Quote:
Originally Posted by SnowManSnow
But so far my most challenging issues have been dealing w not having the right tools... Trying to use something else, then having to buy what I should have had in the first place and fix it haha.
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It is quite possible to build state of the art guitars using little more than a modest workbench, a few chisels, a hand plane, a scraper, a few files, a handful of clamps, a straight edge and a bottle of glue. The catch is that one needs to develop skill in using those simple tools and applying them to a variety of tasks.
The earliest English language guitar making books, such as Sloane's and Cumpiano's and others, used almost entirely hand tools and simple processes.
The guitar, itself, hasn't changed all that much in the last 40 years. However, clever people have implemented newer methods and tools, ranging from hollow dishes and vacuum clamping to CNC machining and robotic-applied UV-cured finishes. Some of these have been implemented to improve production quantities in factory settings, while others for the purposes of making things quicker and/or easier, and sometimes, reduce variability. There is no question, for example, that thinning exotic hardwoods is faster and easier using a thickness sander, but it can just as effectively be done using a hand plane and a scraper, if you know how to sharpen them and use them.
Beginning makers, these days, often seem to get wrapped-up in the need for all of the latest "high-tech" advancements in tools and technology, despite that fact that people have been making high quality instruments for centuries using simple hand tools and a few forms. All the rest are "nice-to-have", might make things easier, but are not essential: gauged fret files come to mind, as just one example.
The "right" tool is the one that you can use to do the job well. The beginning guitar maker, who often has little "manufacturing" and/or woodworking experience, often chooses to buy a specialized tool for each process step, rather than develop the woodworking tool skills to do the job with simpler tools. The assumption is often that it is possible to make a high-quality guitar - primarily a woodworking project - while having little in the way of woodworking skills. If one can buy the necessary specialized tools to perform each operation, one can largely circumvent the need for woodworking skills, while still producing a guitar of acceptable quality.
I can well understand people wanting to make their own guitars without having to get side-tracked in first developing the basic woodworking skills necessary to do so. However, it does rather remind me of someone wanting to make a soufflé without knowing how to separate an egg yolk from its whites: perhaps there is a specialized tool that one can buy for that step.
My point is not to be critical of those wanting to make their own guitars, or the skills they bring with them to do so. Instead, it is just a reminder that one really doesn't need a lot of tools to make a fine guitar. The PID-controlled side bender, the vacuum clamping frame/go bar deck, dishes, gauged fret files, fancy binding ledge cutter and the many other tools are nice to have, but not essential for a first-time builder who might not make more than one instrument.