Official Luthiers Forum!

Laguna SUV has a Leeson 3HP motor. I’m more or less satisfied with mine but when I have room I’ll be looking for a 20” saw…

Isn't that a 3 phase motor? I can't use that.

After some research I see that it is indeed 1 phase. Currently unavailable. Since I'm not ready to buy, I'll keep watching.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

220 but not 3 phase, whatever that actually is…

Why a 20"? I never saw any reason for anything more the 14".

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Because the only blade you can run on a 14” wheel is the Laguna Resaw King, which is a good blade, but maybe not the best. A 20” wheel opens up a lot of different blade options…

Probably better off buying sets if you're not tooled up to resaw, as others have said.

"Saving money" by resawing your own back and side sets is similar to the "I'm going to build my own guitar and save a bunch of money" thoughts some folks have.

Having said that, I saw my own, but I also have a sawmill on the property, an Alaskan chainsaw mill to cut slabs, a big bandsaw, a barn full of wood, etc etc.
When I see a really cool board, I put it in the "going to be a guitar someday" pile.

The folks who do this for a living tend to have nicer saws than the rest of us. I visited a commercial tonewood supplier a few weeks ago and watched them run their horizontal resaw bandsaw to cut some guitar back halves. It reminded me that the rest of us are working at a distinct disadvantage. Can you use a smaller saw? Yes. Is it as efficient or as safe as the larger versions? Probably not.

Been pondering this and even though I think I would love to own a great/good bandsaw, I'm going to be 70 soon. I think the money wood be better spent on purchasing sets as I need them. I'm going to try to push this expense out of my mind and continue buying as needed. I still have those billets and would love to sell them if I could get my money back or swap for a set or 2.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I’ve cut a lot of sets on my Laguna. I had no issues with it even on bubinga or wenge.

One time I got a huge huge slab of walnut, but it was completely rough sawn. About 3/4 of the way through the project, I was losing my mind surfacing the billets on my edge sander (I don’t have a functioning jointer) and took it to a shop with a 15” jointer. They also had a 20” Grizzly bandsaw and since I was paying for a full hour anyway to joint for 5 minutes, I figured I may as well spend the rest of the hour on the saw, and it really made my previously satisfying 14 SUV feel like a toy…

The larger wheels of the 20 inch saw don't make the bands flex as much as the 14 inch wheels and helps them last longer. They usually have a larger motor and stiffer frame.

I know I've posted these pictures before, but I wanted to show the tablesaw jig I use to hold the wood against the fence. The hinge is spring loaded so it applies pressure against the wood. The height of the jig helps keep the wood vertical and works much better than a featherboard.
The board was 8 1/2 inches wide and 3 feet long. I got a back set and 2 side sets by cutting 2 slices at an angle (4 1/2 - 3 7/8) It is some wood I kept too long and the bugs got into it. Bugs love curly maple. A wormwood guitar might be unique - mini soundports

I'm not sure what you mean by this "by cutting 2 slices at an angle (4 1/2 - 3 7/8".

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Hi Hutch,
I got 4 "slices" (pieces) from the 1 inch board that were 8 1/2 inches X 3 feet. 2 of them I will use as a back set. I marked 2 of them at 4 1/2" on opposite sides on opposite ends, drew a line from one mark to the other and guiding the wood freehand sawed the pieces on the table saw at an angle to the board. This gave me two sets of tapered sides (4 1/2" on one end and 3 7/8" on the other.) If I would have used the table saw fence I would have cut two sets 4 3/16+". Because the sides of guitars are generally tapered I wanted a little more width on the lower bout end than the upper bout end.
I have a 20 inch Delta Rockwell bandsaw but rarely use it. It is in an inconvenient place with a bunch of junk piled around it. The occasional resawing I do I can do on a 14 inch saw in combination with a tablesaw for most woods.
If you want to save money and build with domestic woods I would encourage you to resaw some of the local timbers with your tablesaw and a handsaw. For most small shops the 14 inch Delta (or clone)bandsaw is a better option - big enough for most jobs and small enough to be affordable.

edit: if you have a source for imported boards there is no reason you can't resaw them. The local lumber mill offers EIR $25 bd. ft. and Honduran rosewood @$20 bd. ft. among others. Since they are quite a bit harder than most domestic woods using a thin kerf blade makes it a little easier on the saw.

I’m going to slightly divert the thread here and ask if more experienced folks think the same about sawing their own neck blanks out of billets—is it worth it in your mind?

I ask because I found a 2.5”x3.5”x8’ billet of QS mahogany bought for $15 at a reputable lumber yard; the board has a bit of water staining on one third of one side, but I figure letting it sit for a while in stable temp/humidity will hopefully be fine. Worst case scenario, I lost $15, but now I’m always on the lookout for “deals”

So: do you look for and purchase QS maple, mahogany for necks when you find it at a reasonable or good price? Other domestic hardwoods you will cut into necks “if the price is right?”

I am so happy to see that my thoughts on re-sawing with a TS and handsaw are doable. Since TS give a smoother cut than band saws, I think one could get pretty close to dimension and not waste a lot of wood. At least, that's been my experience with slicing smaller pieces of hard maple.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Yes, it’s def worth it to search for neck wood. It’s a lot easier to cut a 7/8” neck blank than a thin veneer for back and sides…

My necks so far are made from mahogany deck posts/4x4s.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

The tablesaw/handsaw method is the definition of wasting wood.

You lose more to the kerf with the table saw method, even with the thin kerf blades, but you can slice the wood a little thinner if you are careful with your set up. Getting "greedy" with the bandsaw often causes problems so most sawyers slice the wood a little thicker than absolutely necessary. I think the final yield is about the same.

If you want to save on necks, add a heel block and scarph joined peghead, then you can buy rough sawn 4/4 stock and save quite a bit of money and wood and have less waste.

4x4 mahogany posts are pretty cheap but I think I would rather get some 4/4 "Genuine" mahogany and make built up necks in the future. Just to try a new method and see if that Genuine thing makes a difference.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I've been pretty lucky resawing some woods. I've got an old Delta 14" cast iron with a riser block, a 12" planer and a Supermax 19-38 thickness sander.. I managed to pick up some lumber over the years that was great for resawing, but few and far between. I got some nice birdseye maple, which seems to be acceptable in the classical/flamenco crowd. It's been economical for me because I enjoy resawing and it has saved me some money. I wouldn't recommend it unless you set up for it. Also, I'm resawing boards that I picked up 10-15 years ago.

I’m able to get 5 slices per inch for backs, and 6 slices per inch for sides…when it goes well.

I have the Laguna 24" band saw with a 5 H.P. Baldor motor. I have had it for about 20 years-I paid $6000. for it at the time

I use a Lenox carbide tipped 1" wide Woodmaster blade..($350.)
I have tried other blades and have not been satisfied.

I have cut literally hundreds of sets with that blade/saw combo-doesn't matter if its spruce, cocobolo, ebony or ziricote.

Whatever I throw at that thing it cuts it like butter.

After years and years of sourcing and hoarding lumber suitable for acoustics, I found a shop that could and would saw my boards into back and side sets.

Most boards were 4/4 and they were able to saw them into two bookmatched sets. I prepped the boards into roughly 8"x24" or 5 1/2"x34" sections and other than a few kinda thin ones, it was a success.

I chose this route because my Jet 14" saw couldn't get the accuracy I needed and I'd rather pay a bit for labor to make these boards into relatively valuable sets. Overall, I ended up with around 40 sets for acoustics and around a half dozen drop tops for electrics. If I sell a small handful of sets of the nicer stuff (quartersawn ziricote or beeswing cocobolo), it could pay for all the labor and I'd still have more than enough to work with in my retirement. If I had purchased them from a dealer as prepared sets, I'd be out quite a chunk of change!

Finding a willing and CAPABLE sawyer could be a middleground for folks with wood piles stacking up.

What’s the kerf on the Woodmaster Brad?

The kerf is .060”






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