Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey guys,
I am wrapping up #2, have an order for and have started #3 and #7. #5 goes to a charity........ I gotta Jig up! I made a Bridge Jig, now what? Deflection tester? Stuff to build a more accurate neck? I have Radius Dishes, a bender, forms. Dust collection is at the top of my list. What did you guys do "Back in the day" to help bring consistency and quality to the build? The search engine worked too good. I couldn't find a good "compilation"

Just off the top of my head...

Fret slotting jig (make it yourself to go on a table saw)
Tenon cutter (Fox/Woolson type is a good place to start. I use the one from LuthierTool)
Mortise cutter (make it yourself you can buy a template from Stewmac if you like)
If you don't have a good micro adjustable circle cutter you want one of those. There are several versions around in the archives. Check out Tony Karol's

I have an "system" of dishes and forms. You can probably find it in the archives. I have shown it here a few times. They certainly are not "required" but they do make things nice and fast with little opportunity to screw up.

I have an x-brace cutter that is handy so you get the right angle every time (some use a table saw, I use a router)

I presume you have a fox bender? If not you definitely want that.


So there are a few... that should keep you busy for a while.

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

Do you have pictures of this or are any located on this site?

Great thread - I've bookmarked this one.....

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If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey

The only thing I haven't seen on here is a headstock routing template. I love the easy and precision of a good routing template.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Filippo, it's nice to see you using plywood for something

If you're not an ASIA member, then it's time to join so you can get this month's Guitarmaker Magazine. It has a reprint of an an article by Kevin Ryan called Jigs and Fixtures. It's the mother lode of his jigs and fixtures - 25 or 30 of them.

Hey Todd, that saddle mill looks like a good fixture. Did you build that? Could you maybe go into a little more detail on the workings of that machine?

Thanks to all of you who contributed to this thread. Fillippo--I think you owe that fretbuck a brass or bronze knurled knob.

If our contributors think more detailed information about their respective jigs exist in the archives, perhaps we need to discuss refining some search terms-not the engine itself-but suggestions in more detail for word/symbol combinations that will find your masterpieces.

Until Westlaw offered a "natural language" search engine I was nearly helpless. Then I actually became artful enough with NL that other lawyers would constantly call for help.Booliean(or whatever the spelling) is nowhere near as clear as its "homonym," boullion, which I can use successfully in many recipes.

I used to be fairly clever about jigs-making and understanding in my mind's eye-since the memory impairment, I often struggle visioning how the jig works. It is one of the most frightening aspects.

Todd- a comment on the "Titemark" and similar. I have a couple of wheel cutter gauges that have no threaded adjustment mechanism-just a setscrew.(Yes, I also have one or two with the threaded adjuster--Titemark and Veritas.) I took 5/8 round barstock, cut a piece about 1" long, drilled and tapped one end for a 1/4-20 brass tipped setscrew and drilled a through hole perpendicular and the same diameter as the main length bar of the gauge. It replaces the flat register "wheel." It then becomes a gramil capable of cutting side depth(using the flat OEM register) and defining the binding cut on the top or back of the guitar-(with my cylinder to register the curves).[I own a Schneider, but find that the through-milled slot edges scratch top wood when cutting side bindingnledges-I'm going to make a similar new guide bar for it]

I made it when I undertook dressing up a BFG Model Les Paul-needed the manual cutter for the cutaway area to get it right-neck on, but fretboard removed.The neck limits my Tru-Channel-it would not if, I finished my F-W jig with a doughnut and mounting a lam cutter. I need to do that-John Hall has offered to sell me a pre-made doughnut for a pittance.

Wow! Thank you all and keep them coming! The Guitarmaker arrived today! I was surprised they had replied to my question so quickly lol. Todd, Filippo and others, again, wow!
I will print, research and study the answers here. Thanks!

Hey! Bear snuck one of my pictures into the article! The shot of Kevin speaking at A.S.I.A 2009.

If you want consistency then you need to be able to consistently focus your mind on the tasks at hand.

I know this is not a jig, but proper 'mind set' is the single most important tip I can offer anyone. I have found over the years that distractions are the root cause of most mistakes and inconsistencies. You may have something else on your mind when you are thickness sanding a top, maybe its a recent argument with one of the kids....you 'know' what is going to happen next don't you.

My point is that the last thing anyone should do before committing to each process is to ask themselves, "am I clear on this?" If the answer is no, my advice is to go and sit with the dog and think about it some more because you can't steer anything with just your hands or only your mind, the two must work together with unquestioning confidence because any questions they ask of each other mid process is a distraction, and you know what happen next don't you? That's right, the stink'in dog gets another kick in the ass.

Cheers

Kim