Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm trying to find an affordable vacuum system and I had an idea. The vacuum bags that people use to store their clothing might work. Has anyone ever tried this? They work off the suction power of your household vacuum cleaner.

A household vacuum cleaner does not pull a very strong vacuum. You need at least 15 inches of mercury vacuum (20 would be better) to get reasonable clamping pressure. I would wager that a vacuum cleaner pulls much less but I have never actually measured one.

I have found something that works pretty well:

http://www.roarockit.com/proddetail.php?prod=01301

This Canadian company started out making skateboards and teaching, um, "troubled youths" how to do it also. They've come up with a hand-pumped vacuum press designed specifically for skateboard makers, but it works for luthiers too, to a point. I was skeptical at first, but for $60 I thought, why not? And it works pretty well.

It's just a bag with a special valve on it, and a hand pump that works like a bike pump in reverse. It doesn't seem like it would work, but it does.

It's not in the same league as a real vacuum press with an electric pump, by any means. I don't know how much vacuum it pulls, but it's not all that much. But it is enough for a guitar. I've done a number of drop tops with it, and used it to apply veneer to go between the body core and the top.

It seems like you have to be a little judicious with it-- if the veneer is real squirrely, or the top doesn't lay real flat on its own, I've had problems. But overall, it works well enough to do the job. And there's nothing to plug in!

im going to buy one. thanks for the link. looks like they work well.

Good find. Check out the blog on the website. Even Norm Abram uses one.