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Have any of you guys ever worked in a factory?????

It's not all unicorns and fairy dust.....

Every instrument factory I have ever been in generally has piles of surplus parts like bodies and...

Plenty of people in the guitar building community use epoxy to make their own binding strips as well as reproduction pickguards.

I know of one well known company that used a liquid acrylic type...

Nice to see you lurking around here!

'Love that design Steve.

Every time I look at it, I try to pinpoint the inspiration: 1940 Packard? The Cadillac for that period and Auburn are also close. Car nerding is a nice break from...

Graham: Very cool!

The old sketch story is interesting. I've been through that collection in the NMM and never saw that one. I always laughed when I first saw the two point pattern in the MET...

Adrian is right. I've seen some people who are delicate and very detail oriented who will literally take a week to do what I spend 15 minutes sanding. On the other end of the spectrum, I once had a...

Bummer....

I guess I'll have to get rid of my 1959 Les Paul because of that lame Brazilian rosewood fingerboard......

^ This plus...Depending upon how you build the router extension, you get 1000 lbs of cast iron helping to dampen vibration.

For my aspiring UK based luthier friends, here is a nice opportunity for funding:
...

Beautiful headstocks John!

This week's post is not what's on my workbench, but what is above it.

Corporate headquarters just got a big new upgrade with 24 solar panels:

The point of the Unisaw conversation was never to criticize any one else's choices. It was more that they made so many of them, they are so reliable, and they can often be found much cheaper than a...

Live you life boxed up in a cage, afraid of your own shadow, and never never never take your fragile little instrument outside of your home.......;)

This ^^^^^exactly.

Don't look for answers in books or pretty photos or complex formulas or tapping on unicorns and fairy dust. Build your instruments in a way such that you can string them up for...

Well....old Unisaws may be one of the most reliable, easily rebuilt power tools ever made.

I have two tablesaws- a 1946 Unisaw with all of the original art deco goodies that I got for under $100...

Mr. Condino?

Is my father is on the mandolincafe now or am I in trouble again? ;)

The used market is definitely where to look for drill presses. They are abundant and last a century.

Delta & Walker Turner are the two most common older styles; I have both. The Walker Turner is...

A good drill press is a priceless tool in the workshop and worth every penny! They last a half century and are readily available on the secondhand market for very reasonable prices- both of mine cost...

I have several of the Stew Mac counterbores for both the front and the backside of the peghead, across several different instruments. I like them- a lot. I find them to be efficient and accurate.
...

I've been playing guitar since I was 5 years old and we've had continuous mandolin players in my family for well over 100 years, but.....

I get 100:1 calls for paid gigs on the upright bass...

Crazy amount of stress on that part for it to be made of celluloid! I have one here in the shop- circa 1924; luckily that part is intact, but....I had to make a complete new upper pegbox!

I can install an entire upright bass top in one session with no help using traditional hot hide glue; mandolins are tiny and simple.

You don't need to add urea or buy some hipster prepackaged...

Good excuse for a builder's summit / sailing trip off the Washington coast this fall!

John,

I just measured a '21 paddlehead on my workbench that is squeaky clean:

- The ribs varied from 0.090"- 0.098"

- Top was 4.2mm in the center of the arch, averaged 2.9 around the...

50 years of playing guitar and I still can't figure out why anybody would want a fret marker on the C# or F# notes vs the more useful D or G notes! I always put it on the 10th fret for my personal...

Nice!

I've played that tune hundreds of times on gigs and even with a solid rhythm section it is not easy!