One month Ditson

[deadedith]

Now that my shop is a bit larger, I can work on more than one thing at a time - SO. I'm starting a Ditson kit from KMG on Monday morning, and will try to organize steps in such a way as to be finished with the construction in one month.
Having said that, I'm pretty sure something or a combination of some things will ensue in such a way that one year from now I will be saying "Almost done!!" or something similar. :-)

New procedures this time: I'll be using hot hide glue for some steps; slo-glue and twill binding tape for bindings. I also have the japanese water stones and blade guide that Brian Burns taught me to use, so I will have much better edges on my hand tools.

This should be a lot of fun and I will try to post progress pix often.

[Oval Soundhole]

Sounds cool, what size will it be? I've played all 3 ditson sizes, and my favorite was the 11, then the 111, and my least favorite was the baby ditson style 45. I liked them all, but the 0 size 11 was my favorite. I've never built a kit, but my last build, the OM I showed in my thread took about a month, including finishing. A few luthiers, Wayne Henderson, Laurent Brondel, etc. can tun a stack of wood into a fully finished strung up guitar in 2 weeks, so I still feel slow :(

[deadedith]

I'm not in a big hurry - the mistakes I do make are inevitably due to either lack of attention or rushing things.

[kencierp]

From a well equipped shop 80-100 hours for a moderately ornate guitar, plus drying/curing time is about right -- but I have to say hanging out at Elderly's on a busy day not once did I ever hear "Wow --- how could this not be a great guitar it only took 60 hours to construct."

[deadedith]

Ken - just for my edification, what would a well-equipped shop consist of? In the way of tooling, jigs, finishing capabilities etc?

[tippie53]

bathroom
first aid kit
beer fridge
stereo
paper towel
coffee pot
cookies
candy bar
glenlivit
royal crown

[deadedith]

You forgot coffee???? And you call yourself a luthier!!

[kencierp]

Access to coffee for sure!

No booze and power tools for me -- I love my fingers!

The well equipped shop depends on the level of processing -- are you starting from a log or a kit?

Beyond that -- mind you I am an Industrial Engineer by trade so for me the equation is simple -- set-up = equals lost time = multi- purpose fixtures and machines

So the closer you get to "zero fixture adjustments" -- "zero change overs" the quicker you can complete a project. Routers are the prime example -- the well equipped shop will have one set up for all necessary operations -- fiddling with height, depth, bit selection is very time consuming --- and worse set-up is where most errors are made!!

Bet you were expecting a different answer?

[deadedith]

Actually, the 'one setup for each operation' principle makes a whole lot of sense and sums it up better than just a long list of tools. Thanks.

[tippie53]

yes to no booze with machines as we were making fun
Shop tools
In seriousness
Lighting is so important
A good bench
tooling is so individual but lets see what would be most important
I would be lost without my belt sanders and oscillating drum sanders .
I thing a good band saw
table saw
sanders and good sanding blocks
scrapers
building molds and spreaders
When it comes to it Clamps and more Clamps
a good method for joining and thicknessing .

there is no one answer to this question but learning what tooling you need will depend on your building techniques and styles.