Well given that lutherie is probably half about building ones own tools, here's some of the stuff I've made, some very typical, some not. First the typical stuff.
One of the first things I did when I started building guitars was to make a mold. I built one something like the one Sloane outlined in his book
Classic Guitar Construction.
Then I modified it so I could remove the sides. Being able to remove the sides gives me the ability to set a top that still has a border outside the outline into the mold. It makes things a little easier if one installs the neck onto the top (classical construction) before installing the sides.
The bending mold and waist caul for my heating blanket setup:
A rosette gluing call next to a through-the-soundboard holddown.
I have a milling machine, so I made my own rosette channel cutter from a few pieces of aluminum. Originally I designed it for a POS Dremel Advantage. After that went belly-up, I modified it to work with my DeWalt laminate trimmer.
I used to install kerfing on my guitars. Now I install linings. But before I made the switch, I built this little rig so I could quickly cut my own kerfing. Shown with a piece of mahogany sort of set in place to show how I load the uncut kerfing strip into the rig.
Here's a little jig I made to hold chisels and plane irons for use with my sharpening rig. I like it because I can adjust the bevel angle.
And another simple little tool I find surprisingly useful -- a big block of aluminum to which I've glued down some 80 grit sandpaper. I use it for flattening fingerboards after contouring them for bass string relief.
Best,
Michael
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