Official Luthiers Forum!

Canadian Tire has their version of a multi-tool on sale at half price:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/HobbyToolsAccessories/SandingGrinding/PRD~0541238P/Mastercraft%252BOscillating%252BTool%252Bwith%252B15%252BAccessories%25252C%252B12V.jsp?locale=en

I'm tempted to buy one but I can't think of how I could use it. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Similar to this?
http://www.frets.com/fretspages/luthier/Tools/BoneSaw/bonesaw.html

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Evan McCartney

You might could use it to remove a neck on one of the import jobs that has the neck epoxied in place.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Been there, done that. A flush cutting Japanese pullsaw actually works better.

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13

Strangely enough, I have been musing this exact question over the past few days.

I am still getting it together for building my first acoustic, and it seemed to me that the multimaster might be the perfect tool to cut the sides to the right height to accept the kerfed linings.

Assuming you bend the sides while they are parallel, you then need to prep the sides prior to sanding them on your radius board after the linings are glued on, right ?

Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

My father gave one to me for christmas, thinking I could make good use of it building guitars. Up to now, I haven't figured anything to do with it, so it's still in its original box!

The only thing I might try eventually is for (dry) sanding between coats of finish.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Thanks for the responses. Guess I'll give it a pass since I don't expect to be sawing off any guitar necks any time soon and I don't see much else to do with it.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

When I did this procedure while at Harry Fleishman's school, we did the following:
[list=][*]Put the radius disk upside down on the sides, blocked up 1" on the butt end
[*]Attached a 1" block to a pencil
[*]Starting at the butt end, used the pencil blocked against the radius disk to draw a line on the sides to show where to cut them. At the butt end, the pencil is even with the top (or bottom, since it's the back) of the sides because of the block on the pencil and the block holding the block up.[/list]

We then used a block plane to cut the sides down to the line we drew on the sides. It took all of five minutes, maybe, and was practically the easiest part of the process.

I have no idea what this tool actually does, except that it would appear to oscillate. But that's a mere detail. The main thing is, you want one and it's on sale!

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I use my fein multi tool often for touch sanding and cutting. Having said that only the good ones like the Fein and Festool are worth owning. The porter cable detail sander is a piece of junk as is the riobe.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

I cut a side earlier tonight, I liked it. I might not have bought it, but it was a gift.

Howard has hit the issue on the head. I want one and it's on sale.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Thanks John, for that tip about marking out the sides, makes a great deal of sense. Would it save time using a fine bladed coping saw rather than a block plane ?

The one great advantage of the multimaster from a carpenter's point of view (and the poster above is correct that only the Fein is worth buying) is that it is the only tool which allows you to trim the underside of a door in situ, and also to trim baseboards (UK 'skirtings') in situ to allow an expansion gap for laminate flooring.

However, it is probably not destined to be of much use in luthiery.

Or is it, you saw it was on sale and you suddenly wanted/needed one?

My mother-in-law is like that. For example, even though she wore out about only three or four utility knife blades in here entire life, she nonetheless decided to buy a box of 200, just because it was on sale. Needless to say her house is piled up with stuff...

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

I have one from HF that I bought to work some tile. After using it, I don't think I would bring it near a guitar. Too much "concentrated" power. Prolly good for setting up those vibration patterns I read about in here... But like Howard said, it's on sale and you want one. What else do u need to know?

If you are going to get one then the Fein is the one to get. You have to look at the cycles of it. The Fein is 20K and the cheaper ones are 10K. You can be sure the HF blades aren't going to be as good as the Fein also. Do you really expect a $30 tool to be as good or equal to a $300 tool??? I have the HF, figured I'd give it a try but bought it for a carpentry floor job for cutting up the old partical board floor flush with the bottom of the existing cabinets to get in the toe space. The blade didn't stay sharp very long and the mounting pins sheared at the end. It's also louder and not as smooth or fast as the Fein. But for $30 it served it's one time purpose.

Actually I've decided against it (the Canadian Tire version that was on sale) primarily because it is battery powered. I have some battery powered tools, but for the most part, I think the downside of batteries outweigh their benefits as far as tools are concerned.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Actually I've decided against it (the Canadian Tire version that was on sale) primarily because it is battery powered. I have some battery powered tools, but for the most part, I think the downside of batteries outweigh their benefits as far as tools are concerned.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Place one on ur strings and bridge tied down with rubber bands and switch it on......tooooooneriiittttteee!!!!

Martin uses them to clean out glue from fret slots on re-frets.