Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey guys....just glued up my first project guitar....AAAA curly maple top (3/4 in thick) on a mahogany baulk. The problem is that I don't have access to a band saw, bench planer or a drill press. I read the post on how to cut the baulk with a jig saw and clean up with a router, but I would like to hear other suggestions. I would buy these items but I'm moving into a high rise next month and will not have anywhere to put them (no garage). I've tried tool rental places for the band saw but no one rents them. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I'm in the same boat. My finances don't allow big tools anyway. I use a jigsaw to cut the bodies out. A jigsaw is small, and can be stored in a closet or under a bed, really anywhere you have room. I store mine on the shelf in the laundry room.
As for shaping the body to the lines once it's cut out, I use a good quality file or rasp and surforms. You have to pay close attention that you make sure to get the sides straight and square, but it can be done. I've done it. If I can, anyone can.
I drill the tuner holes and the mounting holes for the bridge and tailpiece with a hand drill, using a square block of wood to "eye" the drill up straight. Works just fine. I use a hand held router to cut pickup cavities and the neck mortise in the body(although this time I cut the pickup cavities with a chisel), and cut the scarf joint with a fine toothed hand saw. I clean it up later with a sanding block. Works just fine. I just bought a block plane that will do that work in the future, though.
I live in a trailer and don't have a shop. I do all my work outside on the front porch or in the yard. Even finish work, which turns out just fine, as long as I do due diligence in my prep work, pay attention to temp and humidity, etc.
Truth be told, even if I had the money and space for all the power tools I'd probably still build with files, rasps, planes, etc. I just like the hand working of the wood. It takes more attention to get the kind of precision you'd get with jigs and power tools, but for me it's much more fun. Besides, people have been building musical instruments a long time before Ben Franklin discovered electricity.
You can do anything, and work around any obstacle, as long as you love what you are doing enough to find a way.
Good luck and welcome to the forum.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I hear ya, hand tools fan here. I would highly recommend getting a drill press though. The one I have easily fits on a tabletop and wasn't too expensive. Straight holes I think can make or break a guitar, plus the drill press is so versatile. You can almost replace a router with it because you can rough out pickup cavities with it and then shape them further with a (SHARP) chisel. I even made a truss rod channel with my drill press set at the right depth and then cleaned the edges with a chisel. With hand tools, if you keep them good and sharp, take your time, and pay attention to what your doing, you'll do a better job than most people do with power tools. Heck I'm sure if you were clever enough you could make a jig to keep a drill motor upright and use that as your drill press! Take your time and do it right.

Ian

Thanks guys. I broke down and bought a band saw....very helpful and not too bad to store. Got one that was a table top. Good advice though! I just love working on the project and am in no rush. Thanks for the advice!

That's alright! Which one did you get?

A drill press is on the wish list, but It'll be a while before I can afford even a table top model. But I was an Airframe Repair Technician(sheetmetal) in the USAF, and Uncle Sam taught me how to use a hand drill well. You can drill straight holes with one, as long as you know what you're doing. And yes, i love a sharp chisel as well.
Andyjs999, congrats on the band saw. That's the way to go if you can afford it/find room for it. Good luck.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I got a Ryobi 9" table top. It's pretty nice and should store pretty nicely. So far I've only cut out my Plexiglass template for the top....but it seems to get the job done nicely! I'm having some trouble getting rid of the excess glue on my maple top. Sanding doesn't really seem to get it off. I read somewhere that you should use a jack plane to get that off...is that true! If anyone lives in South Florida and needs to borrow my band saw let me know. I feel your pain haha.

I have buddy who has the small ryobi table top bandsaw and has built a few guitars with it. You might just have to take it slow with some cuts but it does work. It's also small enough that you could stash it in a cabinet or closet.

Try scraping it off with a razor blade or sharp chisel. The Jack plane sounds way overkill to me. In the future, you should try to do glue clean up before it dries completely. If you wait till it gets kinda gummy/rubbery you can scrape it off with a chisel or a sharpened piece of scrap wood.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

hey andy, hi.
one of the things i like about guitar building is you can do a lot of it with so few tools.
just takes longer. my first build was a strat shape body, and i did it with a hand held jig saw, rounded the edges with a horse shoe leveling rasp, then a 4 in one rasp, then sanded for a long time. came out really nice too.
if you can get a hold of irving sloanes books on git building, he tells how to make clamps, and a binding/ purfling cutter, which you will need for your build here, i think.
good luck with it, and don't worry too much about how it will come out!