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Private member Discussion3D Printing

Gridfinity tool holder AI generator

I think this could be of use for our messy drawers: https://www.tooltrace.ai As seen here:

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going to give this a try today! I've been dragging my feet on designing bins for months now...
Private member DiscussionShare Your New Builds Content

Acoustic build - documenting on instagram

I've been documenting progress of an acoustic kit build from Amazon over on Instagram, would love for some feedback from those that know more than I do. My goal is to build only with the materials provided in the kit, though I'm definitely using as many tools as I have at my disposal. I'm not expecting a quality instrument at the end of it, but I at least want it well built :) Looking forward to any feedback I can get. Thanks. https://ww…

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Hey Aaron! Greetings from down the road in West Hartford. One of the things that I don't like about Instagram is its inability to weave a narrative. Check out this presentation I did on a site called…
Private member DiscussionElectric Builds

Custom Headless neck for Ibanez 7 string

Hey Loothers, A client reached out requesting a neck with wider nut for his headless Ibanez 7 string. He would like it built with rosewood for the neck and the fret board which has been stored for years at a consistent 45 to 50 % humidity in his home. The frets are angled to make it play more ergonomically but it is not a multi scale instrument. He plays finger picking fusion style and simply needs more neck width at the nut to play mu…

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@member Its plausible that no one wants to touch this project, but I'm curious if we should have a "help wanted" section for folks that might want to pick-up jobs. Maybe not a need, but thought I…
Tom Krebs DiscussionTools and Jigs

Heavy Duty Old School Shop Dust Curtain

I'm looking for the name for the door curtain material that is heavy, thick, and clear. I've seen it in old industrial shops and high school wood shop circa 1970s. It can be seen in the Frank Frank Tour of Gryphon in the doorway to the tool room. My search terms don't seem effective. Tom

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We have some welding curtains where I work. They are heavy duty and clear, but shaded very dark blue. I don't know if those would work for you but that's the first thing I thought of.
Private member DiscussionSELL! SELL! SELL!

Performax 16-32 thickness sander, Jet Drill press, other tools...NYC area

I'm between shops right now and have a bunch of lutherie tools in a U-haul storage facility on 4th ave in Brooklyn. Here are a few of my local craigslist posts. I've also got a bunch of wood I'll be listing in some form or another. Let me know if anyone would like to come by and have a look. Use the "more ads from this user" link in CL posting to see updated and additional listings. thanks! https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/tls/d/brookly…

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Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

The first tool to measure longitudinal neck torsion/twist - the LTwist® gauge

Dear looth community/colleagues around the world, During 2023/24 I have developed a digital gauge to measure so-called longitudinal twist of (bass) guitar necks: the LTwist® gauge. Just to be clear, this is about the "cork screw" type of deviation along the length of a neck, not the bow of a neck. I think there is no need to explain how a too severe neck twist can make it difficult or even impossible to set up a stringed instrument (guita…

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Private member DiscussionDesign and Testing

Video: Measuring Long, Cross, and Transverse Modes + Thickness Calculator

Hey folks, I put together a video showing how I measure the long, cross, and transverse frequencies on guitar top plates before thicknessing, following the Gore method. I also walk through using the calculator I built (based on Trevor Gore’s equations) to get target thickness and track density / young's modulus. Fair warning: the video’s a bit YouTube-y in tone thumbnail faces, a little energy for the algorithm, but the content is genuine…

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Rick, this is amazing! Thank you so much for creating it and sharing it. I have Trevor’s books but having a calculator to run the equations is really fantastic.
Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

Hyperkitten Tool Company

Just wanted to say I bought a chisel through Hyperkitten Tool Company and it went great. It's very old school, ordering and shipping are not a fast process, but if Josh has a tool that piques your interest I highly recommend it. I picked up this long boi paring chisel from the mid to late 1800s and I'm quite happy. https://hyperkitten.com/

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Ian Davlin
Wow, cool site.
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Gretsch Country Gentleman with Truss rod adjustment at the neck/body joint??

*See photos* Does anyone have any information on the truss rod nut or adjusmtent tool for this Gretsch 7670 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman? The truss rod adjustment is at the body under a plastic cover and it looks like the truss rod nut is missing. I’ve never seen this before on a Gretsch or any guitar. Let me know if you have follow-up questions. Any info is much appreciated!!

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Ouch…I won’t ask! This guitar actually has too much back bow and needs to be loosened, so that could be a plus. Will definitely still be proceeding with caution 😅
Private member DiscussionTouring Tech

What touring tech topics would interest you looths?

Hello all, new member here. I've been working as a touring tech for 20 years and just noticed this section of the forum was empty, so I figured I'd give it a kick. Are there any topics\questions\ideas\etc that people would be interested in hearing about or discussing from a touring perspective? If so, drop a comment here and I'll see if I can address it or post any relevant photos\content. I'm leaving Wednesday for a month in Europe fol…

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Hi Peter, I got into touring by meeting musicians through repair work. I started out in a cool little used and vintage shop in Portland called Old Town Music. I started doing a lot of repairs for Mode…
Private member DiscussionSELL! SELL! SELL!

Violin Tools for Free

I have what appear to be violin tools. Free to a good home. Three items. If you know of a Violin maker/repair person who might need these please let them or me know.

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A Looth has spoken for these. Glad to see they'll be put to good use.
Private member DiscussionFinish New Builds

Airbrush for Sunburst? Is it a thing?

Hey, all! I was wondering if an airbrush would be a useful tool for applying a sunburst finish. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you.

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You could probably do it but it sounds like a nightmare to me. This is the gun I use. You'll need a regulator or something to spray around 30psi. Get some carboard, cut it out into guitar shapes and pra…
Private member DiscussionCNC

Cutting circles with CNC

Should a CNC be able to cut a perfect looking circle? I'm trying to make solid wood rosette rings. I made the tool path a profile cut. The top and bottom of both Y positions come out uneven in width than the rest of the ring. I've tried slowing down the feed and plunge rate, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I have an old second generation Nextwave CNC shark and use Aspire for CAD and CAM. Linear cuts seem to be accurat…

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Thanks Michael, It may be a mechanical issue. My machine is about 12 years old and has seen a lot of use. I've only recently started making my own wood rosette rings. I used to buy them premade fro…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Please share your processes for cracks that need splints

Hello good people, My shop’s in Quebec City, so I get to repair an ungodly amount of cracks thanks to our brutal winter and customers being largely unaware of the requirements of maintaining proper RH. Now for the first time (call me lucky) I have two very good guitars in the shop whose cracks won't close up after having been rehumidified for a few weeks. I have tried over-humidifying and it does it, but once returned to proper RH (50%)…

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Thanks Dave, I'll dive back into Pat's book to see if he covers his technique in there.
Ian Davlin DiscussionJob Postings

Northampton Community College Luthier Instructor

https://northampton.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/NCC/details/Luthier-Instructor_JR3840 The staff and faculty of Northampton Community College share a single goal: to help students transform their lives through education. It's a goal that reaps rewards thousands of times over the course of a career. Employees at Northampton receive competitive compensation and an array of benefits while working on campuses located in a region with a very h…

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Private member DiscussionCNC

CNC errors

I'm fairly new to CNC and am attempting to set up for a fretboard carve. I'm using a one year old ShopBot Desktop Max. This is the first I've found a problem like this. I made some practice blanks and thought I had everything the way I wanted it until I measured me fret distances. Using calipers from the nut to the center for the first fret slot I get 1.399" and I'm expecting 1.4346. I brought up the file and used the measuring too…

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9 times out of ten these issues aren’t the software it’s the CNC itself or order of operations. Something might be binding on your machine causing one of the 3 axis to be out of whack. Im assuming you…
Private member DiscussionSELL! SELL! SELL!

Untangler Pro, approaching first production batch

Hi everyone, I am getting closer to finalising the specs for the first production run of the Untangler Pro. The Untangler Pro is made of stainless steel, and it is designed to clean up the underside of fret?s overhangs after clipping away the tang. It works with a Dremel or similar tool and a cutting wheel. The order for the parts needed for the first run will most likely go out next week, so if you want one, now is the time. You can mess…

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Hi, sorry, I had not seen this message. here is a brief demo: https://youtu.be/qcySjEVoDWQ
Private member DiscussionGeneral Business

Instagram Woes...

I'm struggling to set up my business's social media presence. I have a Meta Business account, Facebook is working, but when I try to link my Instagram account from Meta Business Suite I get a message saying my Instagram account has restrictions because I didn't follow "advertising standards or other policies or term." I got this message immediately after setting up the account before posting anything or having any opportunity to violate…

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That’s annoying! I’m sure it’ll be fine to not have them linked. I changed my settings so that only some of my IG posts are also posted to FB. My FB posts are aimed for local people and my IG posts ar…