Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi

Bit of advice please

Already thinking about next guitar (#2) and might be brave and move away from a kit and buying up seperate woods

thinking i will need a saw to shape up the top and back but more for making the neck quicker

Any advice on which is more usefull or needed scroll or band saw?

Cheers

BANDSAW! It is a much more versatile machine.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Scroll saw can't cut any material thicker than 1" so bandsaw.

Unless you need to cut intricate scrolls all the time...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I remember a funny post here. Something along the lines of " I use my scroll saw to tell when my shop needs cleaning. When the dust reaches a certain thickness I know it's time to clean. Works pretty well".

Who ever said it, you made me laugh.

Lol
I think i will go for a band saw then !!

A bandsaw is essential, and the bigger the better.
However, a small (less than 14") benchtop bandsaw will do whatever you need for solid body guitars. You can usually find them on CL for $100 or so. I've got a small benchtop saw that was in my workshop before I started building guitars, and I still use it quite a bit, even though now I have a 14" saw with a riser block.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Desirable yes, essential no.

And another vote for the bandsaw!

Not only can a used saw save you money but even a small bandsaw can go a long way if re sawing is not a priority.....yet.

Iirc Rikon makes 10" that is inexpensive and lots olfers have had good things to say about.

When I first started I built my first five guitars with a Rigid 9" and it did a good job. After I bought a 14" Rikon I dialed in the 9" Rigid w/20 TPI blade and use it for cutting my nuts and saddles and other stuff that benefits from a very smooth cut.

Lastly small saws can be fine with a shop vac for dust collection....large saw not so much making dust collection more expensive.

I'll echo the statements about bench top bandsaws. I have a 10" craftsman that was inexpensive and has served me well. It is a good saw for the money. BUT. . . no one has yet mentioned that you want a two wheeled saw. The three wheel benchtop saws are just not as good. Also, if you are able, a 14" or bigger would be the way to go.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

We inherited an Inca 3 wheel saw and the thing had so much flex in it that we gave it to one of guys and replaced it with a Rikon 14" deluxe.

Not before someone in the shop replaced the "IN" letters on the name plate with the letters "STIN." The Inca table saw that we inherited was a keeper though.

Yep, definitely the bandsaw. My scroll saw has seen very little use, but I use the band saws all the time. I have an 18" Jet, a 14" Grizzly, and a 10" Craftsman bandsaw. The bigger saws are located farther back in the shop, but the 10" saw is close to the work bench and gets the most use. Tops, backs, sides, braces, etc. generally get cut on the 10" saw since it's close. Of course I can't resaw much on it, but that's where the 18" comes into play.

Like Alan, I use the 10" more than the 14". It is closer to the bench and always has a much thinner blade (cheaper blade [that I am willing to abuse]). I use it all the time. I pretty much only use the other saw when I need to resaw something or need the extra 4 inches of throat depth. I got the 10" first and kept a lookout for a good craigslist deal for a bigger saw. If you are just starting out and not planning on resawing back and top sets, this would be a good way to go. I have even used the 10" to resaw sets for smaller instruments. At one point, I even designed an instrument shape around the max resaw height of that saw. . . You make due with what you have.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I have a 3 wheel benchtop saw, and it works fine for small stuff. A 2 wheel saw may be better, I've never used a 10".

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I hate 3 wheel bandsaw. It's hard to track it and it also limits blade option to factory, which lasted about 2 weeks.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

+1 for bandsaw. I use mine all the time for many different uses. A scroll saw is not nearly as useful.

_________________
_____________

EddieLee

First and foremost you have to think what the bandsaw is likely to be used for. If you aren't intent on resawing Back, Sides or Soundboards there's not much point in buying a Bandsaw over 14". Even a small table top will suit, especially if you are going the way of laminating the Neck heel block etc. Neck laminations can be cut with a handsaw in a few minutes, even if you don't use the bandsaw.
Buying a small table top saw as a used machine makes a lot of sense (providing it's a good example). I've had two of the small 3 wheel models (over the course of 25 years), both bought used but in good condition. I sold them and got back what I paid for them, used they were very cheap anyway. I've had a floorstanding 14" model for 10 years now but I could easily have done without. The table tops are OK for relatively thin material, as long as you don't try to cut towards their maximum capacity they should serve well. I pretty much kept mine to around 1" material and less.

Think about the fence, too. I have a 14" Jet Deluxe. It's a good saw, but the fence sucked. It was very hard to slide and adjust. I didn't realize how miserable it really was until I saw a friend's Delta and a Grizzly. They slid like butter.

Some people just use a plywood board, and even that would have been better than the Jet fence. I recently upgraded to a Kreg fence with a micro-adjust and really like it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I too have the jet 14 with riser, which I use to resaw. The stock fence was pretty useless for that. I bought the big chrome fulcrum bar that comes with the larger/newer models. That works fairly well. I also use the Carter mag fence, but it isn't easy to make fine adjustments.