Official Luthiers Forum!

My wife has been asking a lot of questions lately, which began with, "What do you want for your birthday this year?"

The questions have been drifting in a particular direction, and the latest questions have been, "If you were going to design a workshop for lutherie, how would you lay it out and what sort of square footage do you think you'd need?"

And then today, "What are the essential, backbone machine tools you need in a lutherie workshop?"

Hmmm. I wonder what she has up her sleeve?

So, what do you guys think are the essential, backbone machine tools that you can't live without in a lutherie workshop? I have my own list, but I'm no expert and I'm sure the more experienced could give me much needed guidance.

And if you were laying out a shop building, how much square footage do you think you'd estimate per machine? My overall idea for such a building would include an area to store wood, and perhaps a spray room. And I might want an area to sit and work on inlay.

As for me as a luthier, I'm not a commercial luthier, I'm a hobbyist. I'm retired and have a lot of time to fiddle around and tinker. My inclinations run to scratch building, and a terrible tendency to experiment with designs, but to stick with traditional finishes, i.e. French Polish shellac and nitrocellulose lacquer. My guitars aren't for commercial sale and are more likely to be donated or given as gifts. It's not a moneymaking activity for me.

So, any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or guidance is very much welcome here, just in case she's plotting the sort of thing I think she might be aiming at for my birthday this year.

Rick

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Rick

Well, as a tool and die maker most of my adult life, I'd want a milling machine. But that's just me. I could make tools and jigs with ease, as well as some wood parts, and metal hardware would be a natural. I used to make custom bridges and vibratos, and rough in my brass nut material after work or on weekends. Lathes are nice, but other than dowels and pins, guitars don't need many round parts.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

If I could afford it, I'd love a milling machine, I used to run a Bridgeport for awhile making airplane parts. But it would be an expensive luxury in a lutherie shop from my point of view. I'm trying to figure out which machine tools are indispensable, barebones necessities for scratch building.

I would include a drill press, band saw, sanding machine, planer, and probably a table saw, off the top of my head. Yeah, you could probably work around a lot, and someone is bound to mention Torres and the old days and the lack of machines, but for 2011, I think there is probably a list of tools that are all but indispensable. But I don't have enough experience at this to really know what is worth the layout and what can be worked around. I started out from the Cumpiano point of view and have been studying since then, but it would be nice to hear from one of the long time luthiers which machines they consider absolutely necessary.

Rick

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Rick

Rick, are you addressing power tools or machine tools? If you are looking for a list of recommended lutherie tools and how best to equip a shop there are many discussion threads covering this topic and there also was a current thread "show me your shop" that was great in regards to viewing the set-ups of some of the members here on the forum.

Here is an excellent thread that shows shop layouts and proposed tools/locations:
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=23750&hilit=+lutherie+tools

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Peter

Tell her you'd need a 2500 sq.ft. workshop full of all the latest equipment, then scale back to meet her budget.....

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

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

Thanks for the link Peter! That's a good discussion. And I gleaned this list from it:

Primary Machines

drill press
band saw
16-32 drum sander
belt/disc sander
parabolic sander
planer
6" jointer
table saw
router table

Secondary (Nice to Have) Machines

oscillating spindle sander
edge sander
sliding compound miter saw

And I'm thinking layout should include a machine room, a humidity controlled wood storage/assembly and hand tool area, and a spray room.

I've also now added a book to my reading list from Taunton Press on shop setup that Howard recommended.

Dave, that's just the sort of negotiating I had in mind, LOL! Perhaps I should start out at a nice round 3000 square feet...

Thanks everyone!

Rick

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Rick

Machine tools for me and this is based on what I tend to use the most it would be the following:

Bandsaw
Tablesaw
Disc Sander
Drill Press

Of course there are a slew of hand power tools that should be added to the list.

a fridge for your cold drink of choice!

My most used tool is my 12" bandsaw. 2nd maybe OS sander.and/or table mount belt sander. They all hook up to dust vac so thats a big plus. My 3rd most used machine is not a big machine but a hand tool I guess, a dremel with a nice router base for doing inlays, binding, rosettes, all kinds of stuff. The only thing I use a drill press for is dot markers, and making cribbage boards. My buddies have the best looking cribbage boards around; binding, inlays, etc. Good practice and a use for small scraps.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Do your lungs a favor and add a good cyclone-type dust collection system to your list.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"