Luthier's Tips, Tricks And Tutorials

[LtDave32]

I thought it a good idea to have a tips n' tricks thread for the shop.

Any kind of shop trick, jig, jig-making, step-saving procedures or simply how to do things right.

I'll start it off with a quick tutorial on how to cut a Nylon 6 nut.

Feel free to add your tips and tricks, useful tips here.

*Note* -if it involves a several-page tutorial, we'd prefer if a link was given to a thread instead of full pages posted in here.

Simply start a thread, put your content in. Then go out of the thread and copy the URL and paste it in a new post reply in this thread.

easy-peasy.

 

[LtDave32]

Cutting and slotting a Nylon 6/6 nut (how to)

*EDIT* This thread started out as an inquiry, but I decided to change it to a "how-to" tutorial, as there is a lot of interest on how to get through this. I went and ordered a blank of Nylon 6/6 material, 3/16 thick, one inch tall and ten inches long. So the commentary is a little out of...

www.mylespaul.com

 

[DaveR]

My apologies is this isn’t what you’re looking for...

I’ve learned a million and one tricks on this forum, but hands down the most useful has been the “masking tape & super glue” trick for attaching templates to work pieces. For those that don’t know, place a piece of 2” painters tape on the facing sides of your wood and on your template. Use a few dabs of medium or thick CA glue and press the pieces together. In this photo I temporarily attached two blocks to the tenon of this neck for easy clamping in my vise.

Unlike carpet tape, this method has no lateral wiggle, and is easy to remove by just pulling the pieces apart. Carpet tape has caused me to rip fibers from the wood and rip my fingernails back many times, and it leaves sticky residue behind.

I use this painters tape + CA glue technique for all kinds of guitar and furniture making projects. Fastening MDF routing templates and taping small pieces down to a sled for thickness sanding work out great.

*Edit
I had to do this with some templates this week and took some more photos.

Start by masking both sides to be glued together with some wide tape.

Medium CA....NOT the thin stuff. That will run everywhere.

Honestly that's probably too much glue.

Give it a minute or two to dry with something heavy on it proceed with routing!

 

[LtDave32]

^---it's exactly what we're looking for.

Think of all the knowledge everyone can pull from when this thread grows to several pages!

Thanks Dave!

 

[Freddy G]

I've got some....starting with a couple of CA glue tips...

 

[Freddy G]

Make your own brad point drill bits:

 

[Freddy G]

Bench vise safety:

 

[Freddy G]

How to remove a Gibson nut:

 

[Freddy G]

How to read a guitar neck:

 

[Freddy G]

How to make a bound pickguard:

 

[Kennoyce]

How to make a bound pickguard:

I love the miter angle in the mirror chisel trick, thanks!

 

[D'tar]

Greetings everyone.....

Although I am not a pro luthier or even consider myself luthier title worthy, I would like to share this seeing how many new carve templates will be made as our friends here have provided new data in this thread

Luthier's Corner Plans / Templates Resource

*Mod Edit* This thread invites all who are willing to share their resources of where to obtain plans or templates for popular guitar builds. Also for those to inquire where one can obtain plans or templates . Thanks to you good folks who have been so generous with your time and efforts to make...

www.mylespaul.com

I've seen a few people in the past making multiple copies of the contour line print. The type of templates that I use, shown here, can be made using a single copy.

Glue your copy to your template material
Cut out your first template using the outermost contour line. sand and smooth as desired.
transfer the outline directly to your template stock and cut out a second piece same as the first. once cut you can use the first template to router the perimeter smooth on the second cut. I use two screws, one in each pick up cavity location to secure the templates to the next piece. The screws are the same as my master templates for all routing process.
Now repeat the process for the next and all contour lines.

Easy peasy and saves a couple of washington's!

Hope this helps at least one person. Have fun! Be safe! Stay healthy!

 

[Barnaby]

I've just picked up a trick that some may find useful if they don't know it already - one for the archive, anyway.

You know how barrel jacks suck? They frequently seem to crap out after a little while, or often have an issue with buzzing and crackling when you hold the guitar in one particular position. It's to do with the way they're constructed. Well, I finally was told about a trick for dealing with it...however it only works if you're using a mono cable.

What you do is install a stereo barrel jack and simply add an extra wire from the tab for the lower ring to ground. That means you connect both the sleeve and the lower ring to ground, and the tip is wired as usual.

In fact, in the case I had to deal with recently, the jack that was causing problems was already a stereo jack (many barrel jacks are), but the tab for the lower ring was unconnected. Three seconds with a short bit of wire and a soldering iron and it was all done. The annoying buzzing/crackling was completely gone.

This obviously won't work if you need stereo output, but, if it can be mono, this is a lifesaver.

 

[fatdaddypreacher]

some one asked in an earlier thread to post this fretboard radiusing jig i built, having stolen it from someone else, and i can't remember where the original post was, so here it is. I have different radius templates i can put on it for different radius cuts. this is 12"

 

[nuance97]

View attachment 457076 some one asked in an earlier thread to post this fretboard radiusing jig i built, having stolen it from someone else, and i can't remember where the original post was, so here it is. I have different radius templates i can put on it for different radius cuts. this is 12"

Looks a lot like mine...I took inspiration from ScatterLee’s design

 

[fatdaddypreacher]

well im glad i chose to steal yours, cause it works mighty fine

 

[nuance97]

This came up in a PM to me from @Roxy13, and it’s something that has been glossed over in pretty much every build thread around. It took some trial and error to get it right, but it works to perfection.

Cutting the truss rod access with a 3/4” counterbore with 3/16” pilot

Ok so here’s the jig. As you can see it’s 9” long (not critical) by about 1.25” or so (again not critical), and it’s just under 3/16” thick. Sized so that it’s easy to slip in the 3/16” slot and bottom out without binding ..

This is critical. You need to route a 3/16” slot so that there’s a .15” tongue to give you the proper depth on your access cavity

My pilot is 3.5” beyond the blade, and you can see in the first pic my slot is 4” or so (not critical so long as the slot is longer than the pilot).

It should leave you with a perfect cavity with just enough clearance to get a truss rod wrench on the nut and no more. Obviously the least amount of material you removed the better for strength...this is a known weak spot for Gibson guitars

StewMac sells what’s essentially the same setup for $122...no thanks (I’m pretty sure they stole the idea from this forum, but I couldn’t prove it)

 

[LtDave32]

How to mark for stud holes through pick guards:

Builder's tip: Drilling stud holes through pick guards..

So, you've got a pick guard that goes over bridge stud holes, and there's no holes in the guard.. I needed some special holes drilled, and Pickguard Heaven informed me that they are no longer drilling any bridge holes in pick guards as a matter of policy. So that leaves it up to you. I've...

www.mylespaul.com

 

[LtDave32]

The best, most informative Explorer build thread I've yet seen:

1958/63 Explorer build

Hey all! thought I'd share a new build with you guys. I have not done one of these threads in quite some time, Some time back (2 years maybe by now?) a good friend came to me with a project to build a very accurate 1958/63 Korina explorer. It was to be as accurate as possible. I have always...

www.mylespaul.com

 

[fatdaddypreacher]

The best, most informative Explorer build thread I've yet seen:

1958/63 Explorer build

Hey all! thought I'd share a new build with you guys. I have not done one of these threads in quite some time, Some time back (2 years maybe by now?) a good friend came to me with a project to build a very accurate 1958/63 Korina explorer. It was to be as accurate as possible. I have always...

www.mylespaul.com

like you said in an earlier post....i overlooked this one somehow when it was published. while i'll probably never build one, i like looking at threads of other models. this has exceptionally crisp work, has great pics, and is well delivered.