Required equipment for making guitar parts

[Mesabooger]

Hello all, I'm new here and to machining in general. I've just become interested in home machining. What are some books that are considered "required" reading for new folks like me? And what kind and brand of machine (Sherline, Proxxon etc) would fit the bill for making guitar bridges and such? The max size part would be something like 5x5in. TIA You people have a nice community here.

[jr45acp]

Mesa, Machine Shop Practices would be in the list at a minimum! Welcome aboard!

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John B

[This message has been edited by jr45acp (edited 03-17-2003).]

[Alistair Hosie]

Messabooger incidently did you get your name from the measa-boogy amps?
I can tell you that there is (as you probably ready know) quite a big market in all types of stringed instrument making.
Try this site this guy makes and sells a lot of equipment which is used in guitar making etc some of it is quite neat but all of his stuff is easily doable for the homeworker hobbyest.I don't think making a bridge would be that difficult but then again iit depends on how much love and care you want to put into it.I am a great believer that if you want to make a guitar or any other instrument it won't be to save money so you might as well take your time and get it ecxactly as yoy would like it after all that is why you want a custom onstument in the first place I have several books on making acoustic guitars and would like to hav a go at either a folk or classical model before get too old to want to.
Regards Alistair and let me know how you get on and oh also welcome these guys here are beautiful you have not made a bad choice joining this forum just stay away from the meatloaf in the words of monty python its owrf dearrie.
http://www.stewmac.com/

[Mesabooger]

Thanks to both of you. Yes, my username came from the Mesa Boogie amps. It's the same username I have on several other forums, I have so many passwords and usernames to remember that I try to keep most them similar. I'll definitely pick up the book you mentioned. Jr45acp, you must be a pistol person judging from your username? I've made a few electric guitars and built a few amps through the past couple of years and I'm not satisfied with the aftermarket junk that's available for hardware. So I figured why not get another expensive hobby, I still have checks in my checkbook right?...that's a joke and a true story. I've always been very interested in upgrading the quality of existing parts, you know replace plastic ones for machined metal ones. Do you guys have any experience with a certain brand of machine or a recommendation?

[Jim Wilson]

I came to maching from a similar approach althoug I make acoustic guitars. I went through quite a bit of lurking on this and several other groups and found out as much as I could before I bought a Taig milling machine. I have not seen one in person but the new mini mills appear to be pretty good. I spent more money on the Taig because I wanted to convert it to CNC which I have done. There is more support fot the Taig than the mini mills as far a CNC. I am going to cut lute roses for my first application. In addition I plan to cut fret slots. I know it'd not big enough but I can move the fingerboard using the last fret cut as an index locator. I can cut half the slots then rotate the board 180 degrees and go back the other way to finish up. Enco sells small end mills that match the width and depth of fret wire sold buy Luthiers Mercantile (the fret tang for the wire I use is 0.020 wide and 0.065 deep). I have a 9" South bend lathe I found on Ebay and a Burke #4 horizontal milling machine also on Ebay. If I had to buy a lathe for small parts I think I would go with a Homier 7x12. If your plans remain limited to 5x5 envelope then for about $600 dollars you could get a 7x10/12 lathe and a mini mill. Anybody out there have first hand experience with the mini equipment? You can see details from several vendors. Homier, grizzly and harborfreight come to mind. The web sites are www.name.com for the three mentioned. Also a great web site for Taig and Sherline and small machines in general is www.cartertools.com.

Good Luck

Jim

[Paul Gauthier]

Try thses guys, you can get an excellent catalog from them. It will tell you much of what you want to know.

http://www.lmii.com/

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Paul G.

[Bill]

I have a Homier 7x12, and I think it would be good for most guitar sized turning jobs. I built a bridge for my bass when I had access to a Bridgeport. It turned out fine, and it was nice to have the power and rigidity, but if you were careful and took the time, I think you could do the same thing on a mini-mill.
There are some good books available from Luthiers Mercantile...don't forget that good old hand tools can still do wonders!
I also have a dremel that I'm planning on setting up as a cnc router, maybe do some engraving or carving on a solid body.

[Mesabooger]

Paul, thanks for the advice about lmii, they're a good source for materials and schools on luthiery. I've been receiving their catalogs for a few years now and have been really tempted to sign up for some of their seminars. The cost and lack of variety in guitar parts is one of the reasons I want a mini-mill. Also, I want to make custom knobs and such for my amps. If you're interested in guitar building, the mimf forum www.mimf.com really is a valuable resource. Bill, I'm really not going to be doing a lot of production work so hopefully I will be able to do all the things I want to with a mini-mill. Which machines are easiest to convert to cnc if I ever wanted to go that route? Thanks for all the info.

[Jim Wilson]

Hand tools are the way to go if you have the time and know how to sharpen your tools. The last classical I built entirely by hand except for a bandsaw. I will never hand plane the plates again. I did it and know that I can but I will use my thickness sander from here on. Everything else was a natural for hand tools. The most difficult was cutting the binding ledges with a hand pufling cutter designed by Irving Sloane that I bought I think from Luthier's Mercantile years back. At the other end is Arthur Overholtzer who did just about everything with a machine of some sort. I have a book he published years ago. He did everything a little differently from what everyone else was doing at the time. I don't know if he is still around or not. His book is great for anyone that wants to use machines and jigs to build a guitar. One thing he did that I don't think would be financially reasonable today was to use rosewood for his necks inplace of mahagony or maple or whatever your chioce is today. They must have weighed a heck of a lot. I better shut up I think I have gome way OT here.

Jim

[bdarin]

Built myself an acoustical back in 1976. Did it ALL with hand tools as I only had an electric drill back then. Still have the guitar, still sounds good.