Official Luthiers Forum!

I don't know how old many of you builders are,but I started in 1954. You could not even buy frets,unless you got lucky and found a bundle in some music store. No side bending irons,no BOOKS,no nothing. And NOBODY who had ever built a guitar to tell you how to do anything (like how to bend sides).

I was in Alaska,in Ketchikan,when I started building. They had a big spruce mill there. I was unable to get a decent piece of quartered Sitka spruce there,because they were sending 2 million board feet of wood to rebuild Korea at the time. Plus,they didn't quarter saw anything. Just cut straight through the logs.

We moved down to Va. in 1957,and the first place I found where I could get parts was from Carvin Guitars in Covina,California. They sold pickups and other parts back then. Think they've moved now,and just sell finished products. I saw my first guitar building book in 1959. It was put out by Clifford Essex music co. in England. They had a builder there named Marco Roccio (sp?) It was not much of a book,but did have some useful information. The guitars were not great that he made. When I was in Alaska,though,it was still a territory. They used to send some pretty big artists to the schools up there. I guess to try to get some culture to the young people. Theodore Bickel( been a long time! sp?) came there,playing a Clifford Essex classical guitar,and singing. Annamaria Albergotti,a well known opera star came up,and several other performers.

This is wandering. I am talking about living in a vacuum,unable to get much of anything,and having no money to get it with anyway. I couldn't bend sides decently the first year. I soaked them,and bent them,but they wrinkled badly when drying. So,for the first few years,I made solid body electrics until I got information on how to bend the sides.

Now,everything is available so readily. You guys are lucky to be starting out now,if you ARE starting out now.

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[quote="Filippo MorelliMy tool acquisition theory is simple - great tools are a pleasure. I wish I could afford more hand made tools from folks like Dave Jeske at Blue Spruce Toolworks, or blades from Hock or more Lie-Nielsen stuff. There is a lot to be said for support those in the craft. It's not cheap to buy them, but then again how many of your are selling guitars that you made for $500?

Filippo[/quote]

There probably aren't many selling their guitars for $500, but I don't know of many that are getting wealthy building guitars. It's probably one of the most highly skilled and lowest paid vocations out there. I'm sure there are a few exceptions where the cost isn't an issue, but for many it is.

In any case, I agree with the idea of buying tools that are good enough. I've experienced the downside of buying some inexpensive tools that did not work as well as I wanted. They worked, sort of, but I did replace them with something better. On the other hand, I have also purchased some highly acclaimed, and expensive, tools that I regretted buying. While these were great tools, I honestly could have done just as well with much less expensive tools and I regretted spending the extra money on something, that for me, brought little added benefit, other than bragging rights.

Tools are a personal thing....to some, it's like collecting works of art and they want the best that they can get. Others just want something that will get the job done.

I am essentially a novice handtool user (couple years), but an experienced woodworker.... so when it came time to buy handtools, I bought the best I could.. and while some say the best versus the most expensive..
I find that the more expensive generally equate to the best usually, as tool making (as with anything else) is a very competitive market and its hard to price above what a tool is truly worth...
Buying vintage is another matter with its own pitfalls and advantages and is a topic in itself.... when the idea of new tools and older tools come up together the water always gets muddy... so Im gonna stick to talking about new tools!

Im finding it comes down to material quality and finish in the tools you buy... I bought two sets of bench chisels - Swiss Pfiel chisels and hand forged German LMI chisels... The hand forged German chisels are clearly superior - high polished.... and that was reflected in the price,,, they hold an edge way better and are just 50% sexier... with cocbolo looking handles (I think its actually that some type of Indian wood that LMI sells for handles - I dunno though)
WHat Im getting at is that I have never been dissapointed when I recieved a nice tool even if I paid alot for it -
Lie Nielsen planes, expensive? Not for what you get IMHO... you can use them right out of the box... thought youd be wise to set them up to your liking and once over the blade on some fine stones,,,
ANyhow I built some of my tools also - small planes, jigs, and such..
Having nice tools to make them made all the difference in them turning out nice themselves...
It amounts to a chain reaction - nice tools = work nice = nice work...
Crap tools = frustration = not the best work a man can do... as mindset when performing an operation is half the battle..
Ive rambled on enough so Im gonna stop now.... Ive made my point...
Cheers
Charlie