Official Luthiers Forum!

Its been a while since we talked about everyday household items we use . I had an ephinany recently . WELL might have been a gas pain . Anyway , wife was gonna toss out a flattened pillow that wasnt very comfortable anymore ........ I took it to the shop and found it worked real good to lay a guitar / mando on top down to work on the back without taking chance of scratching the top .

ANY OTHER NEW IDEAS !

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Oh, I really like these threads! I'm a thrift store junkie (well, my wife is...).

Need some leather for clamping cauls or for your vise? Get an old leather jacket from a thrift store (should be less than $20) and cut it up, you'll have more leather than you'll need.

Rolling pins make a good sander for the waist or cut away area, even if it's used by hand

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Are we married to same woman !!!!

My wifes a thrrift store junkie tooooooo

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Good points, if you've got a leather sofa (I don't).

I've got a free granite coutertip cutout from a sink

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

You can usually get a lifetime supply of granite countertop cutoffs from granite counter makers..... free... I ended up pitching a bunch of them I salvaged off a pile out in back of one of those shops... Just had too many...

Check em with a straightedge if you are thinkin of using them as a surface plate. Most are not as flat as you think, the polished side is usually not very flat at all. The back side that is honed may be better.



Items I use.... Frezer paper, great for drawing out paterns, has a wax coating on the back that will stand up to a few encounters with adhesive. I also keep wax paper in the shop to place between things I don't want to glue together, or under a cork lined sanding block when using it as a glue caul. Saran wrap works good for the last one as well and makes a great see through, lite duty clamping system for repairs on odd shapes.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Does this count? Just moved into a new place with an open counter with some cabinets. Haven't built a go-bar-deck yet, so gave this a try. Works swell

Now that is cool! Hopefully company isn't coming over for dinner the same day.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Haha not today

Gotta make sure this is all done and put away before the wife gets home. She gave me the thumbs up to do it, just to keep everything clean. At least I don't have to build myself the go bar deck for now

Now thats using the ole grey cells ! hope a go bar didnt pop through the shelf and take out grandmas china !


I have helmet lamps for when the power goes out around here , put one one the other night when i needed to see better inside a sound hole ..... sweeeettt .

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

I just steamed off a neck using a sport ball inflating needle . Worked pretty good after I figured out how to attach it to a bolting insert so I could hold it with pliers as I aimed my shark steamer into it. It wasn't easy to remove the titebonded dovetail I had previously installed... It really took some time to finally get it to pop. Actually I was pretty impressed with myself: Talk about a good neck fit!

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

I have friends that do granite work. If you find a large enough shop, they should have piles of sink cut-outs & end cuts that they'll be happy to give away. The stuff is expensive so they hang onto every scrap but soon start drowning in it. If you find some, check it with a straight edge. The big slabs are perfectly flat but when they cut into smaller pieces, they sometimes aren't so flat - DAMHIKT.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I have a big old piece sitting in my shop that I need to get cut up into useable pieces. I'd be happy to share! I got it free. I just need to find someone to cut it.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Has anyone tried one of those tiny web cams for looking inside a guitar?
Will it focus good up close?
Like every thing else, you can pay a little or lot.
I don't own one and would have no other use for one so I don't want to spend the money if it's not a good idea.
-R

Not yet however that is one item I have decided to try . Ill let you know how it works !

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Usually, they do work... The UMGF has a couple large posts full of bracing photos taken with cheap webcams....

Thanks

Please do, Wud. I'm interested in that as well. Thanks.

Oops, I missed your post John. I'll check out those threads. Thanks.

I cut up my worn out shoes for leather.... Here's some household and other leftover stuff I reuse in the shop. Much of it is just storage or protection form dust. In the picture you can see: report binder sawblade protectors; old kitchen knives; playing cards for epoxy mixing, etc.; a desktop file holder for stuff; an upside down "glad" container with double sided tape wedged into it; upside down iced tea mix container with a microfiber cloth wedged into it; cut up templates out of old refirgerator drawer plastic; shoebox with sanding blocks; used jello'pudding containers; an old vacuum cleaner bulb taped to a coathanger inspection light; old pill bottles; discarded ceramic jar; one of my favorites - chinese takeout containers -- one with waterbourne finish (from months ago and still good enough for sealing "junk"), they interlock and stack great; cakebox cardboard and packaging platic "windows" for quick templates; window sash weight; cans for containers of course; a leftover section of PVC pipe cut up and superglued together to hold all kinds of things; under it superglued along the edge of the shelf is an old cheap plastic picture frame -- holding a ruler and old auto feeler guages; pipecleaners; "banding" plastic; an old CD rack with tape and stuff using recycled cardboard shelves; chopticks; pieces of a broken drumstick made of a bunch of bundled small dowels; coffee can with lid holding "ragletts".
Not shown, the rival gluepot, wire closet shelves attached to the bottom of floor joists to make shelves.
I hate filling landfills......

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Chuck Kish

I thought you had an Epiphone...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Little empty jars and food containers, newspaper, wax paper, razor blades, olive oil,
pencils and erasers, cloths pins, water, rags, paper towels, scissors, soap to clean my hands.

I also went to the local hardware store and purchase several diffrent size " Plastic" mounts for the pvc electrical conduit straps These come in real handy screwed to walls , Tables etc: for tool holders . They come in several diffrent sizes some large enough to hold a hammer .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

For the past two years my dad has been saving his individual creamer containers (think restaurant size) for mixing epoxy...He does RC airplanes so he uses epoxy quite a bit. He has to have nearly 1000 of them, so he lets me raid his stash. They're great for mixing up small batches of epoxy for inlays mixed with a small popsicle stick.

2 lb coffee cans with bottoms cut out and taped together with foil duct tape for storing go-bars. Works for bindings too.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Used a couple of stainless steel pot scourers to centralise (and act as a heat sink for) a heating cartridge in a stainless tube used as a bending iron.
(And using a dimmer switch for the temperature control, but I'm sure that's been done before)

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.