Official Luthiers Forum!

Many folks on this board, especially those in Canada, will be familiar with the high-quality woodworking tools that have been available for years through Lee Valley. Now it seems the company has decided to address the lutherie community directly with some new tool offerings and a new catalog:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/home/OnlineCatalog.aspx?id=6f72cb69
I haven't yet done any comparative pricing, but it's really good to see this company entering the lutherie field -- their customer service has been nothing short of phenomenal during the many years I've dealt with them.

Awesome! More money down the drain!

Nice .. some of the credit goes to one of their employees, whom I wont mention by name, but was one of my students ..he/she actually took my rosette cutter jig into the R&D shop to have them look at it ... of course in typical LV fashion, they made it out of top notch materials and added some design ideas of their own ... took a couple years for that to happen as well before it became a product. I had been asking for downcut mini router bits for ages, to no avail .. now they have some - Thanks LV !!!. Just taking a quick look, some items seem to be overpriced a tad, like the green 3M tape, which you can get at any auto body place for less. Fret files and tuners are also out there for less, even from SM ... sometimes I just don't understand pricing strategies .. most luthiers I know are fairly frugal, so paying too much for something just isn't in our DNA ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks for this.

Does anyone know if these are the same Radius Dishes that are available from Canadian Luthier Supply?

Jim

The vise, which appears to be a clone of the SM offering is priced slightly less.
Might have to go dig up some mayonnaise jars from the back yard.
Good to see some stuff available NOB, though my access to LV is a 25 min drive.
This could prove costly.

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

I wish they would make a proper rosette cutter that could hold a router and not just a Dremel.

Jim, yes, those are Josh House's radius dishes.

Steve

Mmmmmmm. Sweet. I loves me some tools. And Lee Valley makes some very nice tools.

On the router base..... It does look very well made - it just suffers from being attached to a Dremel..

For the best of both worlds (less plunge..) Convert one of Stew Mac's fantastic little adjustable circle cutter router base to fit your Laminate trimmer. Very easy to do. See here for the thread in the How To's.
viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=48824

The StewMac vise is an improved version of the vise sold by Woodcraft, Lee Valley, Garrett Wade, and other woodworking and gunsmithing tool vendors. The three mods made to the basic vise are replacement of the swivel jaw retaining bolts with improved bolt and lock-nut retainers (prevents constantly having to re-tighten bolts as jaws swivel), urethane faces for the wood inserts (leather works as well, but can load with glue, etc.), and roller bearings on the threaded shaft. The Lee Valley tool has the urethane faces already installed, but does not come with the retaining bolt mod. StewMac sells the retaining bolt mod separately for $8.27 plus shipping. We have the StewMac and a modified Woodcraft (now offered under their Woodriver Clone brand) in the shop, and if there is a difference due to the roller bearings on the StewMac vise, it is too subtle to notice.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Geez, like I haven't paid off Rob Lee's mortgage three times over already

Me too, Steve. Probably over 10K in the past 6-7 years.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Quite a bit of those offerings LV has been selling for years. Now they are putting them all together into one section, which is nice for shopping.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Dammit...

I have a bunch of their tools, now I'm going to be poor again

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I'm planning on picking up this vise soon. Its cheaper than the Stewmac vise plus shipping something that heavy from the USA is quite expensive for us Canuks!

Was down at Lee Valley today checking things out, and all the new products look good. Rosettes are half the price of other suppliers I've checked, although only a few are available. Couldn't help myself, had to buy a universal vice. I've wanted one for years and couldn't miss out on this.

I bought the SM vise a few years ago after building a few guitars. Probably the best purchase I've made for lutherie.....as well as so many other shop tasks. Makes so many tasks so much easier and more accurate. You won't regret the purchase.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

I realize a lot of those contents have been available for quite a while ~own quite a few myself~ but man is that awesome to see a catalog just for us from LV!

Gave up on the dremel based tools a year or so ago and went with a Bishop Cochran base for a Bosch Colt.. Let me know if you want to look at it as I believe we a not too far apart.... (in Coquitlam) Works great.. but of course is USA based so you have to deal with exchange.

Nice to see LV adding luthier specific stuff but I am trying to curb my tool fetish...... no seriously I am..

Kerry

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My Website http://klw-strings.com
My Luthier's Blog...http://klwstrings.blogspot.com