Official Luthiers Forum!

Tai Fu we even have a saying"A snake in the grass" meaning a very dishonorable person. One you keep your eyes on at all times. So yes I understand about Snakes. I know Cobra's are real bad Jose's. Not to be fooled with. Although I've seen those Indian guys with a flute where the Cobra comes up out of the jar and begins swaying with the music.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those cobras are tamed and de-fanged... do NOT try it at home!

_________________
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

I've thought of something that freaks me out a bit....

People who think guitarmaking is my "get rich quick" scheme: People who think that being able to make a guitar automatically means I can sell them for £4000. People who I have to convince of the fact that a master guitarmaker is on another level to someone who has made three guitars. People who laugh when I say it's just a hobby. People who think it isn't worth spending any time learning something new if there are no immediate financial benefits.

Although there is a flip side...

People who can't wrap their heads around the idea that people still make guitars: People who have forgotten that it is only for the blink of an eye that humans have made things on factory lines. People who say, "yeah, well, you didn't make the strings or tuners did you". People who automatically assume I put together some kind of "Lego build yourself a guitar" kit.

The first is, I think, a symptom of the society we live in, where the most celebrated of people seem to be the ones with the least talent, and the ultimate ideal seems to be making an honest week's pay for an honest day's work. That, and that respect for experts in any field has gone right down for all sorts of reasons. The second seems to also have elements of narrow-mindedness and even envy and narcissism. Not to mention the fact that a lot of people seem so wrapped up in our modern world that they have lost their connection with human history.

I've been meaning to rant about this on here for some time!

EDIT: Sorry, this is probably the wrong place for that rant.

And those guys really hate it if you take a pic of their snake without paying!

Guitarwise: different for the sake of being different. Don't tell me your one-off shape or bracing pattern changes everything about guitar tone. (after a couple hundred maybe)

Machinewise: Full size routers. That kick at start up is very disturbing

Toolwise: Clamps because there are never enough of them

Table saw, router table....very scary (and I come from the land of Rattlers, where we remove a couple a year from the yard- by putting them over the fence, not killing them...they're useful).
Crazy-making ....putting one of the FB markers at the wrong fret position (something I have done not once, but TWICE...ugh!!!)

Guitarwise: I keep seeing millionaire guitar players on stage with Ovation guitars. They could do so much better even with a Martin. LOL

Machinewise: Drilling tuner holes with a drill press. I used to use a drill press and not be to afraid of it. Until I was drilling some tuner holes without clamping it down. It grabbed the neck and it flew around almost pulling my hand into the drill bit. It also turned the neck sideways so it messed up the tuner hole. Now I know to CLAMP DOWN YOUR WORK.

Toolwise. Cutting binding by hand with chisels around the cutaway portion on a florentine cutaway. It just sucks.

_________________
Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

None of the various guitar variations I see freak me out - someone tried something
None of my tools freak me out- although I try to do as much by hand as possible because at my age it is as much about the process as the product. I DID sell my radial arm saw 10 years ago.

The one thing that freaks me out is how there is always someone on the internet that takes offense, usually when none is intended.

Ed

I thought this might be appropriate here Ed


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seems like that guy is everywhere, Lonnie. Thanks for that

Ed

Man, that image is so offensive! I'm leaving the forum.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Personally, gloves in the woodshop freak me out. I don't like the idea of having a barrier between my hand and my material and how it can fool my sense of touch. I also worry about part of the glove getting caught by some of the tooling and pulling my hand in. I've tried using the really tight, grippy gloves which do make some things easier, particularly moving large panels on the dado saw at my shop, but can't get over the sense of unease they cause me. To each their own though!

I've been working at a cabinet shop for nearly twenty years and have been very lucky, but have shown the tools the proper respect they deserve, which sometimes means having a bit of fear going in. Not to the point of being nervous but more to sharpen my awareness of my setup and make sure if I'm uneasy about a process I visualize how it will work before I set wood to tool. There's a lot that can go wrong in a woodshop and I've been witness to some horrific things, but I've always kept in mind that the tool is indifferent to me and my flesh, they machine stuff that you feed into them, so as the one thing in the scenario with a brain, it's up to me to control the situation. I'd also add that about 99% of the accidents I've had or seen in twenty years were completely avoidable, in fact I'm trying to think of a single one that wasn't...

Hey, don't getting all snooty here.
They use many of the same tools and skills you do.
I mean - frets don't know whether they are on an acoustic or an electric.

Then there are repair guys like me. Lotta flattop builders look down on us. You know who sneers down their noses at you? Violin makers. And who looks down on those guys? Bow makers.

So chill. There's room for all of us, OK?

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I feel like I need to go on training courses or something. I'm learning how to use all these tools on my own and it seems like asking for trouble. I bet I'd get chastised for a few things.
I was straddling that line using a router table recently. At one point early in the process (batch of pattern routing), I had to stop for a moment to regain my composure and noticed one slight tremor in my hand from adrenalin or something. Felt comfortable with it after a while, which was fortunate as I had to do 16 pieces. Would've probably been better to have some supervision to begin with, I don't have 20 years of tool use behind me and have absolutely no professional experience with tools. (I try to prepare myself with YouTube and reading but no real substitute for someone saying, "what the %$&^ are you doing? You're gonna take a finger off!" -- Obviously I'm trying my best to take all precautions and be as safe as I can.)

Your right to each his own. I wear baseball hitters gloves. Easton brand preferably as that's my grandsons name. I've worn gloves for thirty years. I can play fiddle with my gloves on and you never know the difference. Besides working construction I was also a solid glass Sculpter. That's the guy who sits in the mall at christmastime and makes unicorns,hummingbirds,Santa's ,reindeer,etc. I've always made my living with my hands. My hands are the most important part of my Bod. So I always thought perhaps I should take care of them. There is nothing hanging from my gloves. Velcro doesn't have ends to get caught up in tools. Remember your sense of feel stems from your brain not your finger tips. I gaurentee you I can take my gloves off and can feel the slightest anything as I have no calluses,nicks,burns, owies whatsoever. Just a thought.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

a friend severed a tendon in his hand going through a plate glass window and the doctor told him, "these are the only set of hands you'll ever have. Look after them". I find myself thinking of that quite often in the workshop.

Nick I agree with you 100%. As I have no training with power tools. I used them in high school. Wood shop,metal shop,farm shop,auto shop. I was allowed to take one shop course a year. That interested me more them civics,etc. So I too approach my power tools with the same caution I approached those rattlers in Arizona. Did I mention that I bought ten acres outside of Kingman and it had a rattlesnake den on the property. I had to deal with them all the time till we finally said screw this and moved. But I know that feeling very cautious. Taking time to let the tool do the work not trying to force it. Yes it would be nice to have supervision but I don't. Just do the best I can.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wasn't saying you were wrong, was just saying I didn't like them for me. I don't think that means I don't have respect for my hands though, I've taken really good care of them just like you. I played baseball as a boy and remember the fingertips weren't the most form fitting part of the glove though, they had a seam right there and protruded further than my fingertip would have, not the pad of my finger but the tip and those are the parts of gloves I don't like hanging out there. You're obviously used to it, I'm not and don't plan on using them anytime soon.

I severed the tenon in my left thumb, sitting outside the Louvre in Paris coring an apple with a swiss army knife (still have shivers when I see a swiss army knife). It was such a clean cut, I saw it severed as it sprang back into my arm. We use such sharp tools that we can do major damage even with the hand tools. I spent a few weekends with a luthier building my first scratch guitar. I think he spent more time moving my non tool hand from in front of the chisel than anything else. A lesson I still appreciate.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

That's cool. I have long nails on my right hand for playing my Classicals. So I used to not only gloves but not using my fingertips so much. When I first started sculpting glass my teacher told me I'd never make it wearing gloves. After about six months he stopped by and noticed I wasn't wearing my gloves. He said you know I didn't think you would make it wearing gloves but the last time I was here you were doing fine. I just reached over and slid my gloves on and kept right on and never missed a beat. Looked at him and smiled . He grinned and said you don't know how many serious burns you saved yourself. I told him yes I do too. A 7,000 degree torch gets hot and when you look down and notice you hand a smoking it's time to move it. Yes gloves need to be gotten used to. It don't happen overnite but it's all up to the individual. I hung drywall in construction and fingered those little 1 3/8 drytites as slick as I could when I didn't use gloves. It's all in your mind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ouch! I'd blame the French, personally (800 years of war )... And when I see a swiss army knife, well, one in particular, it reminds me of great times... If it weren't for that knife I wouldn't have spent a week in a village in Thai jungle and I wouldn't have ridden a motorbike through said jungle! Long story!

Always at the forefront of my mind! I say that, I did manage to stab myself in the finger the other week. Like your Louvre incident, it wasn't while working on a guitar so I wasn't in safety mode!

I used a few in high school but it was a 90s state school and let's just say it was rather dumbed down compared to the type of class my father had in his day. (Looking back on it though, I think I knew I had to have a drill press one day... And now I do. ) Only tool I've ever used in my professional life is a computer!

Anyway, I think we've found that the thing that freaks most of us out the most are tool injuries and snakes. And the French

Don't put down electric makers too, because it requires a high degree of precision and alignment, that can't be fixed if a mistake is made!

_________________
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

"I feel like I need to go on training courses or something. I'm learning how to use all these tools on my own and it seems like asking for trouble. I bet I'd get chastised for a few things"

They sell books on how to use tools properly as well as how to make jigs and fixtures for those tools to use them more safely. They are a cheap investment and will show you things others who have used those tools for years still don't know.

Thanks, Clay. You're absolutely right, I must invest! But when I do eventually get a bandsaw I'm going to try to get someone to show me the ropes.