Official Luthiers Forum!

No longer wanting to be a poser who can't make his own guitar necks, I was recently in the market for a few rasps. After reading through a number of threads here, I found some exceptional advice, and this gem in particular: Hand-Stitched Raps.

As advised in the thread, I ordered the 10" #9 grain cabinet maker's rasp, and the 7" #13 modeller's. Prior to this, I'd searched for some U.S. made Nicholsons to no avail, and exchanged a few emails with Deneb Puchalski from Lie-Nielsen (who also recommended the #9 and #13, but in Auriou). But geez, those Auriou's add up. This pair of Liogiers, shipped from France, came to not much more than the 10" #9 from Auriou and the Grobet file recommended in past OLF threads not including shipping. Not bad!

When I emailed Noel, he said he'd just finished forging them and was moving on to stitching. Total time from order to shipment was about two weeks, and another week to get to the U.S. from France. Can't wait to put them to use.

Whatever you do, don't go back to his site & study all the different types he makes.

I love my model maker's rasp.

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.

I' m looking at getting a few of these myself. Let's us know your opinion on them after you give them a whirl...Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

Thanks a lot, James. I swear you are going to make me go broke! Why did u have to post this??? Now i really want some.

Because when I watched his video and saw all the work that goes into them, then realized he wasn't sending me inventory but making them specific to my order, I knew it was something I wanted to promote

James, James, James.....

U have a link to his site? Looks like I need to spend some money I don't have, lol.

I've had a set of Noel's rasps for a little over a year now and they are indeed quality tools... Haven't been able to avoid going back to the web-site Kevin..... but then it is almost christmas.....

BTW as a southpaw I had no idea what a difference having them "left-handed stitched" would make, it was the first time I'd heard of such a thing being available.

Mike J

Here's where I ended up from following the links http://www.hand-stitched-rasp-riffler.com/
I wonder if it would save on shipping if we did a group order for all of us in the USA, so only one box has to go across the ocean...

I do most of my neck carving with a violin knife and spokeshave, but do have to pull out the rasp now and then. And all I have is an ancient, dull Nicholson.

I'm looking at that sapphire treatment... particularly the rust resistance part, since I hate having to worry about it. Pretty color, too

Those look lovely James <drool>
I completely agree with this sentiment:
"then realized he wasn't sending me inventory but making them specific to my order, I knew it was something I wanted to promote"

Rob

James: you´re in for some fun....

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Great. Thanks James.
And here I thought I was done with TAS for the year.
Then you go and post this....
And then the TAS takes over, and I realize, I really do need a 7" 13g Modellers rasp in sapphire.
I really do! To replace the sandpaper on a stick I have been using for shaping heels and headstock transitions.
Sheesh!
Anyway, pretty cool to have a tool custom built on order - like you say, gotta support the artisan tool builder....

I can vouch for the quality of these. They're lovely. Long story short, my mother lives in France. She bought me two for Christmas two years ago....

They are certainly beautiful files and I won't ask how much they cost. I have attached a picture of some Japanese Iwasaki carving files. I have four of these and I can confirm that they are the business for wood carving. The picture was taken from Toolmonger website, http://toolmonger.com/2011/02/11/super-accurate-files/

They run to around $40 dollars, so they aren't cheap, but after using them I usually only need to sand a little. My favourite is two sided, coarse and fine. I get mine from ebay.