Official Luthiers Forum!

My Schneider Gramil came without instructions, so I checked the LMI site and found this:

"Use the flat side of the tool on all binding surfaces with the exception of the waist and cutaway areas, where the curved section should bear against the surface."

Does this mean that one should disassemble the gramil and reassemble it during the operation?

Ray

Yes I did as LMI say when I first used the Schneider style gramil. It wasn't difficult to keep the setting right when, when changing it from the square to the round side (or visa versa), just put the blade in the cut already made and close the body of the gramil up to the side of the guitar. Nowadays, with more practice at keeping it square on to the edge, I just use the round side all the way round the guitar.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

So, if I want to cut a simple channel 1/4 X .080", do I just make incremental cuts until the blade is extended 1/4" into the top, and .080" into the side?

Ray

Close examination of the new gramil blade shows that it has two facets, both very rough, as though they were formed by dragging the blade over the surface of a concrete block.
The cutting edges are actually serrated and rough.
Is this intended for use as is , or should the blade be sharpened and honed first?

Thanks,
Ray

It was suggested to me by a very high-end builder that the best thing to do with Gramils is have two of them. That way, one cuts the concave surfaces, and the other the convex, so you don't need to reset them mid-operation. Makes a lot of sense to me...and it's not that huge of an investment compared to a lot of our tools.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

Ray