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Thread: Lee Valley Luthier Catalog

  1. Quote Originally Posted by Joe Tilson View Post
    [snip]

    Everybody has a right to make a living though.
    Everybody has a right to work for a living. Making one is sometimes a different matter.
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  2. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Stock View Post
    Worth noting that the luthiery tool and jig selection from Lee Valley is good stuff but pretty sparse - will certainly get someone going in the right direction, but worth becoming familiar with the tool, jig/fixture, and parts stuff offered by Stewart MacDonald Guitar Supply, Luthiers Mercantile International, Incorporated, and the dozen or so tone wood vendors based in the US and Canada. As usual, worth doing the deep dive on the process before buying anything, and check for local hobby and pro luthiers in your area that you can impose on to get a feel for what is involved.
    Hi Todd -

    Good observations.

    Just for additional context - we are not trying to be a Luthier supply house - StewMac does that quite well. In Canada, it can be difficult (and expensive) for many people to order from the US. Our intent is to cover many of the basics, and to enable people to engage with craft - in this case, guitar making.

    Cheers -

    Rob

  3. #18
    No one is bending your arm to buy their jigs or fixtures, Joe. Every luthierie operation done with a power tool can be accomplished with a hand tool - you might have to develop some skills to do the job, and it might take more time than with a power tool & jig, but doable.

    That said, the last thing I want to do with my time is try to source high grade waterproof 1-1/8" MDF for a radius dish, make up the jig for the router, then end up looking like a 6'2" granola bar after spending an hour or two on a hot summer day milling a couple dishes out. I can get both 15' and 28' radius dishes for under $200 delivered, and that is totally worth it to avoid the task.

    The flip side of that is a total lack of suitable body molds from commercial vendors...for about two hours of labor and $50 in materials, I can make up both mold and bending form for a new body shape. In this case, the time spent is worth the lost opportunities (what I could have done in that time) because I get the best solution.

    This is why it's worth visiting a couple shops to get an idea of what other small shop builders are doing as part of the spool-up to build. John Greven cranks out up to 70 instruments a year in a shop without CNC, minimal jigs or fixtures, and no helper or jobbing out components. His shop has about half the stationary tools in it that you'll see in the average hobbyist home wood shop.

    As to manual methods, the Cumpiano book is very dated when it comes to where the SOTA has gone for many small shop builders, but nearly all of the processes shown are done with hand tools or with very simple, shop made jigs and fixtures. Def worth getting a copy for that alone.

    I am going to guess that most folks that build more than a handful of instruments end up with a very different view of StewMac or LMII offerings than the tyro trying to equip for their first. I used to think, "Holy Crap! that's expensive!" when looking at diamond fret files; now, after hundreds of fret jobs done with one of them, I think "How can they offer this for just $70?"
    Last edited by Todd Stock; 09-22-2017 at 10:15 AM.

  4. #19
    Hi, Rob. I think your point is well taken - the LV offerings get a new builder going with core tools (e.g., planes, chisels, etc.), specialty tools (e.g., nut slotting files), some useful fixtures (e.g., radius dishes), and common supplies (e.g., bridge pins, etc.), but are not intended to be comprehensive or all-inclusive. Prices are at or a little below specialty vendors (e.g., universal vise), and especially for folks north of the border used to paying duty on StewMac orders, Canadians get another domestic source for luthiery-specific stuff. All good!

  5. #20
    Personally, I'm pretty excited that Lee Valley is going into this arena.

    I started with a Stewmac OOO kit.
    For a while, I lusted after everything in their catalog until I realized that I could get/make better quality jigs for less money (calipers uisng mitotuyo digital parts, etc).
    Later, I got into Luthier's Merchantile.
    However, I got burned with a "jointing jig" that was cumbersome, didn't work well, and a waste of money.
    I had better results with some packaging tape and a scrap piece of plywood.

    With Lee Valley, at least I know that there's great customer service and that someone has likely tested it out.
    The QC should be better than Stewmac, IMO.

  6. #21
    The stuff like the 'Luthier's Friend', the goofy binding channel jig, so-called 'brace' chisels, and the new body molds are not useful, but the pro tools are quite good. Summit makes a better tang trimmer than anyone else, but for nickel silver, SM's is pretty decent.

    On StewMac customer service, they have sent me next business AM warranty replacement tuners when I had a player that had a gig the next afternoon...no charge and return shipping on the old tuners covered... and not just on their own Waverly brand...they'd have done the same with a cheap set of Grovers. Rob's guys and gals are just as good, but after almost 10 years in the repair business, Stewmac has always stood behind anything they offer. Similar experience with Natalie at LMII, although I find less to interest me there due to their focus on tone wood.

    Re: jigs and fixtures...there are a lot of them that I would never use, whether for luthiery or cabinetmaking. I don't need a guide for my dovetail saw and I would not use a Dremel to mill a rosette or binding channel...but there are folks that want those jigs, so SM and others sell them.

  7. #22
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Stock View Post
    The stuff like the 'Luthier's Friend', the goofy binding channel jig, so-called 'brace' chisels, and the new body molds are not useful, but the pro tools are quite good. Summit makes a better tang trimmer than anyone else, but for nickel silver, SM's is pretty decent.
    Basic tools like the Ibex palm/finger planes and dragon rasps aren't too bad, either (though I would now choose Corradi rasps over the latter, for roughly the same price).

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