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I bought LMI's Plate Joining Jig on a whim this past spring when I was placing an order. I saw it on their homepage and thought about how old the tape method can get. Having used it to join a few sets of tops and backs in the past few weeks, I can tell you that I'm glad I did. I love it.

It's just a variation of a tried and true traditional joining method, but the lattice adds to its efficiency. Some of the plates I've glued have been particularly thin, and the jig made getting nice flat joints a breeze. I've used fish glue and LMI's white instrument maker's glue, but not hide. Neither fish, nor LMI white stick to the plastic. If you're looking for a new method, or simply interested in trying another one out, give this a look.

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?NameProdHeader=Plate+Joining+Jig

I to have been eyeing it. One of these orders I might just add it. Thanks for the recommendation. Without it, it can be a roll of the dice.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

why not just make your own using the old spanish wedge and rope technique? It works perfectly.

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

Hi James

I built a joining jig much like the one John Mayes uses and have been using it for about six years. Good results but not always exactly what I wanted. I looked at the LMI jig and decided it was too expensive and that I would build one myself. Well, I never got around to building one and finally bought one from LMI. I am with you - I love it. Great results, easy to use - Mike

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guitarsbygiltzow.com

Mine took about a minute to build, I just cut a strip of wood for one side and 3 blocks for the other (15 seconds) and 3 wedges (about 45 seconds to cut and belt sand them).

No dice roll, just a perfect result as long as I joined the edge correctly.

Cost about 5 bucks.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

What I like most about the LMI jig or one that is shop made like it is that after I get the top glued up the whole thing goes off the work bench surface and leans up against the wall. It saves a lot of working space while glue dries.

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That's what I did when I started out a decade ago. It did work well. This is pretty much the same thing, but some of the small touches like glue resistant plastic and the little catches for the rope just make it nicer.

Different strokes for different folks.

I agree, its a great jig and makes joining plates dead easy. It also costs a fortune to ship to Europe and then to pay import tax so I made my own (its actually pretty easy to do ) :

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imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world

This is what I use. It's the Cumpiano method with weights on top of the plates and tap in wedges on one side for pressure. Works great. I put mine together in a few minutes for no cost with scrap wood laying around the shop. The wedge and rope seems too complicated for such a simple job.

Dangit James!
I honestly did not see that jig until you posted it.
It looks way better than my chunk'o plywood, wax paper and
bar clamps.
I will be adding this to my tools list...

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

[quote="rickoshea"]I agree, its a great jig and makes joining plates dead easy. It also costs a fortune to ship to Europe and then to pay import tax so I made my own (its actually pretty easy to do ) :


Nice looking setup

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I believe that's actually a fixture.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
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I just use tape. It still goes off the bench and sits on the floor.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

He has a better method now. Replace the wedges with eccentric cams threaded into threaded inserts. I just use slices of large diameter dowels with an offset hole in them. Then I toss some clamps on top to keep it flat. The LMII jig looks nice. I've been meaning to build something like that, but Cumpiano's method works so well that I know I'll never get around to it.

I've recently switched to newspaper from wax paper. I've been finding that wax paper can trap moisture and cause that side of the joint to not dry for a very long time (hours). I've run into that mostly on larger joints, like scarfs, where one entire half of the joint (facing the wax paper) was still wet while the exposed half was dry and hard after 1 hour of clamping.

Anyhow, I don't know why it only happens sometimes and not all the time, but it's just an FYI. Yeah, it's less convenient if the newspaper sticks to the wood, but marginally so.

A $138 is a lot for something that could be built for $20 in material....Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

thanks Joe .... I have the plans I drew up for the jig here so if anyone wants a copy fire me a pm

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imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world

Here's Cumpiano's current setup.

It works really well.

I didn't feel like making one and mine is actually mocked up from my sanding board. I just stash the strip, blocks, and wedges when I'm not using them.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Sometimes I just like what someone else is offering. That's the idea behind box cakes as opposed to going to the pantry to grab the sugar and flour, right?

I use tape like Waddy with HHG. Pretty quick to do two tops and two backs and just lean them up somewhere instead of having to wait for the jig to be free,

Thanks. I had some pictures of it somewhere but couldn't find them.

Put me down as a tape guy and I use fish glue , or HHG.

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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