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Do you have any tips. Do you use bending plywood around a form. Vacuum clamp two veneers of 3/16" bending plywood?

I don't think that many do. For the money, you'd be hard pressed to beat the quality of an Access 3 case. True, to get the discount, you need to buy 4 at a time, but still, by the time you've bent the sides and/or top, added the hardware, bought the foam for the inside and put it all together...

Speaking of Access, does anyone have any information about Keith Rampey? I know he had taken ill a while back. I hope he is better!

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

How about a link so I can look into it I didn't find anything when I googled it.
But I'm still trying to to keep the cost down as $150 for a case is more then I want to spend. I mean I just built a guitar from scratch. So I'm thinking I should be able to put a half decent case for it. I'm just looking for some tips on construction. It doesn't have to be too fancy with the carved top just a flat top will do. I can get a Gibson j-45 case for $150 and a seconded Martin 540 case for $110 when the factory scratches one. Then you tack another $40-$50 shipping. And right now I have time to make one. It's like all this stuff. I could buy benders, dishes, binding machines and etc. If I didn't have the time and had the cash. Maybe some day when I have some commissions and it's figured into the cost.

The cost of building a case of even entry level quality will be ridiculously higher than
that of buying a high quality case made by a readily tooled manufacturer like TKL or
others.

There was a builder several years ago who told me that they were going to try to set
up a form and heater similar to what Taylor uses to bend their case sides. He abandoned
the prospect once he started to get a clear idea of the cost compared to simply buying them.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Chris,

There's an ebay seller I believe they're called Riceage Music They have cases from time to time that you often can get on auction for less than $65 - $70 delivered. These cases are generally pretty nice and are often seconds or scratch & dent models. I've bought luthier project guitars from them in the past to practice my repair skills at unbeatable prices delivered. The name I posted above is an active link to their ebay site.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Kevin, Do you have a source for purchase that will give a builders discount?
I'll check that out too Bill.

Chris, Cedar Creek and Ameritage both give steep discounts to builders, but the cases are still around $200. They're mucho nice, though. They're very easy to talk with over the phone.

Chris,

I did a google search and came up with this site.

http://www.kevinchilcott-luthier.co.uk/ ... ase-p1.htm

It is part of Kevin Chilcott's site. It doesn't have full insturctions, but you might be able to wing it from here. I think I have a link somwhere that shows the full process similar to Kevin's. I need to look for it (but that may have been Kevin's site).

Of course I have not tried it. I was thinking about building a Uke case a couple of years ago.

Good luck, and I'm going to want to see a video.

John

I made a case once for an old A-style Gibson mandolin, only because I had no job, no money and lots of time. I used 1/8" lauan door skin plywood and hardware store, well, hardware. At the time, I didn't know where to get decent plywood or HW, but it turned out OK. I learned a lot, wouldn't do it again unless I got that destitute again.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Chris, I haven't thought about building a case but I build a lot of furniture that is curved.
Two pieces of bending ply is a good idea. I usually do it and then veneer after, but to cut cost you could kerf your own hardwood ply (1/4" perhaps) for the outside and upholster the inside. Vacuum clamping around a form would be best, but you could also clamp around a form. Make sure you use a caul (bending ply works well) and use a form (3/4" mdf stacked to full width of you piece). Drill some holes (1 1/4" - 1 1/2") for the clamp heads to grab onto and clamp from the holes to the caul with the two finish pieces in between the caul and the form. It works just fine.

If you do this can we see pics? !!

You guys are giving me ideas for sure keep them coming. So really all I need to do is make a outside mold and a inside form and then just clamp across the outside mold using bending plywood. I have a tutorial over at MIMF's library where I bent the sides for a metal tricone. I can do the same setup but with a case form. I have a J45 case which is what I need to build so I only need to trace it to get my shape and I could make the forms hollow simular to a bender form. Bending the ribs would be a breeze I think. Let me put another question out here. Do you think if I took a piece of 3/4" plywood and cut it to shape for the top and bottom and then carved the arch into it for a form. Do you think I could glue up some veneers of bending plywood over it with a vacuum frame and it would form and hold the arch. That's if I wanted to get fancy and decide to give it a try.

What about an old style coffin case? No bending.

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Tom Krebs

Nope, I'm just not into that look. There's just something about the curves of a guitar that I find appealing. I wonder why?

Chris,
2 pieces 1/8" bending ply. It is often called italian bending ply or bending popular. You only need a inside mold and use some 3/8" bending for a outside caul + some wood cauls across the whole set up. Holes and clamps in your inside mold as Randolph has suggested. I would use Uni-bond to glue the 2 pieces of 1/8 bending ply and after I would coat with West Sytems or simular laminating epoxy. This will really strengthen and stiff up the whole deal.
Link

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

Chris:

It looks like a tuitorial coming up! I would like to see a tuitorial for sure on case building. I like the idea of an arched top & bottom, but would not want to carve a plywood form. Having seen virtually all of your toots, I bet you think of something.

Dan

We shouldn't get into a wholesale price conversation here, but unless you know something/someone I don't you can't get an Ameritage for $200. I am paying quite a bit more.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

We shouldn't get into a wholesale price conversation here, but unless you know something/someone I don't you can't get an Ameritage for $200. I am paying quite a bit more.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Ditto on what Link says, especially the Unibond. Make sure whatever you bend is thin (1/8" or less).

Hi Chris,

Another vote for 2 pieces of bending 1/8" ply. I have never used Unibond, and would think that just about any white or yelow glue purchased in an economical (1/2 gal or gal) size would be fine. I have built a fair share of speaker cabinets and curved furniture, and used the 1/8" Baltic Birch bendable ply and also some other 1/8" bendable poplar plywood (careful: some 1/8" plywood is engineered to stay flat - get stuff engineered to bend.) I found the 3/8" thick bender board to be floppy, but 2 layers of 1/8" bending ply glued together is stiff.

I have thought about this too (for odd sized instruments), and I think you could install a top and bottom (glue and pneumatic staples), trim the top and back just like a guitar, round over the edges, then cut it open with a wing cutter on a router. Using high-tack spray glue, fabric and a judicious razor knife, you could cover the exterior. To glue foam on the inside, and to glue cloth over the foam, I think you need to check for compatibility between the glue (and its solvent), and the foam - or you could easily melt the foam.

Let me know what you come up with for latches - preferably something without the infamous brass plated teeth of death sticking out.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Once again I will sing the prases of Uni bond. You guys have to give it a try.
Once you use Uni-bond you will never look back. It is vastly superior to yellow for laminating and veneering. Very rigid, no spring back, easy to mix and forgiving of mixing ratios. You can mix it by volume from 1 to 3......to 1 to 6 and it will work fine. Won't curl veneers like yellow and there is no creep. Very water resistant to the point of almost being water proof. Easy to sand with any bleed through. For bent laminations you get smaller glue lines and again no spring. It will fill gaps better than yellow also. The only down side is the formaldehyde component and the non reversibility. For gluing joinery as in mortise and tenon work I like yellow and even white as I think a little give in a cross grain joint is a good thing. But for laminating and veneering, Uni-bond ( or any other urea formaldehyde glue but especially Uni bond) is the cat's meow.
I have had some issues with yellow glued veneer and so have some peers and also some issues with bent laminations. (Spring back, creep ) From my experience and now hundreds of students at College of the Redwoods experience and many more hundreds of furniture pieces the yellow glue has had issues and the Uni-bond has been a unqualified success. No issues when used properly. Again, I am speaking of bent laminations and veneering. Chris's project is a kind of bent lamination.
Link

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

Here's a chart that tells the bending radius of the different bending woods.
http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/ ... orming.htm
But I think Alain and Kevin are right as by the time you buy the parts you would have as much invested as if you bought one for $120. I'd be better off making somethig else and selling it and take the extra cash and buy a case.

Chris, go for it. A custom guitar deserves a custom case. Could be a market for it. I am struggling also with the Harp Guitar case. I hate those things that look like giant suit cases. I want one conformed to the harp shape. And I will make one.

Mike

Chris, I saw a case built with leather and sheet a metal. It was very unique. Shaped metal with glued on leather outside and padding inside. The leather was joined with spiral stitching. Leather hinges and belt buckles. Maybe way off your track, but never the less it was very old world and elegant. Cheers.

p.s - Love the videos!

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Tom Krebs

Dennis,

Where does one get 1/8" BB? And, would that not be expensive over kill?

Mike

Dixie Lumber Co. Whole sale lumber dealers. There might be one in AL. There's one a half hour from here.