Official Luthiers Forum!

Got a very well packed box from David & Hesh at Ann Arbor Guitars today

TAS!
Looks fantastic. Real quality.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

You are going to love it I am sure!!!

Yep its pretty bad, I'm resisting the urge to take it apart.........sucessfully and I'm equally fascinated with the laser and the precision collet's

Awesome, I'm going to have to come see that one.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Hey Buddy: As much as I can understand the temptation the assembly of these things takes hours because they have to be tuned as per a procedure so that all of the moving parts move effortlessly. As such I would not advise taking it apart....

Did you get a vac pump?

Yessir & Yes. And Steve I'll bring it next Sunday

Nice looking machine. What does it do?

Greg, sounds good. I'll bring mandolin parts for inspection

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Its the David Collins Saddle Mill

How about bringing it up to St. Louis on the 18th and joining us at the Gateway Luthiers Show . I Might even have a Guitar it could be used on !

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Here

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=43204&hilit=sADDLE+MILL

Kevin Looker

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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.

In my mind I hear the theme song to _Star Wars_ .

"That's no tool, it's a space station."

-Ben Kenobi

Easily the sexiest luthier tool I've ever seen. Easily. And there are some hot ones out there!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think I just had a personal moment

Steve

Just wait until you get a chance to use it - not much of a learning curve (intuitive ease of use was a primary goal of its design), and I'm sure you'll love it even more the more you use it.

As Hesh said, disassembly is not recommended. There's no hidden secrets which can't be appraised from the surface, and reassembly is not a simple process. Even with all the parts precision CNC'd, putting it together demands a very particular order of operations of aligning and torquing each part and screw just right, to ensure that when other parts meet three steps later they do so correctly. The bearings and rails are so tight of tolerance that if the rails are torqued to the base unevenly it won't run as smooth unless assembled and calibrated with great care.

As said though, there shouldn't be any real need to break it down, and my initial prototype has been used and abused for over ten years without loosing any of its precision or needing realignment, so it should keep going and going and going.

The precision collets were an addition to this version, and really proved to be the one missing link I didn't have before. There was always that 2-3 thou runout I couldn't shake, but once I added these to the mix I can finally get that last step toward of perfection that eluded me for so long.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Thats just how I'm wired I love to see what makes stuff work, But this is very obvious what each part does in making the whole. Very nice well thought out tool. Huge jump in performance from whats available.

Okay, so someone has to ask. How much and are Dave and Hesh actually selling these things?

Steve I'll send you a PM with pricing and delivery. The Collins Saddle Mill was not designed for hobbyists or folks who cannot justify having this capability and currently our pricing barely covers the costs of manufacturing the mills. We are producing them in small batches for folks with commercial applications.

Don't want to sound evasive so I am happy to provide a quote to anyone who asks but my preference is to provide pricing, terms, delivery via PM or email. Our pricing is subject to change so I don't want a permanent record of an incorrect price living forever on a forum.

We are also not sponsors and with as many times as I have referred folks for the past 10 years to Lance when they troll the OLF looking for a quick buck without dropping the dime to be a sponsor that is the last thing that I would ever want to do to Lance either.

Frankly too we don't see a market with OLFers again because the mill is not unlike a mini PLEK machine in so much as one has to have the volume and commercial applications to justify owning their very own Collins Saddle Mill.

Thanks in advance for the understanding my friend. PM sent.

Hesh, Hesh, Hesh.

Since when did hobby guitar builders need to "justify" owning a state of the art piece of equipment? You builz de toyz, we wants de toyz.

Seriously, that is a fine looking machine. I certainly don't have the volume, unless you can find a way for it to sand pick guards.

I thought from the picture that this is a machine that shoots lasers and the laser cuts a precise slot into the part...

But I think saddle milling need not be complicated, for years I've milled saddle slots by sticking the bridge to a table and routing it with an edge guide. Stewmac's saddle mill looks very promising especially when paired with Dremel routing base. It's just so expensive...

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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

Wow that is a fine looking tool. I like the laser guide and the precision it has. A little more high tech than my combined classical bridge, saddle slot and nut compensation jig.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Whats complicated about precisely measuring your saddle slot, lining up your router/base with a nice laser (turning on your vacuum pump) and cutting a very accurate slot regarding width, depth and angle? ( plus any degree of tilt you so choose)
What a truly great tool does is make the task very simple
If StewMacs price scared you off forget about this one

Wud I'd love too, but getting to run through Hibdons.......I just bought two of their curly Honduran mahogany neck blanks

Nice, I like that jig also, Bishop?

I just gave up on Dremel's for any kind of precision routing. Mine is a ball bearing model but you have so much slop in the housing its pointless. I wrapped the bearings in plumbers teflon tape for a crush fit and that helped but its still crappy.

This is a total no brainer for me, cry once and laugh for a long long time