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Nice one michael my 18in turning/bow saw is very simple and basic. It does the job cutting the heel curve ON a CL gtr. Very elegant bow saw. you made . I blew out a bi-metal BS blade so it has now been repurposed for that 18in bowsaw. Guess everyone must find their own tool path. that works for them.

Do those of you who have replied that your band saw is your go-to, do you think a 9" is big enough for steel string guitar making?

I've only used a large expensive band saw in school, and don't really know all that much about the different sizes. I'm worried that a 9" would be too small for making dreadnought sized guitars, but I don't know if that's true.


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Yes for acoustic building I think it would be okay. Now if you were cutting out electric bodies it may be a little underpowered but if you took it slow it would probably work....Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

I built a bunch of guitars with only a 9" saw but sure appreciated it when I upgraded to a 14" Rikon Deluxe.

These days the 9" is relegated with it's now 20 tpi blade to cutting bone and very small accent parts, heel caps, butt wedges, and once in a while my lunch too...

The 9" did struggle with brace billets but it can be done.

the blade for those 9" saws also goes dull in minutes...

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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

Thanks guys. I don't own a band saw or a table saw at this point, and had seen 9"-10" band saws that were in a price range I could afford.


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Hi Justin,
My suggestion would be to find a used 12 inch craftsman two wheel bandsaw. The 80 inch blades are commonly available and with different tooth configurations for cutting wood, metal or plastics. You can even find sanding belts to fit them. The saws are pretty light weight (plastic covers) and could be mounted on a board if you need them to be a "table top" saw. Being a consumer grade Sears product there are a fair number of them around on the used market. Used prices around $50-100 in my area.
My first bandsaw was a three wheel Dunlap. It was a PITA to find blades and keep it tracking.

Why not just find a cheap Delta 14" clone?

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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

I would suggest a minimum of a 14" since it will have all the power you need for most jobs as well as having a deep enough throat to handle most everything you will want to do. If you read through this whole post you know that I was the one that started it and I currently have an old Craftsman that is 40+ years old. The only thing mine doesn't do is resaw anything more than about 4" or cut think stock very quickly. But it does do a half decent job for its age and I have been using it for well over 20 years for guitar repair and some cabinet work. When I get my new one I am planning on keeping this one with a 1/8" blade on it for scroll work and lite jobs

I am sure you can find a used 14" for probably the same amount you will spend on a new 10" or possibly even less. The best thing about looking for an old one is if it is anything like mine, there isn't a plastic part on it and it is built like a tank.

Cheers,
Bob

As I mentioned above, I am not familiar with what's out there, and that's why I asked for advice. I didn't know that there were clones.

I've always had good luck with Craftsman in the past, so I might look into a used one of those.

According to Sears website, going form a 10" to a 14" the price difference is enormous. $199 for the 10" and $449 for the 14". I'm just getting started, and $450 is a lot of money for me at the moment.

You should be able to find an old Delta 14" clone on craigslist or something for a lot less than 450 dollars. It doesn't have to be new.

I just hate 10" bandsaws because their small wheel likes to break blades. You are often stuck to using ultra thin blades (especially those 3 wheel ones) that are made of unhardened spring steel that goes dull as soon as you get your guide adjusted. I had one and the blade lasted basically 2 weeks (very moderate use at that). At 10 dollars a blade it was getting expensive very fast. Problem is you can't weld or braze your own blade stock with those tiny wheeled saws because even a 2 wheeled 10" saw doesn't like .025" blade materials, it breaks them within minutes. You will probably find a lot of used 10" bandsaws out there because people get frustrated with them. 10" bandsaws must use special .014" blades that nobody carries (because it isnt possible for the average person to weld them). As soon as you harden them they become too stiff to wrap around the tiny wheels without breaking.

The Delta 14" clone does just about anything one would need for guitarmaking. It can even resaw with the addition of a riser kit (albeit slowly). Heck you could just get a Grizzly G0555 which will work just fine and probably cheaper than 450 used.

_________________
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 agree with the others that if at all possible even a used one a 14" saw is better suited for Lutherie even if on a budget.

Many of my tools I bought twice buying originally something that would not grow with my chops and Lutherie needs and then a few years later I replaced them with beefier stuff.

If I were to do this all over again, had limited budget and wanted a small saw for now I would check out the Rikon 10" over the Ryobi 9" that I have.

I use an old delta 12" that I have had for years. It has some limitations when finding blades since they are not as common and plentiful as the 14" blades but they are available online from many vendors.

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Another day, another dollar.

Stanley Sharptooth cross-cut saw. Best hand saw I've ever owned. Zips right through rough Mesquite.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

If you check on eBay for the Craftsman two wheel 12 inch bandsaws you will find a few . Looking in the completed sales most went for around $100. If you keep checking eBay , Craigslist, local lists I'm sure you will find one not too far away from you for about that price.
If you stumble on a 14 inch cast iron saw for cheap, so much the better.

Look on your local Craigs List...

I did a quick search and found a number of them including this brand new 14" Craftsman

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/tls/4354904855.html






So how do you actually cut a piece of 1/8" sitka spruce guitar top out with that?

Cheers,
Bob

Robert,
I could almost have signed your original post, because you expressed my thoughts exactly. Of course, it depends on the task at hand. For some tasks the table saw is the tool of choice. But I don't push small pieces through my table saw. That's way too full of potential danger for me. For shorts, I go to the band saw. I don't care if I have to plane off some saw marks after the cut. Furthermore, there are lots of times when I reach for a sharp hand saw. They are quiet and contemplative in use. They are usually just as fast as taking time to set up a power tool. A sharp hand saw is accurate if one knows how to use it, and I do. But for repeatable cuts, getting out a lot of stock to equal dimensions in a production run, it is hard to beat a table saw. All that said, I do not try to make a living at instrument making. If I did that, I would take the time to make numerous jigs, sleds, and fixtures that would make it saver to get out quantities of my basic blanks. As it stands right now, I have only a few essential jigs and fixtures, but it seems I make a few more each time I launch a new project.
Patrick

Sorry Bob, don't know how I inserted that before your name. This saw hacks planks down to size to fit on my Craftsman 14" bandsaw. Love my bandsaw except blade change is a slow process. I use my contractor's table saw only for ripping.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I have always had a huge respect for table saws. It came early on back in the late 60's when I worked at a local furniture factory. I was hired in as their final inspector but the position wasn't going to open for a couple of months so they said I could start working right away if I wanted to work in the rough mill. I needed the job so I said sure why not. They had me gluing up planks for drawer sides but I worked just a few feet from 4 very large table saws. When they walked me around to introduce me to some of the workers I noticed every one of the table saw guys had fingers missing... I had a fair amount of respect for table saws before that but when I saw guys with 2, 3 or 4 fingers missing It really hit me that they do bite pretty hard. That has stuck with me. I really only use my table saw for cutting large pieces of ply or ripping long boards. Cross cuts are almost always on my radial arm and most everything else is on my bandsaw.

@dzsmith,



I use to use my handsaws quite a bit but a few years ago I tore my rotator cuff and had to have surgery on it. Ever since then I can't do a lot of repetitive movements or my shoulder starts aching. So now my saws are more of a decoration hanging on the wall. I have 3 of them that were my Grandfathers and they were my favorites to use

Cheers,
Bob

I had an inexpensive 12" bandsaw as my only motorized saw for the first few years, it is what I would consider a minimum size to be useful for guitar building. I now have a full size cabinet saw and a 24" band saw, both older, 3 phase, cast iron machines, which I bought used and which took a fair amount of TLC to run smoothly (get good literature on machine maintenance if you intend to do this!). They are quite useful for a number of tasks that I would not be able to do without them, but that 12" band saw, which I still have, is probably the one that gets turned on most often.

For hand saws, I like the Japanese style ones in various sizes, as well as various "miniature saws" for detail work, the SM gauges saws for fret work etc.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Some of the small table top bandsaws are perfectly fine. Just get a decent thin kerf blade and take care over setting up the saw.
I used one of the small 3 wheel saws for years. I swapped out the metal guides for wooden dowels, I could quite literally push these right against the blade. I never cut anything much above 1 " (extremely rare) and most of the time it was under 1 ". If you are buying Guitar wood that has already been milled I don't see that much advantage in a bigger bandsaw, unless you are producing 1 Guitar + per month. For the guy making just the odd Guitar a table top bandsaw is perfectly adequate. Then again a hardpoint jetcut is too.
I've seen these used, very small bandsaws go for little money. I bought mine used. I think I had it for around 8 years. I sold it and lost all of £5 on the capital expenditure!

Michael, I think it depends on the way you like to work. You don't actually need anything but a few hand tools to make a guitar (or most anything else) if you set your mind to it, I guess. Judging from the quality of the little table top band saws I've seen and used, I'd rather just use a hand saw. I guess its possible to find a good one, but...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I used to have one of those 3 wheel bandsaws too, but sold it within a month of getting them because the blade lasted 2 weeks of moderate use. I dont know if I had bad blades but subsequent blades from the manufacturer did not last any longer. I tried to find bimetal blades but no one makes them for 3 wheeled saws. So while they are cheap they are like inkjet printers, you will spend more than the cost of the machine on supplies.

_________________
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

You might change your mind about using hand saws Arnt if you had a hundred or so 1 mm strips to cut from mosaic logs! that was the primary reason I bought my first little bandsaw. I'd seen it or it was mentioned in the Mcleod/Welford book.
I used to get a few months (at least) out of my blades with the odd one breaking prematurely. That was the second bandsaw of this type that I owned. Back in the very early '80's I bought one from new and I sold it after a couple of years due to the frequency that the blades broke. I knew little or next to nothing about Bandsaws back then. There was a big gap to my second version and even then I only bought it because it was so cheap. I figured it was virtually for free because I could resell it. The difference was that I knew something about bandsaws and I had a supplier of very good blades.
It seems different people have different experiences or expectations with these types of bandsaws. Mine was good although the one that I bought from new wasn't the best of introductions to bandsaws. Probably my own shortcomings and blades that weren't the best. I've also heard both positive and bad reports on general woodworking forums, even of people cutting 2" Oak cleanly. I never tried to stretch mine to that type of capacity. Mostly I was cutting a lot of inlay, mosaic rosettes then head plates, fretboards, bridges, binding, side width, back/front outlines, Spruce bracing. It's virtually all 1/2" thickness or under. The bandsaw performed perfectly adequate for these tasks.

Sooner or later you will want to rough out a 3" thick neck blank or cut some 4" end blocks. I've done that on a small three wheel bandsaw but it was a struggle. Mine was an old saw when I got it and it was hard to get the blades to track properly. Blades were hard to find and they would break frequently. I sold it for $15 and felt a little guilty about that.
The plastic housing 2 wheel craftsman saws don't weigh a lot and can be set up as table top saws if that is what is needed, by mounting the motor in "back" instead of "below". There are certainly better saws out there but as an inexpensive entry level saw that will still be useful (sanding and light metal cutting) if kept after you upgrade they are not a bad deal (used). I have a number of bandsaws and still find the craftsman useful as a semi portable tool. This fat old man can pick it up and carry it outdoors when the weather is fair and fine.