Official Luthiers Forum!

Sad story, but true.
I managed to ruin a bloodwood bridge because I used the wrong router and bit in the jig to cut a saddle slot.
What methods do you use for keeping track of the kind of stuff your feable minds don`t remember?
Coe

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

I have my own how-to manual for each step in a looseleaf binder. I also often write notes on the jigs themselves with important reminders

Obsessive double checking, self doubt, and paranoia.

That's the only thing that works for me.

Kevin Looker

ps
Sorry about your bridge.

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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.

All of the above. I write notes on my jigs, plus I have a detailed How-to manual
I wrote so I don't get ahead of myself. It's still a work in progress over the last
two builds.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

notes ?
manuals ?
cryptic messages on dedicated jigs ?
Not!

Only one of a kind builds
No two the same.

Me brain can't handle repetition,
although I here its good therapy.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I don't have many jigs or bits or chisels..... I end up doing a whole lot of 1-off setups.... so I just muddle through and do a lot of double-triple checking to keep from ruining too many pieces.... Let's just say that I really like double-stick carpet tape and clamps....

Thanks

Oh ya, double sided tape, lots of clamps and bondo. Gotta has the bondo.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Dedicated tool setup for the major stuff...never changes, never used for anything else...for the things that do change I stole the concepts we use in the flight deck every day...check, check, double-check, verify, cross-check, and check!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Jigs and templates for me as well as notes with specifications.
I have wrecked my share of bridges and fretboards using wrong cutters etc. You are not alone by a long shot. I feel it is all part of the learning process. Making, recognizing and remembering mistakes is for me the path to excellence. Don't let it get you down.

By the way if it is just the saddle slot you can fill it and recut. Been there done that too.

+1!

This is one area where it's really work for me to keep updating and improving the notes, but over time they're getting better. Invaluable for me to avoid stupid mistakes.

Take your time.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I'm obsessive about photo documentation for all of my builds, both for the customer and for myself. I keep a small tripod and an old point & shoot next to the bench all the time when I'm building, so it only takes a minute. By the end of a project, I often have 200 photos or more. More than a few times I've caught a boo-boo-in-the-making while setting up a shot. Just that pause in the momentum has saved me considerable grief. Not that everybody should do that, but it works for me.

Also, my drill indexes all have notes about which sizes to use for which purpose. My jigs have notes and labels for their uses on them too. For a few that I made early on, I didn't label them, and I can't remember what they were for.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Well . . . the bloodwood bridge probably had a deep seated invisible flaw that would only reveal itself frustratingly six months down the line on the finished instrument. It was probably the guitar making muses protecting you from such a calamity.

Anyway that's how I would look at it, put a few more coins in the swear box and make another one.

Or you can write it all down in a book, open the book after your next "mishap", read why it went wrong, do a Homer Simpson imitation and put some more coins in the swear box and make another one . . . that works for me

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Notes on the jigs, note book and make videos. I also try and store my smaller jigs in a box like for bridges or head. I need to also include any drill bits and router bits etc. in them. That would save me some time gathering up the stuff.