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I'm starting some restoration work on a 1890's Washburn parlor - a tight space to work in. My usual mirrors and iphone are working ok, but this tight space has me considering an inexpensive digital inspection camera for exploring inside the box.

There is a lot of history inside this little parlor - I need to get a good look at what everyone before me has done.

I see numerous options of all price ranges on Amazon and online.

Can any of you make a specific recommendation of a USB inspection camera that has an appropriate focal length, and maybe built in lighting for lutherie work?

I can't make a specific recommendation, mine doesn't have a name on it. Less than $25 off ebay. The pic is of a small wood sculpture, nose to ear maybe an inch. Lens held about 2" away. LED lights around lens for light. Point being, even the cheapies do a reasonable job. Yes, I've investigated the insides of a couple of acoustics with it.

I have one of the LED lighted web cams and it is ok but a bit large to get some views. I just ordered one of these to use with my phone or tablet https://www.cellrizon.com/products/smartphone-waterproof-endoscope-inspection-camera-for-android-devices

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Fred, that camera for the mobile device looks very interesting - excited to hear what you think of that one.

Bumping this thread in the interest of getting some more specific recommendations. A friend of mine works for a dental clinic. He had an inspection camera that I was excited about, until I tried it. The view was way to close up. A more wide angle view would be more useful for guitar repair. still waiting for the right one to come along. For snapping interior pics, an i-phone works surprisingly well, but of course is far from ideal.

Hey Fumblefinger - could you stick that camera inside a guitar with some light, so we can see how much of the guitar's interior fills the frame?

I modified Logitech mod C930e a few years ago. the base has two pairs of magnets so it can be mounted and twisted from the outside.
It's not cheap but allows me to watch my hand or tool work or see squeeze out on the backside of a brace in real time. Even if my forearm is in the sound hole. That model has a very wide angle and can focus close up.
The photo is the inside of a soprano Uke!

Nice! When you said "not cheap" I expected the worst, but according to google, around $100 seems to be the going rate. Not bad... Thanks for posting!

The C930e is perfect for a round hole, but it occurs to me that it probably wouldn't fit through an F-hole. For F-holes, something more like a "camera on a stick" would be better. I have a cheap little spy camera that's on a flexible shaft that's the right size and shape, but it's pretty low resolution (it was a kid's toy I saw on sale at Radio Shack). I'm looking for something like that that's not a toy. But I may pull the trigger on the C930e since it seems so perfect for a hands free view of any guitar with a round soundhole, but i will still be on the lookout for a camera-on-a-stick that has an adequately wide angle, So if anyone knows of a good one, please let me know.

There may be something better by now. things are progressing so fast with this stuff and I bought my C930e a couple of years ago. The cord on the camera is starting to fray a bit and when I finally have to fix it, I'll have to open it up. At that point, I might be able to make it even smaller.
For F-holes I still drop in thin plastic mirrors on a string. I have fit it through pick up cavities to see inside hollow bodies though.

OK, so you wanted to see a guitar shot with my cheapie? Here you go. Bridge plate on my wife's late 60s Epi FT-250. Lighting with the 4 LEDs around the lens. This one on ebay looks like mine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/122152615999?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT
But it has a 10MM dia lens. There are much smaller ones out there with more LEDs for about the same money. And since it's waterproof you can chase drain clogs with it.

[quote]I have one of the LED lighted web cams and it is ok but a bit large to get some views. I just ordered one of these to use with my phone or tablet https://www.cellrizon.com/products/smar ... id-devices[quote]

The bore scope arrived today and does not seem to work with my phone but is installed on my Galaxy tablet and seems to do a good job. I need to attach it to some sort of extendable probe as the cable does not allow very controlled movement inside a guitar. The LED light is plenty bright for our closeup needs but to do a panoramic video of the inside from any distance an additional light source would be needed. The closeup view is more than enough to find cracks, loose braces, worn or damaged bridge plates.





Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I can currently get these with an iPhone 6 stuck through the soundhole, and have yet to see a borescope with the same wide field of view and longer focal length.

It would be ideal to have the iPhone style lens on a longer arm for better positioning within the box - maybe dreaming out loud.

I use my iphone sometimes for snapping pics, but there's no way to interface with another screen in real time. Speaking of which, any recommendations for a computer program that will render a full screen real time image? I suppose video recording capabilities would also be handy.

I prefer the wide angle view as in the iphone pics dpetrzelka posted, and the shots from the C930e posted by David. However, I can see how it would be useful in some cases to have the up close view of the bore scope. I think my ideal rig would be on a flexible shaft, and small enough to fit through f-holes, but the magnetic base of the C930e is really cool too. It seems to me that a unit with a flexible shaft would be better for inspecting an instrument, and one with a magnetic base would be more convenient for hands free monitoring during the course of a repair.

I might just go ahead and pull the trigger on the C930e, and continue searching for the right flexible shaft unit.

I think someone on this forum recently suggested a solution using the iPhone, with real-time display on another screen. They used Skype or FaceTime between the iPhone and a laptop.