Lee Valley Luthier Catalog

[Hilton Ralphs]

This is new. All the tools and jigs needed to build guitars in one place (http://www.leevalley.com/us/home/OnlineCatalog.aspx?id=69124226).

Some pretty cool tools and supplies in that catalog (http://www.leevalley.com/us/home/OnlineCatalog.aspx?id=69124226).

[Hasin Haroon]

I saw that today, very interesting. I wish there were luthier classes offered close to where I live, I would love to learn to build a guitar... and add to my tool repertoire.

I remember seeing a post on reddit where someone took a 6 class course (once a weekend over 6 weeks) and built one of the most gorgeous guitars I've ever seen.

[Frederick Skelly]

That's cool. Thanks for flagging it Hilton!
Fred

[Todd Stock]

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.

[george wilson]

My only complaint about Stewart MacDonald is that every year they seem to come out with an ever increasing number of new inventions that are just not necessary to build fine instruments. I have gotten along all my life without any of these new tools.

[Mike Baker 2]

My only complaint about Stewart MacDonald is that every year they seem to come out with an ever increasing number of new inventions that are just not necessary to build fine instruments. I have gotten along all my life without any of these new tools.

Yes, they do. They have realized gadgets sell, and it seems to be working for them.
I think a lot of them, though not really necessary, could be considered "convenience" items. And people, if they have the disposable income, will buy them.
I've built 6 or 8 (lost count) electric guitars and a couple of basses. I would not consider myself a "luthier", but it is great fun. But I am on a shoe string budget. All the flashy gizmos are beyond my means. If I want to build, I need to find practical ways of doing it.
The danger I think with the "tool/jig/gadget for every purpose" is that you could spend a really long time just buying them, instead of just buying wood and getting to it, as it were.
I just bought the wood I need to built my first acoustic guitar. With the wood working hand tools as well as the set up tools for guitar I already have, all I really need are 6 or 8 deep reach clamps(of course it would be clamps, wouldn't it?), and I will be ready to begin. With Youtube, I can see it will be possible to make deep reach cam clamps, which is the route I'm planning to go. And a Gramil as well.

[Simon MacGowen]

My only complaint about Stewart MacDonald is that every year they seem to come out with an ever increasing number of new inventions that are just not necessary to build fine instruments. I have gotten along all my life without any of these new tools.

George, Your observation applies well to many other new woodworking tools and accessories that we have seen released in both the hand and power tool segments in recent years.

Commercialism has driven the production of a lot of those new products including but not limited to a good number of what we call boutique tools and accessories, or one-time tools. They have added little or even no value to a woodworker's work. We are seeing a concerted effort, knowingly or unknowingly, by manufacturers, advertisers, publications, brand managers and ambassadors, social media producers and promoters (bloggers, writers, content creators, etc.) and even woodworkers themselves to create a desire for more, "newer" and fancier tools and accessories.

The trend has been set and is unstoppable.

Simon

[Prashun Patel]

I share the sentiment.

I wonder though if this is how it has always been. Perhaps 100 new fangled jigs or technologies are necessary to get to the one that is truly transformative.

I also believe in many cases jigs are a gateway not a barrier to skill development. So to the extent that jigs encourage potential masters to take up a tool, I think it's a great thing.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Simon nailed it. It has gotten to the point where jigs and fixtures that showed up in magazines and books as build it yourself items now have commercial versions selling for many times the cost of the materials you used to cobble together. The implied promise is that the purchase of Joe Gizmo's new and improved blivet is going to make you an instant master.

[Mike Baker 2]

Prashun, I agree re jigs.
But...there was a time when a wood worker or guitar maker would build their own jigs. It was part of the process.
Understand, I don't think that there's a right or wrong, and if people want to buy the jigs instead of build them, that;s their choice.
But I think that building a jig to do a certain task might help someone more fully understand the process that jig is being built for in the first place. IOW, to build a working jig, you need to understand why the jig is needed. I think it's worth the time spent learning, instead of hopping on StewMac's site and filling up a cart.
That is the direction I intend to go at least. If I can build it instead of buy it, that's a win for me.
YMMV.

[Todd Stock]

There are def good 'new' tools and useless 'new' tools, and it can take a while to get to the point where we recognize that it's not so much the tool as the person using it that determines the outcome.

Along the lines of the earlier comments, the proliferation of 'CNC for CNC's sake' jigs and fixtures is annoying...new builders convince themselves that a square cornered MDF mold that is heavy, cumbersome, and not particularly rigid is absolutely necessary, versus a light, quality BB plywood shop-built mold (or none at all for one-off builders). I had a student walk in with CNC templates and a commercial outside mold that were complete crap - not even remotely useable. Despite being told not to bring anything but the few tools on the 'have these first day of class' list, the ad copy sucks them in.

Summary: don't buy anyone's solutions (or as I refer to them, 'bad ideas') - especially from guys that make their living selling those 'solutions' - before finding out what the real repair and build pros use and how they equip their shops. Many pros end up building almost everything in their shops based on the complete lack of suitable commercial offerings....which says something about what should be bought and what is better made.

[Patrick Chase]

I share the sentiment.

I wonder though if this is how it has always been. Perhaps 100 new fangled jigs or technologies are necessary to get to the one that is truly transformative.

I think this is about right. I've been around long enough to have seen a number of market booms (or manias as they're often called after the bubble pops), and they all feature similar misallocation of resources. In one instance people flog useless jigs, in another stock offered by useless dot-coms, and in the next bonds backed by rather questionable mortgages.

As you say there are usually one or two genuinely good ideas hidden amongst the chaff, though they aren't usually recognized as such until the ensuing correction sorts things out.

[John Sanford]

My only complaint about Stewart MacDonald is that every year they seem to come out with an ever increasing number of new inventions that are just not necessary to build fine instruments. I have gotten along all my life without any of these new tools.

yes, you have. And for a great part of that life you worked as a craftsman daily. You have a vast, deep well of skills and experience that most hobbyists lack the time to develop. yet even you use a bewildering array of gadgets and jigs. What, after all, is a plane but a jig to hold a blade? I'm sure that the ancients scoffed at the new fangled gadget, because THEY didn't need some thingamajig to hold the blade like that, THEY could make a surface flat without it. Clamps? Who needs clamps when there's a heavy rock handy? etc, etc.

ANY new tool that is applied to create something that somebody has already created is, by definition, NOT NECESSARY to accomplish the goal. So the correct question to ask about these newfangled gadgets is this: Will it help ME do it better / quicker / more enjoyably? And the standard for answering that question isn't the skillset, resources and experience of someone else, but of the potential user. For George, the answer is generally going to be "no" (generally, but not always). For me? Likely be a different answer. (Note: this doesn't mean that all, or even most, gadgets end up delivering on their promise. Some though DO.)

If you think there's too many gadgets in woodworking, then you definitely want to stay away from cooking.

[Joe Tilson]

My thinking is, if we buy a few jigs, we may not have money to buy wood to build with.
I see these companies making money at the woodworkers expense.
Just saying, with no malice intended.
Everybody has a right to make a living though.

[Mike Baker 2]

If you think there's too many gadgets in woodworking, then you definitely want to stay away from cooking.
Ain't that the truth!

[James Waldron]

[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.

[Rob Lee]

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

[Todd Stock]

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?"

[Todd Stock]

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!

[Matt Lau]

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.

[Todd Stock]

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.

[Patrick Chase]

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).