Official Luthiers Forum!

here is some pics of my shop lets see yours

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

We did a video shoot this week end for our Youtube videos so while the shop looked nice we took some pics to share. I also started #177 a Cuban Mahogany Dred.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Sure wish I had that kind of square footage, John.
I make do with a shop 14x22 and a spray booth at 7x10...no windows in either.

the size isn't as important as the knowledge. My shop is 24 by 40 2 floors.
it also have a bath and a fridge. I can and do sometime live there.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

These days I'm spread out between two different shops 37.5 miles apart. But there are advantages too such as not having to look at repair instruments when I want to be building something new.

The other huge advantage that I am thrilled to now have is a dedicated spray booth complete with explosion proof fan and lighting, compressor, spray guns, etc. in our city shop. Recently I also moved my Rikon 14" there too because we needed to replace the Inca three wheel POS that was there.

Here's what my home shop looks like this morning after cleaning up the beer cans from the friends and jams of yesterday....

Here's some more shots and I just got out the "Black Tiger" for a restring and clean-up so that I can bring it to our open house next Saturday as requested. Notice too the RH control, in the lane so-to-speak in submariner speak....

Note the difference in the shops ... mine looks like Johns ... not totally spotless, wood and clamps all over, writing on the walls, jigs here there and everywhere, all kinds of stuff on the go. Then there's Hesh ... If it weren't for the fact that we see the finished guitars he has built, you would think its been a bloody museum for years, shrunk wrapped or something, not a spec of sawdust to be found. Gotta like that kind of dedication to cleaning .. you'll make someone a great hubby !!!!

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Hesh , I have decided that the pics you show are the " False shop" and there is another dirty one behind the scenes .... If I had to keep my shop that clean I would never get anything done but .... cleaning ! It amazes me . lol

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http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Thanks guys..... I think......

Can't help it and have alway been a bit of a clean freak here, and there, and over there too, etc. And yes I do get called Felix Ungar from time to time too. But that works well when my business partner, David Collins can be a bit of an Oscar Madison at times too....

Personally I thought that John's shop looks pretty spotless as well and it's nice to see also.

When I was only building it was easier to keep stuff clean but with repair work as well, lots of it, it can cause some issues for building. For example a refret is a great opportunity to miss a few fret ends that we just nipped off, have them embed in the carpet on my primary bench, and then scratch the heck out of the next guitar, even if it's a new build, that gets set on that bench. So there are legitimate, functional reasons for keeping a clean shop such as never, never wishing to do any harm to any instrument be it mine or someone else's.

PS: My home shop doubles as a man cave, studio, and party room for my friends who tend to drool at times..... Note the break room complete with Netflix and HD TV. As a joke when I built my home shop I wanted to put a little window in the wall to the right of my desk so that I could see into the main shop and know if I was slacking off or not....

I think Hesh uses Photoshop
Love the pics guys.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Great shops to look at. Wish I too had that space John!

Hesh what kind of dust collection do you have? Impeccably clean there sir.

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久保
美智え

John: Super well equipped shop and looks like you put a ton of time into it. CONGRATS.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Hesh: WOW.........................You have not missed a beat.............very nice home shop. ...............But............I see a leaf out of place and a speck and I'm not going to tell you where it is...!! CONGRATS on the shop.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Must love that dust and scratch removal tool...
OK, here are some old photos of my "clean" shop. I'm to the point now of having tools on wheels and bringing them into the shop from the rest of the basement.
Images go counterclockwise. Entry door is on right.



Behind the drill press in shadow is the pattern router for mandolin tops and backs.











And finally the center of the shop is dominated by my table saw and combination outfeed table and work bench.



Have added a Jet spindle sander, buffer and scroll saw that wheel into the shop. Spray booth is in another small room.
Definitely no parties in here, it's pretty much one visitor at a time. I would love a larger shop, but had it like this for over 20 years. Afraid that I'm getting too old to do remodeling or starting a move to a larger shop.

These days I am back to my trusty Festool CT-22 HEPA dust collector. It's a very nicely made and excellent performing shop type vac on steroids. Even though the CFM is only around 130 the design of this thing lets it perform near it's ratings until the bag is very nearly full.

I simply plug it in to the tool I am using and Bob's my uncle.... It's also a true HEPA vac meaning that instead of simply straining particulate matter into smaller, unhealthy particles and then blasting them back in the shop's air supply for me to breath.... the really fine stuff gets contained. This is also why there is very little dust on surfaces in my shop, I'm not straining dirt and rebroadcasting it all over the place.

Until we opened the business last year I also had a big-arse General that is rated at 1,100 CFM and it was plumbed through the wall (It sat in it's own room in my home shop so I didn't have to hear it, see it, etc). This machine works great and since we do a lot more heavy lifting at the commercial shop I moved it there where it is plumbed to everything. When the General was still at my place I had it rigged to a remote control which made life easier.

Hans - fantastic shop and lots of cool stuff to look at too!!!!

Shop one doorway...


Going in a circle...


Edge sander sees a lot of use, ducted to the collector...




Drill press/tablesaw, and most best, a HEPA air filter which made an immediate and dramatic improvement in iverall air quality. 99$ well spent!


Drying rack and disc sander...



Window (unearthed recently after a decade behind soundproofing) is a welcome change, bench with vise which inevitably gets covered in random stuff...


And finally the soon to be replaced with something better bandsaw...

This is the glue up shop where we keep RH at 40% year round...


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shop two doorway...


Shop two workbench...

shop two tool area...

the spindle sander pull out from the wall for better usage...


Case/instrument storage...




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and our most recent addition, just one day old, a machine room.

with a big ass jointer that still needs tweaking to be actually useful

wood storage, clocking a lovely 39%RH...


The railer, on wheels to get to the storage behind it, as well as a buffer that hasn't been used in years...


Couple of drum sanders on wheels that get pulled to centre for use. I dream of a wide belt sander...


And what will soon become a dedicated set up bench, currently existing in an intolerable level of clutter...


Doorway to the machine room rolls up for ease of access. In fact, all the verticals are just press fit like go bars. The whole assembly comes undone and rolls up out of the way, so when we have big music parties there is space for a crowd.


And most importantly, the Official Rage Reducer! Wanna smash something? Go for it!


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This is my shop/showroom.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

Oh, and last but not least...



The paint room with room for 8...


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It must be because I'm from BC, but I can't help notice beside all your plants under the grow light a clock that shows 4:20...

My very modest workshop compared to you guys. I also have a homemade thickness sander that mounts on top of the (large) router table/worktop...

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

I love threads like these, I always get ideas. I've been in Haans' shop, and it is the most efficient use of a small space I've ever seen. He should work for NASA.

Here's mine-

Assembly Room







Sanding/Utility Area







Tool Room





My main project is to re-do my dust collection from 4" to 6" pipes. I should have done more research when I put it in 10 years ago. It's embarrassing to even show the plumbing.

The SandPro table has been the best thing I've bought, it outperforms the one I made hands down.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

How much was it?

It was the M4826. I got it a few years ago, looks like the price has gone up a little. I think it was around $1200 then.

http://www.sandmanproducts.com/downdrafttables.htm

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.