Question for luthiers about stewmac

[demolisher]

So Ive kind of made up my mind to start at least building guitar bodies for myself thanks to a pretty full workshop I have access too. And now I'm starting my extensive research into it(god knows im going to hop into luthiery without knowing everything I need too ), so I checked out stewmac earlier, and looking into it pretty hard, it kind of seems..how do I say..snake oilish? alot of the tools and 'essential making kits' dont seem all that essentail, I feel like i could get away with much less, now obviously im not talking about taking a router to fret my necks but some of this stuff just seems rediculous. So my question is, am I crazy or is stewmac kind of overblown?

[hufschmid]

Originally Posted by demolisher

So Ive kind of made up my mind to start at least building guitar bodies for myself thanks to a pretty full workshop I have access too. And now I'm starting my extensive research into it(god knows im going to hop into luthiery without knowing everything I need too ), so I checked out stewmac earlier, and looking into it pretty hard, it kind of seems..how do I say..snake oilish? alot of the tools and 'essential making kits' dont seem all that essentail, I feel like i could get away with much less, now obviously im not talking about taking a router to fret my necks but some of this stuff just seems rediculous. So my question is, am I crazy or is stewmac kind of overblown?

I have been a customer of StewMac for the past 12 years and this is what I have to say about them....

You will very rarely find such pro's to work with, amazing customer service... You can send a message to Matt, I know him very well and i'm sure he will tell you which tools you need...

Most of the tools there have also been designed by makers (trade secrets), and you dont need all of them of course... But some tools in there are very usefull...

A good book is a good way to get started also....

Try this one I received it as a gift from my ex girl friend one day

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_p...ic_Guitar.html

[demolisher]

thanks alot for the reply huf, your guitars are brilliant, that book looks excellent( I have been looking into a few, also some on general woodworking) Care to fill me in on the ones I should get?

[hufschmid]

Originally Posted by demolisher

thanks alot for the reply huf, your guitars are brilliant, that book looks excellent( I have been looking into a few, also some on general woodworking) Care to fill me in on the ones I should get?

Actually there is one book and a dvd which i really recommend because its worth any dollar you will have believe me and go for it....

Bob is not only a real genious and my number 1 inspiration, but a very kind person and his instructional dvd's are simply amazing, I have learned so much from this man you cant imagine...

Its about jazz guitars but really helps you out to understand how things work.... Give it a try

Archtop Guitar Design and Construction at Stewart-MacDonald

[darren]

You can build using good-quality run-of-the-mill tools you can buy at any decent hardware store. The specialized tools at StewMac just make the job quicker and easier.

One funny comment i've heard from several luthiers about StewMac:

"At StewMac, you can't blow your nose without a template."

They tend to be a little heavy on templates and jigs to do everything, which is a smart thing to do if you're doing lots of repairs or building in a semi-production mode. But if you're building one-offs for your own use, you probably only need a few basic templates, but you can even have templates made from your existing guitars.

[hufschmid]

Darren is right you can make templates with the existing guitar....

I use the stew mac neck routing templates to cut out my neck pockets personaly...

Laser cut templates are really good...

[ilikes2shred]

Originally Posted by demolisher

thanks alot for the reply huf, your guitars are brilliant, that book looks excellent( I have been looking into a few, also some on general woodworking) Care to fill me in on the ones I should get?

If by ones you mean tools, then at the very least you will want a router, a saw (band-saw or jig-saw), sandpaper, rasps, and a drill with various drill bits. Those and the basic screwdriver type stuff.

[demolisher]

Originally Posted by ilikes2shred

If by ones you mean tools, then at the very least you will want a router, a saw (band-saw or jig-saw), sandpaper, rasps, and a drill with various drill bits. Those and the basic screwdriver type stuff.

you just listed all the tools I have. I meant guitar specific tools (fretting, nut making, etc)

[ilikes2shred]

Originally Posted by demolisher

you just listed all the tools I have. I meant guitar specific tools (fretting, nut making, etc)

If you plan on building necks, it is a matter of how much time and money you want to spend. If you get every stew-mac neck-building tool there is, then you will be able to make a neck very quickly. However, you probably don't want to spend that much.

I don't have any specialty tools for neck building and I get by just fine. I cut my frets with channel-lock diagonal cutters, de-tang them with a file and homemade jig, pound them in with a wooden hammer, file the ends with a coarse bastard file and needle files, level them with a level and sandpaper, crown them with a 3 corner file, polish them with a dremel, buy pre-slotted nuts, and so on.

The only specialty guitar building tool I ever bought was some flush ground end-cutters from LMI, but I sent them back because the metal would fold back when you tried to cut a fret.

However, I will be getting a fret slotting saw for my next build because fanned fret boards are very expensive to buy preslotted (I have previously bought preslotted boards). I would also like nut-slotting files and a good scraper.

I really don't think much of stew-mac's "essential" kits. A lot of the tools that come in these kits are good, so don't get me wrong, but a cheaper version could be bought at a hardware store which I think are more suited to the amateur who is not looking to spend $1000 on tools.

Keep in mind that I enjoy making my own jigs/tools though, and I spend a lot of my time doing so.

Oh, and I would not buy a whole bunch of tools right away. Instead, buy the tools as you need them.