Official Luthiers Forum!

Good afternoon OLFers,

I might be giving this more thought than it deserves but I am curious what material you folks use for your moulds, bending profiles and jigs - MDF, plywood (baltic or similar)? I have had experience with MDF in other applications and while easy to work with I wonder about its longevity/robustness. I plan on having these things around for a while and wondered what your recos would be. My sense is with jigs a high quality plywood design is going to retain its accuracy much longer than MDF.

Thanks for your collective wisdom!

Rick

MDF has greater resistance to warping than plywood, so I use a lot of it for jigs, radius dishes, etc. Seal it with several coats of shellac and it will be a lot more durable.

well Rick .. as you will see when you get here in Sept, I have a collection of whatever happens to be around !!!! My earliest molds are all MDF, I have bowls that are MDF and ply, some smaller jigs are baltic ply.

If I could have, and spared no expense, it would all be baltic ply though.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I use a lot of "fibercore" I think it's called. MDF with a laminate of birch on either side. It's worked great for me so far.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I like particle board, it works fine for moulds, dishes, bending forms and such. Baltic plywood for my Fox bender though.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

A friend of mine makes fantastic solid bending forms and molds using mdf, with 1/4" tempered hardboard on both sides for durability. They are really solid, last pretty much forever unless they get wet, and look really cool too. If he can't find 1/4" tempered, he gets the 1/8" stuff and lamintates them to 1/4" using poly glue. Once the cnc gets up and running (not holding my breath) I'm going to make all new molds and forms the same way.

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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."

For me, I try to make as much out of Baltic Birch as I can.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Can't say my now 4 year old MDF mold is any worse for wear; has a few coats of finish on it, and it's stable. three layers of 22mm MDF glued together, solid forms for the bender also made of MDF. They're plenty sturdy enough, and cost significantly less than quality ply. It's not like these are terribly high-strain parts; pair of spreaders in the molds, and in my case, in a good year, bending 4 sides per year, per shape.

Where can one obtain plans for the Fox Bender (or fox-like)?

Mike

Mike buddy here you go: http://www.michelettiguitars.com/Images/Sales.htm#Cutaway%20Press

Gentlemen,
Thanks for sharing your collective wisdom!

Rick

Well, lets see. I bought the plans for the bender, cutaway attachment, spanish press, and the williams jig. Just found out that there is a woodshop on the Redstone Arsenal base (where I work) that I can use. Great way to learn the power tools, and what I will want to buy down the road.

Mike

MDF dust is nasty stuff, even with good dust control measures being taken - I try not to use it at all in my 'shop. Baltic birch for me anytime.

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Also... MDF makes fine dishes, but you need to be careful when removing the sandpaper or you can damage the surface. I use a heat gun (now, after ruining one dish... even with several coats of varathane on it) to warm up the worn sandpaper & gently peel it off.
If the budget was unlimited, I'd use Baltic birch for everything.