Official Luthiers Forum!

I was in the mood to upgrade my binding rig, so i went to a local place that sells strange scientific equipment, lab stuff, computer bits, and basically nerd gear. I knew i wouldnt leave without at least one cool thing- here it is

$15 bucks for everything i could fit in my car! This is a polaroid land camera doo-hicky. It works just like the truchannel rig from stewmac, exept super heavy duty and smooth. It required almost no work to fit with a laminate trimmer, and it works great.

It also doubles as a light duty pin router, perfect for cutting "f" holes in archtops.

_________________
Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Here is the next cool thing- dentists chairs

We got four of these for free (well, the price of hauling them away) from a dentist who was getting newer chairs.

These suckers are HEAVY, and with a nice small benchtop to discourage clutter, a good vice and some handy drawers, they become an ideal bench for guitar work.

The best feature is that they are adjustabe up and down, and they rotate. You can set your work at the perfect height for the task. A bench that won't go up and down just seems wrong after using these.

I still need a traditional style bench for heavy planing, but i spend 90% of my time at one of these.

_________________
Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Brilliant Jordan!!!

Jordan, my hats off to you dude!

That is the coolest scrounging I've seen in a long while!

Now I neeeed a dentist chair, that is the coolest idea for a bench!

Muy impressed, wow!

Thanks for the ideas,
Joe

He's a Tuthier by golly!

Mike

Scroungers are my kind of people. Nice finds!

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

dude, that is freaking awesome! i thought the polaroid rig was cool, then you one upped yourself with the dentist chairs. way to be bro.

_________________
sweat the small stuff.

Now you just need the dental light to go with it and you'd be really set.
Great finds.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

And... if you can charge Dentist prices or get insurance to reimburse you...

Don't forget--and this is what would really interest me--the nitrous oxide rig. When you really screwed up some expensive wood, just a whiff or two of the happy gas, and suddenly it doesn't matter.

Nice haul, Jordan. Very creative.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

One more handy thing for today, most of us have one or more of those drill press circle cutters around the shop. You can sharpen the blade to a scalpel point, and you have an instant purfling cutter, a lot like the gramil lmii sells for around $50. You dont even have to trash the tool to do it. I made mine for doing violin purflings, but it comes in handy a suprising amount in guitar work.

_________________
Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

As if those other scrounges aren't cool enough, that circle cutter/gramil application is great! I've got one, now to try it out.

BTW, it works great for rosette channel cutting if mounted in the drill press and simply spun by hand. A few turns around are all it takes. Super scary when powered.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I have that tool... but when powered, I don't like how one side of the cut is gouged at an angle. I obviously am missing something here. But I installed the cutter as shown in the instructions. I guess I do not know why the cutter has those particular angles.

Mike

Mike,

The cutter has two cutting ends, the one sticking out when you get it, and the other is inside the cutter. You have to remove the blade and turn it over. Each cutting edge is prepped for either inside circle, or outside circle, cutting.

It's operated pointy end first, not the knife edge. The edge is actually angled such that it allows for the circular cut.

When I hand spin it, drill press unplugged of course, I turn it backwards and let the knife edge score the wood and work down. At least, I think that I do it that way, I'm working from memory, and you know how your memory works when your old enough to be invisible to teenagers.

Also, stock, the blade is relatively sharp, but really benefits from a proper sharpening.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Those are great finds and great ideas, Jordan. I'll bet your whole shop is full of great stuff. I've been meaning to bug you guys with a visit for a long time now. I'll have to get around to that one of these days.

I'm pleased as punch, by the way, to see you here on the OLF. You just kinda slipped in here almost unnoticed a couple weeks ago, humble as pie. But, truth be told, your presence here is a tremendous asset to the forum.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the instruments that come out of the Ithaca Stringed Instruments shop, they are absolutely phenomenal. These Aceto guys are among the best of the best, the cream of the cream. (I'm assuming you're still in the same shop with your pop - please correct me if I'm wrong.) What they create not only represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship and artistry, it is the work of true genius in every respect. Check 'em out, they'll blow your pants off. I ain't lyin'.

Jordan is no slouch with a six string in his hands either (as a player I mean, and I'm talking about a guitar, not a six string violin like his dad plays!).

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Nice to have you, Jordan. Welcome. Great tip!

Also like the dentist chair. There was as luthiers gathering in Seattle a few years ago and we toured the Dusty Strings harp factory. They had a whole slew of them on the factory floor.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Too cool Jordan!!

Am I seeing it right? You use the headrest on the back of the chair as a neck support?

Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

-Am I seeing it right? You use the headrest on the back of the chair as a neck support?-

Yep, the other benches either got a guitar repair vice or a parrot vice. The black bench was way too flash looking, with chrome bits and shiny blackness, looking like it came straight off the death star, we wanted to keep as much of it around as possible. It's a little hard to see in the picture, we added a light duty shopmade wooden vice to the end of the headrest.

Anyone else care to drag out your cheap/free finds?

_________________
Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

The dentist chair gets my vote for the coolest workbench ever - not only cool, but 100% practical. Thanks for sharing this

_________________
John Ressler

[quote="Todd Rose"] I've been meaning to bug you guys with a visit for a long time now. I'll have to get around to that one of these days.

Come on over, it's always fun to nerd out .

_________________
Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Jordan, that is some really sweet mod work you have done! I'm going to stop tossing anything, and go dumpster diving now.......

_________________
Brad Tucker

Man Jordan, you're blowing me away. So simple and obvious, yet we don't see it, turning a fly cutter into a gramil type purfling cutter.

Thanks again and keep 'em coming,
Joe

Too funny you used the "N" word. When one of my patient's found out I was building a guitar, she went on and on about how her dad has built several and how he'd love to have a "guitar nerd" friend.

Cool stuff Jordan. I'm always on the lookout for recycled goods. Kitchen cabinets for benches, etc. Now I'll be on the lookout for dental chairs.

Darrin

That stuff is way too cool. I likes your Simpsons quote too.

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

For wood, a scrounge might develop a relationship with an Urban Wood Salvage company. I have recently scored lots of quartered white oak, and the folks at my connection are on the lookout for curly maple, osage orange, walnut and cherry for me.

Horigan Urban Products, Inc., in Skokie is my connection to recycled wood. You might be able to find someplace similar if you live in a city.

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