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My first two builds were kit guitars which was nice because all of the bits and pieces that came in the kit were actually consumed in the build of the guitar. Now that I'm onto my first custom build, I have all these extra bit's and pieces of wood, binding etc etc lying around that I need to figure out a nice way of storing them. As I purchased the various components for my first custom build, I purchased extra binding, extra purling, extra wood, extra tuners etc to help reduce shipping/duties/brokerage fees. It certainly has been cheaper to purchase the components this way. But now I have so much guitar building material, that I don't know what to do with it all. I'm one of those typical woodworkers that doesn't throw away anything. You never know when you'll need it!

I'm curious how everyone stores all these bits and pieces that go into a guitar?

Take for example small plastic binding - the small stuff that's 0.010" thick. I purchased a quantity of this stuff so I have some on hand, but it's a pain coiling it up all the time and wrapping in tape. And when I take the tape off, SPROING! it's all over the place.

Does anyone have any neat storage ideas that they'd like to share?

Rob

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

Mailing tubes for bindings, purflings, kerfed linings of any length.

A few boxes of the sort LMI or Allied mail sets in - a rosewood box, a mahogany box, an ebony box, ...
Plywood bits that could eventually become jig parts are in a rolling box in the garage, with the table saw and band saw.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

+1

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+1

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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.

I have a little cubby-hole storage shelf that I use for parts, and a drawer for small but valuable (i.e. not scraps) pieces of wood.

C'mon Filippo, nobody's going to believe that!
We've seen photos of your workshop

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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.

I think some of us should sneak into Filippo's shop and make a mess.

I store stuff like binding, purflings ect in mailing tubes too. (and "kerfing" )

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Kerfing in tubing...good idea, Woody.

I bought a bunch of 1" I.D. PVC pipe and cut to 3' lengths. Then I used some plastic pipe hanger strips to secure them to the underside of a shelf. Works great for purfling strips and bindings.

Nice organization Filippo. I wish I had that ability to organize. My shop is a disaster, but a huge success at disorganization. <sigh>

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Yeah, and reorganizing in public is frowned upon.

In desperation, I bought a bunch of cheap plastic drawer units from Wall Mart a few years ago. Changed my life! They look tacky, but are sturdy enough for storing most things (Not the lead shot bags!) & a whole lot of mess can be organized into very small space. I even use one, with an inch of water in the bottom, to store my water stones. It's not easy to do that in a wooden drawer...
Various sizes of PVC pipe works great for storing bindings, purfling & linings.
4" PVC pipe with a cap glued on one end works well for holding go-bars.
Lots of good ideas in Filippo's pics!

Daniel - that's an interesting idea. Have you found it necessary to add anything to the water to retard bacterial growth?

A drop of bleach does the trick. I've stored my water stone in a tupperware this way for years with no problem.

Alex

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

Good to know! Thanks Alex.

I keep my bits in the original plastic containers hidden in my toolbox.
Oh, bits of lumber: I use long plastic containers. Heaven forbid I need something out of the bottom container. I have some bundles of thin stock that I have not figured out to store without risking bow and curl. Right now they are stacked up with a weight on top. I put up a rack in the garage for longer pieces of lumber and try to stack everything flat.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I also use several of these from Ikea for small odds 'n ends, pins. Dots, bone blanks, tuners, strings, rosettes, pickups etc.......

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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.

Those would be nice in the shop, if only Ikea sold them here in the States.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

What! No "Moppe" drawers sets.
Pants!
I thought Ikea sold the same stuff everywhere.
They've had them here as long as I have been going (with my better half- she is very keen on their stuff)

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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.

I'm the poster adult for ADD, so everything's always a mess and I'm always frustrated with it all. What can you do? Try to organize, but when you run out of room and have 2X the stuff you should have in a given space, it's not a good scenario for success!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Lmao - you guys crack me up. Thanks for the pics, it really helps. I think I might need to start thinking outside the "box" and start looking at some organizing ideas outside of Home Depot and Canadian Tire. The drawers from IKEA look promising, as does the plastic drawer idea. As I collect more guitar building tools, and create more jigs, my shop continues to remind me how little space I have to store things. Then there's all these little off cuts.....

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

Depending on your dietary preferences, you can always find repeatable zero cost containers keep stuff organized. I got a couple dozen of the green bins (as surpluss) which are also great around the ceiling perimeter for batch storage.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Cheers for showing some of your storage solutions Filippo they will come in handy as I'm trying to organize my workshop which is 20' x 8'

All the best
Dave

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To be someone must be a wonderful thing!

I have mine in Tupperware (or equivalent) with no bleach and don't notice anything. The container isn't sitting in daylight, though.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

For what it is worth, I use a derelict, double-door refrigerator for storage, particularly finishing materials (Danish-oil, poly, nitro). I figure that it will keep the insurance company happier.

Bob