The Hub

Greetings Wise Elders and fellow seekers of the Looth Group! I hope you're all keeping well. I humbly beseech thee for thine sage wisdom and experience. I purchased a 1971 Hagstrom Swede. This guitar was basically put in a case and then forgotten about for a few decades. I felt sorry for the old man and have taken it in as a stray / project. I would like to get it playing again. There are many scars on this guitar, I have looked for as…

Hi all, new to nut slot work world, please can you help me with this mystery? fret levelling, neck relief and string action adjustment all completed to Fender 9.5" radius spec. very happy with that. the next step: 0.011” High E string’s nut slot was a bit low. I used Dave Johnson’s (MI Guitar Craft Academy) “q-tip slot raising method”: the pulled cotton strand, plus extra thin CA glue, to fill the slot, then trim it off once dry,…

Hi, Any recommendations for scratch safe and nitro safe bench coverings? Also the porous sanding mats compatible with vacuum tables with same nitro safe properties? My material science education is low in regards to stuff that will and won't react to nitro. Thank you.

Found this, will print later, saves a little design time. https://makerworld.com/models/1835300?appSharePlatform=copy Having made 3D printed Vacuum fixtures for CNC previously, I’d recommend printing as close to 100% theoretical density as possible, as any voids can and likely will lead to suction loss. Finer dimensional stability and layer adhesion with something with Glass Fibres will probably help. I’d avoid materials with additives th…

I bought the O'brien vacuum clamp and a pump to clamp bridges on new builds, but also to use for repair work. I got tired of making custom top and bottom cauls for every odd-shaped bridge that comes in my shop. The vacuum clamp works great on a flat surface with no pick guard. I put it on a J45 with a pick guard, and it won't seal. The gasket is too hard to form over the pick guard. I've seen YouTube videos of other folks using vacu…

Here are some pictures that show the basic elements of a dome sander I made. Critical part is a lawn mower blade bearing/spindle. Cost $63. It is marked part # 607418 Blade spindle assembly. It has a tap for a .625-11 bolt on the side I put facing upward to bolt on the disk, and a shaft with a keyway on the bottom to attach to the big pulley. I used a 11” diameter and 2.5” diameter pulley combination. This gives just about the perf…

Like many of us, I work in a small space - a quarter basement with maybe 6 -1/2 feet of headroom. Sawdust is a problem. There’s no room for an extensive ductwork system or a blower setup. My shop tools (bandsaw, drill press, vertical belt sander, etc.) have a 1-1/2 inch connection for vacuum, but I have mostly been too lazy to use them. (note that I finally added a portable shop air cleaner with HEPA filters). When the most recent Wo…

I rarely use pickguards on my builds, as most of my guitars are intended for fingerstyle players. That said, I occasionally need to install one, and I've yet to find a cutting method that consistently meets my quality standards. I’ve experimented with several techniques for cutting clear pickguard material, but the results are always somewhat disappointing. Using a brand new X-Acto blade gives a reasonably clean cut, but there's almost a…