Official Luthiers Forum!

First and foremost I apologize for talking about furniture on a guitar forum of all places, but I'm planning out my first build and gathering materials, tools, etc. It's been awhile since I've worked with wood, and even then I did mostly construction work as opposed to fine wood work and I'd like to build a few simple pieces of furniture so I can reorient myself with woodworking and get comfortable with the tools I'll be using. Mainly I need to focus on carving and routing, joining and finishing. I've already planned out a stool and a rocking chair, but I'd like to get one or two more pieces of furniture in before I tackle the guitar and I'm fresh out of ideas. I don't have any room or need for anything like a desk, table, dresser etc so something small and intricate with a lot of attention to detail would be ideal. Suggestions?

Hi Dan,

You might get more joy from the furniture makers on SawMillCreek.org. We tend to stay pretty much right on topic here on the OLF. IMO, the best way to prepare yourself to learn the woodworking skills necessary to build acoustic guitars is to start building acoustic guitars.

Cheers,
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"

I would think something that would be useful for building your guitar would be appropriate. Such as any jig, maybe a micrometer, cam clamps, handles for chisels and rasps, etc.

Dave,
Thanks for the link, I'll be sure to look into it. I don't know if I got my message across properly, but my focus here IS guitars, the furniture is just a nice refresher. Plus I get that stool that I've been needing for awhile now . So let me rephrase my question here, while I'm working on the furniture what skills should I really try to perfect as much as I can? I know it's going to be different for every person I ask, some will say solid chisel work, some will say precise measurements and so on but I'd still like to hear from people with experience. Thanks for any input you can give me.

Jeremy,
I already have my hands full with preparations and jig making. Who would've thought that making the actual guitar is only half the work?

Best to the both of you

Humidors and some jewelry boxes can involve as much intricate work as an instrument

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Why not a music stand?

Something curvey, to get some joinery and bending chops.

Use mahogany to figure out how it carves.

Finish it with nitro and get some practice there, too.

In ninth grade I made a cutting board, sanding block, and a bowl. Then, 20 years later, I started making guitars. Jump right in. Ask lots of questions. Lots of people here to help.

Skills you might want to work on:
sharpening stuff,
figuring out how you're going to place and mark your measurements so you're consistent from the beginning,
patience,
jig building,
credit card using.

Seriously, I didn't know what I was doing and I made some guitars. The problems with my first were caused by my lack of guitar building experience, not my lack of woodworking experience.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

Wall cabinet in what some folks might refer to as Krenov style. The term makes me cringe, however I digress. Do one with a glass door. Look in his (Krenov's books) for inspiration and how to's. A wall cabinet with a glass door can/will have mullions (great for brace work, cross lap joints etc.) a back panel that will need edge jointing (tops and backs) a dovetailed drawer (precision fitting, sawing, and chisel work). Lots of flat surfaces to plane, finish etc. The door frame will have open mortice and tenons. Covers about everything. I think it much more valuable than a stool or chair.
You can take it to as high a level of refinement as you have ability.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Furniture!!!! What's furniture got to do with Lutherie......

Well Dan right after I moved and built a new shop for guitar making my first time out with some of my new tools and in my new digs was to build a couple of stinkin Bluebird houses..... Last February 2nd I spotted 3 bluebirds on my back deck and this inspired the idea. By late February I had been out in the frigid Michigan winter sinking 3/4 conduit 24" into the ground and dumping in the quik-set concrete....

To make a long story short at least 8 baby Bluebirds were born in my back yard last summer so the project had an additional benefit beyond just getting me back in the swing of things....

Good luck.

There ya go, Hesh. Building your own musical accompaniment!

One specific skill which is important and didn't get singled out is jointing and edge joining panels or boards. This can get lot's of practice - laminating up a block for your stool top, making a few small table tops, making some bookmatched panels for small cabinets or jewelry boxes, etc. It is one skill that carries over into guitar making very directly.

Otherwise, I think a lot of guitar specific things come from building guitars.

As mentioned, building jigs and getting them accurate is good practice, and allows you to start the real guitar building without having to fight with your jigs and setups on the fly.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

The one furniture project that probably helped me the most when I ventured into guitars was a small table with cabriole legs carving the legs is a great warm up to carving a neck. I think necks are easier, first u have, or at least should have one flat side and there is only one per project.

Think of what makes a "Good Musical Instrument" to most players...

It isn't Tone 1st... It isn't a shiny finish... It isn't gap free joints...

It is usually Comfort and Playability... The feel of the neck is usually the 1st thing a musician checks out... You could practice this by carving chair legs or carving table legs.... but Necks are easier.

The next thing is Setup and Playability... That frets don't stick out over the end of the fretboard.. The frets must be in the right place and must be levelled and crowned properly. The intonation must be right. The bridge must be in the right place. The nut and saddle must be made and setup properly or playability and tone will greatly suffer.

These important things are very hard to practice with "Woodworking"....

You can have a surprisingly rough looking Guitar from a "Woodworking" perspective that plays like a dream and sounds great.... and you can have a surprisingly perfect looking Guitar from a pure "Woodworking" perspective that is an absolute unplayable pig! Many beginners end up with the 2nd... A shining beautiful Gem... that is absolutely unplayable!

Honestly, the best practice in my mind is:
Buy a beater thrift store $50.00 guitar. Do a full-on complete Refret, Level, and Crown on it. Make a new Bone Nut and Saddle and do a full setup on it. If necessary, reset the neck and bridge so it plays right... Adjust the trussrod, get it fully setup so it is really super-easy to play...

This would be really good practice... because it is absolutely no fun to try playing a poorly or incorrectly setup guitar!

Thanks

John

You could build a wood tool box to keep some tools in for guitar building with dovetailed drawers.If would provide practice and could be used as well.

Furniture? Who needs it.....

http://charlesfreeborn.com

But seriously, I agree, make yourself a nice tool cabinet with hand cut dovetail drawers. Something I've never gotten around to doing for myself...

Taunton Press (puts out Finewoodworking Mag, among others) has lots of plans and books.
http://store.taunton.com/onlinestore/ca ... oodworking
Also you should be able to search and buy or download plans from back issues of FWW mag.

-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

I agree that building a work bench, molds, jigs, etc. is good experience and provides you with the items that you'll need anyway.
Once you start building guitars, you'll start looking at furniture in a whole new way, as in "boy, that would be nice wood for a guitar".

I want to second the idea of SawMillCreek.org. Great site!!! For all things wood. Not that we are trying to run you off! You can do both.

Mike

You could make some cutting boards and get some practice with joining wood, sanding, planing, etc. Could even put a binding edge around it.

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Build a small box with dovetail joints cut by hand.

I go with Todd Stock here... While dovetail boxes and things such as it are cool in their own rite... and they do take skill to put together... and making them takes special router jigs you won't use on your Guitar... or by hand...with Saws and chisels set up differently than you might want them for a Guitar... The skills required to make them almost don't overlap Guitars at all....

Most of the joints in a guitar are boring Lap joints (Unless you are Howard Klepper..)... The only dovetail people use is an "Oddball" locking/hidden type that isn't really used in furniture.... We hide most of our ugly glue joints under fancy inlay bindings....

On the other hand... building a Guitar takes lots of work on Thin wood... Bending thin wood, gluing thin wood, cutting thin wood, jointing thin wood... etc.

So... I would go for practice on thin wood.... Practice making strong joints in stock that is 1/8" thick and thinner. Work on your confidence with wood that is 1/10" and 1/16" thick... learn to handle it, thin it, saw it, work it, glue, joint, etc...

Making Intarsia Christmas ornaments is one place you can do stuff like this.... Bent wood boxes is another... Boxes made out of really thin wood is another (But you don't have to dovetail them... better practice would be to miter all the corner joints or lap the joints then bind all the joints...)

The other place that kills folks (Like Me) is finishing... It takes tons of practice and work to get a Guitar Finish to come out halfway respectable... So.. This would be *EXCELLENT* practice... Take plenty of time lacquering or varnishing up your thin wood boxes and intarsia ornaments so they glisten...

Thanks

John