Official Luthiers Forum!

Announcing new aluminum lining clamps.

As the initial rush of neck orders is nearly finished, I have been pondering what I should offer next. Lining clamps. But not your usual, everyday lining clamps.

They are loosely based on the Taylor lining clamps, but I will offer them in two configurations; one for traditional triangle shaped kerfed linings and one for flat linings (such as the reversed kerfed linings -- not pictured).

These aluminum clamps will be 1/2" wide, extruded, polished, and anodized and feature the following benefits -

* Employ a very strong surgical tubing band (far stronger than rubber bands)

* Fits perfectly on your choice of linings and applies pressure evenly (unlike clothes pins, pony clamps, or binder clips)

* Aligns the lining with the top of the rim automatically


The custom extrusion dies are being machined right now. The clamps will be delivered in about 8 weeks. I had to purchase a minimum of 1200 lbs. of these, so I'm going to offer special pre-sale pricing to hopefully move a bunch of them quickly. The price is going to be $100 for 30 clamps once they get here, but anyone who orders ahead will receive 50 clamps. Anyone who buys two sets (100 clamps / $200) will receive a bonus of ten 1/4" clamps for those tight spots.

I'm going out on a limb with these as this is a pretty expensive under-taking, but I really think we need something like this and I know there's nothing similar out there for less than twice the cost.

No special forms for this one, just paypal me directly. Shipping is included for this hemisphere.

Come and get em'!

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

John, for reverse style clamps, what is the length of the clamp jaw ??? I use kerfing thats about 5/8-3/4 tall, and glue it on proud of the rim.

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

Tony, it'll be about 5/8". It's not limited in the way that the angled ones are so I made it about 1/16" longer.

Will that work for you?John Watkins38923.3471412037

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

John I'll take 50 for flat linings.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

What is the shipping likely to cost to Australia for 50 or 100?

Maybe it would be cheaper if a bunch of us Aussies pooled our orders for one shipment that one of us could split up and send on to everyone else? Any takers?

Hi John,

I'll take 100. Pay pal on the way.

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Paul Bordeaux
http://www.bordeauxinlay.com

Good idea, PaulB. Looks like $18 for 50 and about $30 for 100. By comparison, 10 sets (500 clamps) would only be $100, or $10 each set. That's USPS Global Express.John Watkins38923.4018865741

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

John,

If replacement rubbers will be easy enough to get hold of, you can put me down for 50 to suit reverse kerfing thanks.

Paul, I don't know whether or not it will be cost affective to send a bunch at one time to AU and then split them given what Auspost will then charge from east to west plus the re-packaging cost. If it works I am keen, who knows, John may even cut us a deal so we all get the bonus 10 1/4 clamps if we get enough of us to commit

Anyhow, it is probably best at this stage that we wait to see what John comes back with for shipping per 50 individually to AU before we can evaluate the benefit of a group buy.

Cheers

Kim

John, put me down for a an order of each. I'll send PayPal now.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

John
These look almost identical to the set I have. I purchased them from Taylor
Guitars. You may want to check if they have a patent on them
Andy

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Andy, Bob appears to only hold one patent; his neck shimming system. My understanding is that they no longer sell the clamps you have, and I did credit them with the design (see above), so hopefully we're not stepping on any toes here.

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

they do still sell the clamps, but you have to call and ask. I bought some from them and they work ok I guess. Little cheaper than your clamps, but I'm all about supporting the Big J (that's you).....John Mayes38925.4908564815

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

5/8 is pretty good John - I am debating whether I really need them or not (I want/need more zoot, and routers) !!!!

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

You know for less than the price of 1 set of nice wood they will be the last set of clamps you will ever need.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I called Taylor about 6 weeks (or so) ago and they told me they didn't sell them any more.

hmmm....

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Just for fun I did a quick search at the USPTO and found two patents for Taylor. John, you are right, one is for the adjustable guitar neck.

The other is for a guitar with a relief cut adjacent the lining formed in the top and bottom plates. Interesting. I guess the idea is to promote more flexible coupling between the sides and plates.

...too much information?

Anyway, beautiful clamps, John.

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

JOhn, maybe I missed it but what is your pay pal id???

I'll take $100 worth

50 of the reverse kerfed variety please! Thanks John, PERFECT timing on
this.

Paypal is on the way...

Cheers,
-Dave

Thanks, guys. The address is john(at)watkinsguitars(dot)com

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

[QUOTE=Brock Poling]
I called Taylor about 6 weeks (or so) ago and they told me they didn't sell them any more.

hmmm....[/QUOTE]
Maybe you have to be a service center then cause I ordered mine through a good friend who is a Authorized Taylor service center. Got like 110 clamps for $144...

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

John,
Thanks for putting this together. I have Paypalled you.
Kelby.

I'd also note that my Taylor clamps don't get much use because they do not fit my kerfing just right...they were made to fit Taylors kerfing and unless you use kerfing exactly like thiers then it's no good... I'm sure John's clamps will fit your kerfing just right so that is a big plus for John's clamps.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com