Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on October 28, 2010 at 6:48pm

Yep, shop bots are very good and low priced. And many other good ones listed on ebay under cnc router as well. I like the K2 brand the best.
Cheers
Bob:)

Permalink Reply by Turkish on October 28, 2010 at 9:40pm

Does ''building a guitar by pushing a few buttons'' still make someone a Luthier, or merely an 'Operator'?

Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on October 28, 2010 at 11:50pm

The posting of the link was somewhat in sarcasm, although after seeing some samples of what people are doing with these I am impressed by the range of creativity. Macro to micro these things can be used to do some cool stuff. (I am thinking micro rosettes and such for one thing)
I also saw some solid body guitars precisely routed for pickups and wiring in very short order, and some carved guitar tops that would take days of carving done in minutes. Pretty cool!

Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on October 29, 2010 at 3:52am

Turkish,
Martin guitar company had a quote from the 70's that went "WE let machines do what machines do best and we let hands do what they do best".
I don't have a cnc router but would love to have one. A cnc would speed up some operations/stages of a build but there is still the need to be a master luthier or craftsman.
Cnc's are limited, But are great for inlays and such.

Cheers
Bob:)


Turkish said:

Does ''building a guitar by pushing a few buttons'' still make someone a Luthier, or merely an 'Operator'?

Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on October 29, 2010 at 4:02am

All,
This is a mini cnc router cutting a neck for inlay.
Cheers
Bob:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlAgMpuwOBY

Permalink Reply by Turkish on October 29, 2010 at 4:34am

Bob Harrison said:

Turkish,
Martin guitar company had a quote from the 70's that went "WE let machines do what machines do best and we let hands do what they do best".

Thank Bob, it was a genuine concern of mine, not just a nit-pick, lol
I see a lots of people touting stuff that's just a collection of pieces they screwed together, I also see people making beautiful instruments from bare-wood and great pups from scratch (like yourself).
I'm always 'fuzzy' about the line between luthier and screwer-togetherer, if indeed there is one.