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Same vise, $132.99 at Woodworker's Supply. woodworker.com

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I've been thinking about building a vise like this for years, I think it could be a nice alternative to my patternmaker's vise, Versa-vise, Record vise and various others; I have many. Multiple alternatives are usually a good thing in my world, I don't think there is a single "best" vise that can do everything in an instrument maker's workshop.

As for the history of the leg vise in guitar making, I have seen a variation of it in pictures of D'angelico's shop. Perhaps he saw it in the Gibson factory, who knows, it is a traditional design for sure, so its probably been used by instrument makers as well as other craftsmen for ages. Anyways, here's one picture I found on the web that's supposed to be from the D'angelico workbench.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Thanks Arnt, seeing that picture's make me feel less guilty about the state of my workbench!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

+5

Very cool pic Arnt and thanks for posting it! This places one of these vices in New York in the past. The forensics continue.....

Interesting that it is located in the middle of the length of the bench instead of the end. And that a guitar body would hang out over the front edge of the bench so if you leaned on it you could do some damage. Perhaps it was used for necks before they had bodies (sounds like the plot of a zombie movie.)

Ed

Hesh - thanks for sharing, I think I'll be adding one of these to my bench.

I have a generic pattern makers vice that I picked up one sale, but added the Stew Mac nyloc nut hardware.

Has anyone taken the handwheel off of a Stew Mac pattern makers vice to see how they worked the roller bearings?

Re: the D'Angelico photo:

And I thought I was messy. Look at the decades of schmutz on that vise.

So I'm not the only one to wipe glue off my fingers on the bench somewhere I'm in good company.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

+1 The underside of my benches must look like the underside of a grade 3 school desk!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Mine too! Bottom of bench, bottom of drill press table, bottom of solera, bottom of Radial arm saw table, you name it!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I was at the the Santa Cruz factory a few years ago, they had 'decorated' the uprights around the go-bar deck with so much glue they looked like weird, giant candles. Art by accident

Sent fra min SM-G920F via Tapatalk

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Found a picture (sorry about the blur, I only had a cheapo cell phone). OK, maybe not candles, but you get the idea...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

That's some serious crustacean....

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I'm just glad to know it's glue!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Do you KNOW it's glue? I don't have to touch it, so I'm happy to assume it's glue. God knows what else gets wiped on there.

Instead of a," what's on your bench" thread, maybe it's time for a What's on the underside of your bench thread

Glad I'm only 8 years old. Otherwise I'd be embarrassed that all roads lead to booger jokes.

"Interesting that it is located in the middle of the length of the bench instead of the end. And that a guitar body would hang out over the front edge of the bench so if you leaned on it you could do some damage. Perhaps it was used for necks before they had bodies (sounds like the plot of a zombie movie.)"

I can see some advantages to that arrangement. Having half the body off the bench may make it easier to work on for some operations. Having the vise in the middle of the bench would allow you to reverse sides to work on the opposite side of the body.
His leg vise looks almost as old as mine.

Clay, one issue w/ having a leg vice in the middle of the bench is, if it doesn't rotate, it could be hard to access vertical tuners like on a slot head. Especially w/ a power winder. That's how I wound up with my vice on a 4x4 stalk coming off the bench.

The stalk is anchored to the underside of the bench top with one countersunk 5/8" carriage bolt. If you loosen the bolt, it can swing around to a different orientation. I also made up a few of these plywood "C" washers in different thicknesses so I can change the height by just moving them from the bottom to the top w/ out unscrewing the vice hardware every time.

It's not perfect I'm always looking for other ways but it's where I've evolved to at the moment.

Anyone else got unique vise setup to share?

Given to Stefan Sobell by Dan Erlewhine:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/22525874136/in/dateposted-public/

Ed

That's a tidy bit of kit, but does the rear "jaw" swivel to hold tapered workpieces? Can't see.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I have one of StewMacs ultimate vices-looks just like the one Ed showed. Rear vice jaw swivels.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

There are a number of factors too numerous to get in to, both major and minor, which may influence one's preference for style of work holding device. I can certainly see reason for diversity in preference. That said, I have a pattern makers vice, and it's been at least 4-5 years since I've last found reason to use it.

The leg vise is an age old design, and has been commonly used in this trade for some time. Some of the preference may depend on what you are familiar with and used to, and I have certainly incorporated a few minor refinements to the traditional leg vice to accommodate special applications over the years.

Maybe it's just an issue of familiarity, or maybe it is an idealized fixture that has co-evolved with my needs and techniques over the years, but if all I had available were a pattern makers vice today I believe I would feel terribly crippled in day to day tasks.

Use what you like, try different approaches, and pick what suits you best. I may make a video in coming months featuring our work holding fixtures if time allows, which may reveal a level of versatility in the leg vice arrangement which may not be immediately apparent. I'll try my best to put something together as time allows.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

This Sir is extremely well said!!!

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Here is one that Chris Pyle bought from Dan Erlewine at a show - don't know when, but it appears to be a scanned photograph, so 15-20 years?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/22013817674/in/album-72157636540926993/

Chris has raised the bench with leg extensions. This vise has a device (a vise device?) borrowed from cabinetmaker's leg vises. Also, at the bottom of the 2 legs is a bar sticking left with holes in it - as you open the jaws, you put a pin (black circle at bottom of left jaw) in the appropriate hole to keep the jaws parallel when you tighten them. For guitars, this is redundant because we are grabbing necks that are all within a small range of widths and you can build the vise with this distance between the jaws. I suppose you could grab a body - David and Hesh, do you do this?

Ed