Official Luthiers Forum!

I know this forum is primarily builders, but this could be useful to some.
just going through my photo folders and posting anything that may be of
interest.

I made this years ago to better reglue fully separated headstocks, and it has
paid for itself ten times over. The goal was a better way to put pressure on
the end to prevent slipping as you are clamping, while not levering the
headstock one way or the other like a strap may do. I now use it on almost
all headstock repairs automatically, and it saves loads of time.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Among my favorite features are the predictability and controlling of the
clamping. When doing a dry clamping all of the pressures can be set, and
will reliably repeat when glue is applied. The other perk is the speed of
clamping for those who use hide glue - 15 seconds from applying glue to
being clamped would be very a casual pace . It takes a few moments to
make a caul for the end of a headstock, and setup time is minimal. I'd still
like to make an attachment to guide a laminate trimmer for splines and
perhaps backstraps. For now the whole thing will clamp on to my milling
table though, so I haven't been in a rush.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Nicely done David. It looks as though the aluminum plate can be drilled for a number of clamp locations and arrangements; very versatile. In the mfg. eng. world we would call it "flexible tooling."

The clamp that exerts downward pressure on the headstock is great and could be accomplished with one or two striaght line action clamps and possibly even save you the effort of having to make a specific caul each time.

Thanks for the photos.

Cheers,
Peter

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Peter

O.k....how much?

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Terrific! Looks like I'll busy soon. ..

Cheers,

Frank Ford
FRETS.COM
Gryphon Stringed Instruments
My Home
Shop Pages

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Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

David--

Thank you for posting this. It looks like just the ticket for clamping up V-joint headstocks. I've come to the conclusion that with honduran mahogany stocks headed the way they appear to be headed that the V-joint is becoming a viable alternative to one piece necks, especially for 12 fret slotheads.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Awesome! Frank make 2! Thanks for sharing David.
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

this is certainly a lot more sophisticated bit of design than the rather crude version i've been using.

this jig is simple, yet highly adaptive. once again you've given me something i want to replicate.

Thanks guys.

Dave, I've thought of getting in to the luthier's tool making business, but
it's just not my trade. Part of the reason I post things here is in hope of
others making them for sale, because quite honestly I only make my own
tools when there's nothing available to do what I need. If someone like
Watkins, StewMac, LMI, etc., were to make things like this I would
probably buy them before making my own.

Peter, I originally wanted to use some straight DeStaCo clamps for the
end, but made the tool over a weekend with just what I had laying around
the shop. Once I got used to the screw clamps I never got around to
retrofitting it with inline toggle clamps. Unlike the main clamps with the
rubber tips however, think I would like to use hard clamping faces. It
seems clamping in this axis is more position-dependent than pressure-
dependent for accuracy. With hard faces I would still have to make end
cauls, but tracing on a chunk of 3/4" pine, band saw and spindle sander
takes perhaps 3 minutes. By now I have a good drawer full of various
headstock shapes on hand anyway.

If I were making a new one I may use the straight line action
clamps you recommended, but for now if it ain't broke I've got plenty of
other projects to keep me busy . Now I just mark the position of the
handle with a piece of tape, then loosen one full turn from the dry
clamping.

I should also note I made this before I had any milling machine, and it's
all band saw, drill press, router and files, so it's a very doable home shop
project.

A few things I didn't realize may not be obviously apparent from the
photos;

The toggle clamps are mounted through slots in the plate, about 1
1/2"-2" long for adjusting position.
There is a 1/8" clear plexi plate over the the aluminum base plate. I
screwed it down with nylon screws to be careful to avoid anything that
could scratch, although if the heads are properly countersunk this could
be redundant.
The cradle that the neck sits in is a piece of corian (why, I don't recall)
with two strips of 3/16" stiff rubber as rails toward the edges. It also has
a layer of cork over these, although it really doesn't need it. The
important part is that it slides toward or away from the headstock. The
reason is that changing the angle of the plate for different headstocks will
change the position, and I wanted to be able to keep the underside
supported as well as possible. This need could probably be eliminated by
putting the axis on the plate closer to the nut.

The next important update to the tool will be some more adjustable
clamps. Occasionally I will find a cracked headstock that needs a bit of
pressure from the sides at the heel. For this I will probably make some
clamps that just attatch on to the edge of the plate rather than mounting
holes - the needed position varies too much to justify a dedicated
location. It will probably be a screw clamp (out of size/space
considerations) mounted to an arm with a ball joint base. I'll probably just
tear apart a few ball joint swivel vises for this out of convenience.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Outstanding tool David!

 

Also, it os good to see you posting on the forum Frank ford! Please feel welcome and at home here!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Thanks, David.
I've got a couple of eBay guitars with snapped headstocks that have been waiting for this very idea!

Cheers

John

That's a beautiful tool, I'll put it on the stack of things to program for the Fadal when I get some time later this year.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Ingenious, David!

What do you call it, a "Headstock Halo"?

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Looks to save a lot of headaches! Good carry thru!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

excellent idea! thanks for showing us that, i'll be making my own asap.

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www.theguitarrepairworkshop.com