Official Luthiers Forum!

First, I didn´t read through all posts.
About the bender. Dont buy one of those, it is like throwing money in the sea. It will take you about 1 huer tops to build one that works great for bending. and will yield the exact same precicion result as the 5-600 dollar ones. I will try to find some shots of how you can go about.

Lars

I am sold on building my own side bending machine, but I want to copy the Universal side bending machine that does cutaways as well. Where can I find drawings for that? I've only seen drawings for the standard machine. Blues creek guitars sells a lot of the parts, but they look waaaay overpriced to me.

Seems like he would sell a lot more of those machines if he would lower his cost. What he lacked in profit per machine he would surely make up in volume I would think. Or am I greatly overestimating the amount of people in the world that are into guitar building?

You, obviously, have not checked the price of 3/4" Birch plywood lately! He's not over priced at all. Not saying you can't build one cheaper, but John's price is not out of line at all.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Yeah I probably would skip the birch. Is there a reason for that choice of wood (heat resistance or strength) or is it simply for looks?

Someone else described the $540.00 price tag to be throwing my money into the sea. Based on that I decided to build my own. I have no idea how much any of those materials go for normally, so I'm just going on what others have said.

Stability and strength are the reasons for the Birch ply.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

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Here an old shot of how mine looks. Simple simple. Allthough I now use Tension Springs on the lower and upper bout total cost about 10-20 bucks.
IF doing a cutaway, just cut it out and do similar as for bending the tight curve.
I have four of these one for each model.
But I use same same tension springs and metal for all, so its just tio build anew form each time you make a new model. and, you use whats left from making molds. So when making a mold for the guitar, you will then also have sides for making the bender.



Lars

Joey, doesn't Meade still have their woodworking shop? I know lot has changed in 13 years, but it was there when I was stationed there. I never used it, but one of the other guys at the Academy with me talked about it. If not, check one of the Air Force bases. You can at least get some of your major power tool needs met there.

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Aoibeann

Yes there is wood shop there, I went there once to ask the guy for scrap 8 x 10 plywood (for an oil painting) and he was a real douche bag. Maybe I just caught him on a bad day. I am trying to get the small stuff that shops like that won't have so that I will be able to start building as soon as I get home. In the meantime I will make due using the shop on base, but the goal is to build a complete shop of my own. I'm a bit of a night owl and the post shop, as well as the shop at my college (which is about an hour from home) both close very early. It would be nice to wake up on a Saturday and be able to work in my own shop as long as I like.

Also I am due for a move when I return back home. My MOS is over strength and I will be just coming off of a year in Iraq, so hopefully I can stay put for a while. We'll see. I wouldn't mind moving to Fort Lewis, WA near Seattle but outside of that I really don't want to go anywhere else. My goal is to set up shop so that when I am ready to get out of the Army I have everything I need and hopefully enough business to build and repair guitars for a living.

Sounds like the same guy is still running the place and still needs a nap.

Well if you end up at Lewis/McCord you will have a few options. Rick and Cat have a shop in Fremont where they teach classes. http://www.soundguitarworkshop.com/ Both are very knowledgeable and skilled as well as just great to deal with, highly recommend. I know Jim H built his first guitar with them. Send him a PM if he doesn't wonder through and give his thoughts.

If you want to spend some leave time, you can go to the American School of Lutherie in Portland. They have two acoustic classes, one 5 days the other 2 weeks. I've heard good things about ASL as well.

I know that the Woodcraft in south Seattle had a guitar building class, but I think it was in the evenings. Getting up there on time might be a stretch though, considering you'd have to get through Tacoma and then past 405 at South Center.

Don't know what's, if anything, is going on in Olympia.

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Aoibeann

If you end up in the Pacific Northwest, I definitely highly recommend Rick and Cat at sound guitar. I can't imagine a better investment of time or money than spending it learning with a pro. Especially one (or two in the case) with so many years of experience as builders and repair techs. I spent two weeks of my vacation last spring taking an intermediate building class with Rick. It was worth every penny (and minute).

Another nice bonus is that Rick and Cat are highly active with the local Luthier group, and can get you in touch with the membership there.

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Jim Hansen

Build ur own binding machine and side bender. Good practice. However, how I built up my shop was by building a kit guitar. Did not need to worry about sidebender. As I aproached each step of building, I would ask what tools I needed (assuming I was going to be doing more down the road). Then, I would get the tool after i researched the options. Took me a year and a half, but in the end, I learned a lot and ended up with just the right tools for the job. And I got them at researched discounts! I therefore have no tool regrets.