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Thanks Tracy, that gives me an idea on how to start thinking about this.

I just want to optimize the 5' the best way I can. Generally I can see my self building guitars, eventually some with cutaways and some ukes. I think my tenor uke had about 32" of lining material per side (top/back).

I measured a Dredish guitar I have and am figuring there is about 56" of lining material that would be used for that guitar. Assuming that I had 60 1/2" clamps, that would roughly mean that I would have about a 1/2" space between each clamp. Is this acceptable, or should I go with more 1/2" clamps? I know I am way over thinking this.

So how are others who picked up the 5’ stock planning on dividing it up?

John,
I've used these clamps on a SJ with a 16" lower bout and only used about 52-55 1/2" clamps with no spaces between each clamp to do the whole top side or the whole back side. So I'm not sure how you are measuring. If you have a mold of your guitar, you should be able to put some tape on the inside of the mold and mark the centerline halves. Then pull the tape off and mark off 1/2" marks. I think most larger guitars are around 25-27" per side(meaning treble or bass side of the lining). Most kerfed linings do come in 32" lengths, but you end up cutting about 5-7" off before installing and fitting. Hope that helps.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

And remember that 1/2" clamps will be much farther apart than 1/2" intervals. There are two band thickness in there.

Just thought I'd let you know, I cut all my clamp pieces on a small chop saw with a carbide blade. I made kind of a tray with a piece of 1x6 for the base with a 1x2 fence and clamped it to the saw. This gave me good support under and behind the cut off piece, and by letting the blade stop each time before raising it back up, the cut-off piece pretty much just lay there, sometimes a piece would kick off to the side, but none of the dangerous kicking and throwing when a small piece gets into the blade. So it worked good, pretty tedious and I'm glad it's done.

I got 55 1/2" clamps and 50 3/8" clamps out of a 5' extrusion. And for de-burring, the best way I've come up with so far is a wire brush chucked in the drill press and leather gloves. Not real fun either, but does a good job, I've done 5 clamps so far, only 200 more pieces to de-burr.
Wait a minute, I bought a set of reverse and traditional, so only 410 more pieces to de-burr!

Also the rubber bands seem like they'll work fine on the 3/8" clamps.
They sure look like they're going to be nice though.

Thanks John,
Joe

John says "The ones we sell complete have been deburred in a vibratory tumbler".

Would a rock tumbler work? My kids have one that has not been used in a while. Might could use for a small batch.

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Greg Hatcher
North Carolina