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Yesterday I picked up a 20 yr.old 12 in craftsman Bandsaw off craigslist for 35$ the saw was in pretty good condition, just missing a metal blade guard and needed the guides set , thrust bearing set and blade running on centre.This bandsaw can do abt 75% of luthier tasks without breaking the bank.The only place it fell short is in resawing vy slowly.The fresh 3/8in blade can do a variety of shop chores.The reason I/m posting this is that I want to remind the newbies that you don/t have to buy expensive machines to make instruments. These older bandsaws are all over n. america.What/s your favorite frugal tool ??

Craigslist is a great place to find nice equipment. I got a delta drill press for $30 last year. I sometimes see really nice band saws as well.

All of my machinery was purchased used and several were sold for what I had into them, when a better or bigger one became available. Most wood working machinery is purchases and seldom actually used so real good units are available.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Favorite frugal tool? My General table saw.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I got most of my power tools used except for the spindle sander (hard to find a nice Jet spindle sander used locally). I got an old Delta/Rockwell table saw with Vega fence and custom cabinets for $500. Would be $3500 for something like it new. Disc sander $40, drill press $50, almost new Rikon 14" band saw for $500, 5 hp shop vac $30, more and more.

Actually if you buy your Back/Side wood ready cut (as many do, including many Pro makers) your 12 " Craftsman bandsaw can do 100% of the Luthiery tasks.

Good pt michael abt the 100%,some pros do and diehards like me , do it from scratch like to go shopping at hardwood outlets. and small sawmills.

I'm afraid I can't find it... had to pay dearly for nearly all of my woodworking tools because no one sells them used. Craiglist do not really sell much in Taiwan except for used furnitures. The only frugal luthiery tool I have is ones I made myself like fret levelers, fret files, etc. Nobody really does woodworking as a hobby in Taiwan.

Industrial tools on the other hand can be gotten cheaply because there are many factories in Taiwan. Someone sells a used 26" bandsaw for about 600 dollars... if you can fit it through your door.

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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

currently it's my schnieder gramil.

kunz pocket plane about $20 and use it all the time.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

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Pat

card scrapers!

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Yes, card scrapers are great. I am a frugal luthier who has learned to use them to save cash on sandpaper (can't find any decent quality sandpaper within a 20 mile radius of where I live!) -I scrape then finish with fine grade sandpaper if necessary.

I also love scouring antique shops/flea markets for old Stanley planes and good quality hand chisels.

Ok I dont know if I count this as Frugal, since a milling machine and metal lathes are not all that useful for luthiery except for some really special applications, but someone is selling a 5 foot metal lathe for 1200 USD, and a Clausing 1.6 ton mill for the same price...

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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

Ebony, don/t know where you live , but craigslist here has turned up a number of antique tools.But one must check 2 or 3 times a day, deals go fast.Craigslist is the frugal luthiers friend IMHO.

Thanks Ernie for your response to my post. I am from the UK, so I don't think Craigslist is relevant to me - however we do have other equivalents in the UK such as Freegle & Gumtree...

Some luthiers have been very lucky in the UK respond to an advert to find that an individual is giving away an old 'dark wood or orangey wood table' - turning out to be solid mahogany or rosewood!

Righto then ,I would check boot sales?? yard sales, flea markets, old attics. I have a book on welsh stick chairs written by john brown. a welsh curmudgeon and chairmaker who insisited on buying used older tools as he was fond of calling the new tools swiss cheese .He also had a long forthright article in fine woodworking on hand tools only workshop, which is how he made a modest living from his welsh cottage. The only problem I/ve found in the usa with used power tools , is the used ones are beaten up and in poor condition unless owned by a good craftsman which is rare.

Well, I bought a couple of Zona #350 saws for $8.00 a pop of the innernert.
The kerf is 0.022". I made a fretboard jig out of scraps and cut my first board last weekend out of Mesquite.
Frets fit nice and snug.
Not bad for 8 bucks.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Picked this up at the dump some years back. $1.50 in bolts and things, tightening the elevation belt, new table, some set up attention and it worked great until the fuse thing blew out. Fortunately I had picked up another RAS from the dump in order to make a thickness sander and kept the motor and scrounged out the part. Still works great!

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Douglas:
That is my kind of scrounging.

I get plenty of sheet-goods (ply, partical-board, fiber-board) for jigs and stuff as "free firewood" at a local pallet company. Every month or so I see mahogany pallets and I have some free bubinga.
They work out for ukuleles.

Bob

Wow , am impressed by all these tales of frugal luthiery.Growing up in canada,was probably part of that impetus.For more brave stories on frugal woodworking, check out the many youtube videos by matthias wandel, he collaborated with pat to make that DIY thickness sander from leftover scraps.He alo sells plans for a homebrew bandsaw

My favorite tool is the free 1951 delta 14" bandsaw one of my supervisors gave to me. The motor wasn't working and he didn't want to mess with it. I switched the motor and it works great. My next attempt at being frugal will be to attempt to salvage the spruce soundboard from a 1939 Wurlitzer piano.


Sent from right here.

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Stephen

Ok one bit of frugal luthiery, other than the Padauk back and side that I was able to resaw into several uke sets (the billet was 30 dollars), I found the top in a dumpster... I do not know what it is, I thought it was cedar but now from looking at it I think it may in fact be cypress.

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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

The next OLF challenge should be , The Frugal Luthier ,who can build a really good guitar from salvaged/recycled materials, with apologies to all the retailers that advertise here?

I bought my 16/32 sander from Fleabay for £300 didn't think I was going to get it but I was the only bidder It was a 5 hr drive to get it though but worth it I also got a brilliant Drill press for £30 and a 10" Compound Mitre saw for £40 brand new also from Fleabay great buys

Dave

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To be someone must be a wonderful thing!