Luthiers - Please show us your coolest jigs and fixtures

[fulfillingsoul]

Like most, I'm fascinated by luthiers' cool jigs and fixtures.
Thus, would be happy if can have kind contributions in this thread showcasing luthiers' favourites!

[Rod True]

I have a bunch of useful things in my shop, some sort of high tech, others not so much, I'll post some pictures tomorrow night

[fulfillingsoul]

Originally Posted by Rod True

I have a bunch of useful things in my shop, some sort of high tech, others not so much, I'll post some pictures tomorrow night

Great! Looking forward indeed!

[Rod True]

Man that was a long sleep.

OK, so here are a few of my jigs, some elaborite, most of the others rather simple. Oh and all of these are based off someone elses idea....you know why reinvent the wheel right.

Two little vises for holding nut and saddle when shaping and setting intonation.



Here's my jig for cutting rosette channels and sound holes. It's based off a design by a fellow named Tony Karol (makes great guitars by the way).



This is rather simple, a jig used to put the 15' radius curve on the bottom of my back braces. It's used with my router table.



Just a block of wood with a few slots cut in it. I use this to make rounded fret ends, you can see that in the #9 guitar in my signature.



The picture almost tells the (w)hole story on this one The board with the pin in it is clamped to my drill press, right under the brad point drill bit, the holes in the jig make for simple repeatabiliy on my bridges with 2 1/8" string spacing.



Another idea I got from Tony Karol. Put the bridge in and this allows me to route my saddle slot at the correct angle for propert compensation.



Side profile templates, allow me to pre-cut the sides before bending, saves some time after the rims are glued together.



This is probably my most expensive jig. There are only 11 of these made in the world, I was lucky enough to get one. This is my binding channel cutting jig. It's probably most similar to Harry Fleishman's design with a few other designs thrown in. It works very well and after trying a few other methods, I wouldn't want to be without it. This whole thing hangs on my wall when not in use.



That's about all I could find, other than basic body molds and bending forms which you generally see in most of the building threads.

Wonder if any of the other builders will post anything....

Cheers,

[Haans]

i wish i could have gotten in on one of those binding jigs, rod! i hear they are the best of the best.
most of the jiggy stuff i have on my website, but then, i don't have much in the way of jigs...most of my work is done the old fashioned way. there is actually not much to be gained by "jigging up" as i'm more of a one at a time builder...

[Brackett Instruments]

I'm not really jiggy here either.

[Chris Wood]

I don't use many either.

[D.Kwasnycia]

I will post some of mine later. I find that there are times you need to be consistent and where even simple things like a drill wondering off a bit in a patch of soft grain, a jig is used to help keep the drill in line. Some things are repetitive enough to not have to do by eye, but once.

[Haans]

yea, it pays to drill tuner holes and bridge pin holes accurately!
i use a few jigs from stew mac, lmi and such for those type deals...

[D.Kwasnycia]

Here are some that are not jigs or fixtures, but tools that make things nicer.

I make this rosette cutter quite a few years ago and really works well. It will cut the rosette and sound hole all at the same time. The sound hole is not cut all the way through in this proses. Each tool bit/cutter is adjustable and the tool bits are actually the square heads of taps that have been broken. Why throw out good tool steel!




For cutting out the sound port.


An nice tool for drilling out holes without the "Larger drill bits" wondering. Each of the drill guides can be unscrewed and replaced with another guide of a different size without taking the part out of the jig.




This is a cool little saw that I made some time ago for when making kerfing. The blades are slitting blades for a milling machine.
I mount this to the top of my work bench with 4 dowels. There is a slot in the work bench for the belt to drop down through the bench and the motor is hung by a door hinge. The motor will swivel enough for me to put the belt on and I can control the amount of tension on the belt with my knee up against it. All dust is contained under the saw and with an opening for the vacuum hose from under the table, leaves no mess.


I use this shooting board/tool to prep the top and back plate before joining them. The two halves of the boards are clamped between the rails and the blade of the plain is cut to clear the rails.


This is just a simple buck to hold the neck when shaping.


There are many other tools but I can't show them because they are top secret!

[John Osthoff]

I really like David sloting saw for the linings ... very cool.

Ok not that exciting, but I like these molds:

[D.Kwasnycia]

John, I like the mold, this is for double side I would take it? What is the slot through the waist? I remember at one time seeing a mold like this but can't remember how the plate is used. A lot of time went into your mold I would imagine, worth every minute!
Dennis

[gitnoob]

I like it. It seems that a big problem with some other methods is the potential for uneven planing/sanding. Your jig seems like it would guarantee a clean, even cut.

Do the boards insert from the bottom and hang down?

[D.Kwasnycia]

Yes the boards hang down and the edge to be joined is level with the rails. I have this unit screwed to the edge of my work bench. To level out the wood, I Keep the wood just over the rails and place the plain down on the wood. This is done to both ends and then both knobs are tightened down. I only turn the adjusting knob on the plain no more than half a turn with each pass.
the rails are tool steel and I used bees wax on the rails to prevent scoring the bottom of the plain.

[Cornerstone Guitars]

cool jigs guys! Thanks for sharing!