The Hub

This is a rehash of the amazing Loothprint that Mike (@member@member@member) shared to the group (Surface Inspection Light – The Looth Group). I don't have a 3D printer so had to take a low(er) tech approach. The pics should be self explanatory. I have linked to a DXF and CRV (Vectric VCarve) file in case it helps. I do most simple tooling in Aspire as I can move more quickly there than in Fusion. Components needed: .75" Baltic birch ply Flash…

Hey all. I need some advice. When getting started in your career, or even after you're established, what side jobs do you do to help make it all work? Quick background for me. Based in Austin, TX. I've been doing guitar repair evenings/weekends for 14 years now. I've been working an office day job this whole time. Day job pays me $30/hour. As a looth, I charge $70. I can make the equivelent of one day job paycheck loothing in the evening…

I installed my new Proper’s Guitar Workstation, and other work holding equipment from Total Vise, in my shop this week. I customized my pedestal with a work tray & tool holder, using their “Pedestal Work Board Support." This will keep me from having to always go back & forth to my bench to set things down and get the tools I need, etc. I'm looking forward to how all of this new gear will help make my work easier, quicker, and cleaner, a…

Happy New year everyone!!! I have an LMII neck angle jig but only have the dove tail templates. Would like to try a bolt on for my next acoustic build. With LMII's unfortunate departure do you know where I can get the templates for the mortise and tenon? Is anyone making these? perhaps our friends fortunate enough to have a CNC? I tried making one for a ukelele build but with the tools I have, not confident in the accuracy. Any leads are…

I'm the proud new owner of a "new to me" Fireball Meteor CNC machine. It feels really odd to have a computer in the shop but I guess I need to get used to that. Fortunately for me, I am well versed in CAD, unfortunately not so much on the CAM side of things. My 3 kids are all experts and are steepening the learning curve dramatically, this would be overwhelming if they weren't helping. So far I'm using the Fusion 360 personal use versio…

Two pieces of maple, each of which were measured beforehand and then cut up and epoxied back together to keep things as consistent as possible. Even the orientation of the grain was the same to avoid any impact of vertical vs horizontal grain lines. The plain maple had one layer of 300gsm 12k unidirectional carbon fibre between each piece, the flame maple had two per lamination, which may be why it sees a smaller gain afterwards? Lots m…

Got my new printer a few weeks ago, and I have been loving life in 3D. I have made a bunch of cauls and tools in preparation for my next builds. On all the prints the first layers were a little fuzzy, so I did some research and adjusted the z offset. Got my first layers in the pocket. But that caused some horrible problems. Now I can’t even finish a print. First layer is fine. Second layer is hairy and fuzzy. Seems like the nozzle is dr…

Hey everyone. This is a first time post for me, but I wanted to say thank you for everything. I’ve been tinkering here and there for the past few years under the eye of a former Martin employee, but this group has really given me more courage. In a high school math teacher by day. I teach mostly Geometry and Algebra. One of my students stayed after for help the other day and had his guitar for guitar class. I asked if I could see it and i…

It would be good to have a section where we looths (wannabe in my case) can buy, sell, or trade materials, equipment, tools, etc. with one another. Obviously, there would need to be rules and policies, but I think we’re all some stand-up people so could be a good thing.

Was using one of my favorite tools today and wondering what happens when LMI is gone? Is there a possibility someone takes over production of these great tools and jigs? When I heard about LMI closing, I immediately went and ordered a backup fret tang filer…a tool I use every week.

Have you ever had a really stubborn bridge plate to remove? I had one not too long ago that seemed to resist wetting with a damp cloth, and subsequently all the heat I could get from my silicone heating pads. After much effort I got about 80% of it out cleanly. The remaining 20% required hours of work with a finger plane. That experience made me think about the Brown's Guitar Factory bridge plate removal tool I had purchased years ago,…

I've never heard any luths mention them, I've bought a few things and found them to be super well thought out and really good quality. Prices are pretty reasonable too. Particularly good prices and variety of rulers but tons of other good stuff. https://taytools.com/

Hello looths worldwide ! 🌍 I just moved into a bigger space, called "Comme un Établi" here in Rennes, France (https://www.commeunetabli.fr/). It's a pretty cool space, with shared tools and knowledge, in which I have 13 square meters dedicated solely to my loothing business. People here have different jobs (leather work, wood work, metal work, book repair, furniture repair, etc.), and are used to offer workshops to people. I'm looking for…

So I've ended up with a 1961 Harmony H54 for free. The neck has about .022" of relief without strings on it. The fretboard was taken off long ago. I got it like that, it was just stuck on with double sided tape. I have no clue why it was taken off other than maybe someone wanted to fix the excessive relief and changed their mind. It looks like the original steel reinforcement rod was never actually glued in. It seems like it was bent a…