year in college where I
designed all sorts of dedicated jigs and had everything I could want at my
disposal to build precision manipulatives for the math and engineering
profs. I actually enjoy the hand tools more. They're slower, but I really
don't mind until it's time to sand.

Sorry I can't help--I just went to the list at the top of the page and started buying. I don't have the time or pacience to scour for deals. I barely have enough time to devote to building. I've learened from past experinces that having the right quality tool is far more satifying than making do. I'm just at a point in my life now where I can afford some nicer tools and avois the stresses of searching and compromising--this is a hobby for me and I've decided it should be satisfying and FUN! I just dropped a bundle at StewMac last night but I know I got great stuff and look forward to its arrival.

A drum sander is a thing to have in a shop!

Good suggestions. However, I for one find a bandsaw to be a valuable tool for lutherie -- much more so than a table saw, for example. After searching around for quite a while for a good used one, and getting really frustrated with the tabletop 9" Delta I bought a few years prior to getting into lutherie, I broke down and bought a Rigid 14" at The 'Po. The under-$400 price is what finally convinced me, and it has been a decent performer.

I have a suggestion re: your desire to build a really nice acoustic. Given the fact that your tool inventory is limited at the moment, but your desire is not, I would recommend that you consider buying one of the "serviced" kits that LMI sells (lmii.com). I believe one or more of our other sponsors also offer kits. They are a great value, and the resultant guitars are surprisingly nice. The benefit for a person just starting out is that much of the tricky work, or work that requires special tooling, has been done for you, and also the additional tools you'll need to acquire to complete the project will not set you back all that much. Besides, you'll be needing them again, cuz (recalling the old Lay's commercial) betcha can't build just one.   

Best,

MichaelMichael McBroom39059.4004976852

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

I would reccomend a drill press.Mine has been very valuble to me in that you can do a lot more than just drill with it.You can thickness (Wagner safety planer),sand with various size sanding drums,and you can even press in your frets with it.

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

It is surprising what you can do with hand tools, actually.   I make furniture as a hobby so I have a pretty good set of chisels and planes, and which can be used for all sorts of processes, cheaper and sometimes faster and better than some machine processes. But one machine I found extremely useful is a laminate trimmer.

Making a go-bar deck is one of the most flexible systems for clamping you can find. Also an exterior mold and radius dishes would be highly recommended by most of us.

Oh, Welcome to the OLF!SteveCourtright39059.4779050926

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

When I was gearing up to build my first, I already had a cheap set of chisels, a jigsaw, needle files, jeweler's saw, files, drill, some planes, a spokeshave, etc. In preparation for building the guitar (an LMI serviced kit) I bought a drill press, table saw and bandsaw. I also bought a mold from John Hall and some radius dishes off ebay. Looking back on how important each of those power tools was, I would say the drill press was the most important. Next would be the tablesaw and last, the bandsaw. It was nice having them all, but lacking the drill press would have been the toughest to overcome. The tablesaw was nice for cutting the billets as supplied by LMI for the bracing, but I could have bought pre-cut bracing.

_________________
now known around here as Pat Foster
_________________
http://www.patfosterguitars.com

i have a small bench top drill press a very large vice, tons of clamps, some for wood but most of my tools have something to do with welding.i have allways wanted a martin d-28, so i think ill get a kit to start off with, and mabe change some stuff like the rosette etc..
and then start buying tools like a go-bar deck and other things when starting from scratch.
i also think my bench top drill press might me too small?
thanks for all the recommendations.
and hey, is there anywere i can get a tenor guitar kit?

I use a 12" Delta benchtop drill press. It's big enough for my needs. Depends on what you're trying to do, though.

Best,

Michael

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live