Workflow and Questions

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HemeolaMan

Posts: 1514
Joined: Jul. 13 2007
From: Chicago

Workflow and Questions

Some have recently stated that the flow of questions has reduced to a trickle. I figure it’s about time to ask a few pragmatic ones which I hadn’t considered when I was early in my search for guitar making knowledge.

What is your workflow process? I know this is complex. If it helps, choose a particular guitar or batch of guitars and describe the order in which you did the various steps in constructing it.

Secondly, how do you prepare your bracing stock? some prefer splitting, others sawing. What’s your take and why?

Thirdly, What are some ways you keep your shop organized? I personally am a complete mess and would love to know how you manage to keep things straight

Hopefully that will start some conversations!!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 9 2014 20:12:53

estebanana

Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: Workflow and Questions (in reply to HemeolaMan)

What is a 'sticky' ?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 9 2014 23:58:08

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Workflow and Questions (in reply to HemeolaMan)

Here you have some of my flow (I´m not in the mood to write a book)

http://news-from-the-workshop.blogspot.com.es/p/building-guitar-number-100.html

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 10 2014 7:21:59

Stephen Eden

Posts: 914
Joined: Apr. 12 2008
From: UK

RE: Workflow and Questions (in reply to HemeolaMan)

Hey, Nice to see some stuff on here that interests me. When I studied statistics Logistics was always my favourite bit. Since building guitars I have always tried to think about the flow of time and making sure not even a second was wasted. I would love to see if anyone does anything I would find worth while. Here's my build thread I posted which incorporates the fasted process I have come up with. Which when it comes down to it means making sure all gluing procedures are happening as soon as they can. There is very little, if any, time I am not working. It would be tough to produce an exact flow diagram as these time are always adjusted if something takes a little longer or shorter than usual.

http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=261713&mpage=1&p=&tmode=1&smode=1&key=student%2Cmodel

Hopefully that will give you a little insight into my building process. This of course changes when building 2 or 3 or more.

In the past I have bought ready split billets which has been fairly handy as you can just plane and saw straight from it. I have recently bought huge billets that I plane and saw what I need from it, in terms of the correct thickness, then split, plane and saw to the correct depths.

I have a fairly large shop, although no where near as big as John's! I have three work benches. Two of which usually just holds work I am gluing. Then there is my main bench which I do most of my work on. I have got into the habit of cleaning the bench down inbetween each task so no tools are left out that aren't being used. I also have a designated untidy are where I put things that I just don't know where else to put. This is usually a corner on a bench that never get's used.

Hope that helps and look forward to seeing other peoples work flow! rather than a regular build thread!

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Classical and Flamenco Guitars www.EdenGuitars.co.uk

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 10 2014 11:28:22

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Workflow and Questions (in reply to Stephen Eden)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SEden

I have a fairly large shop, although no where near as big as John's!

Stephen,
Although you don't post often I put high value on your input. I'd still love to see pictures of your new shop.
Re: my large shop
We live very far out in the country. The nearest tiny town is 10 miles away and the nearest town with a grocery is over 40 miles away. When we developed this place it was suggested by an architect friend that we have a two car garage that was large enough to include a pantry for a spare refrigerator, freezer and canned goods. This seemed like a good idea hence my huge shop. When we get too old to live this far out the shop is framed to allow easy installation of a second bay for a car while leaving the pantry and finishing room. It's an absolutely lovely shop to have and allows us to build things other than guitars while not interfering with the guitar work. Our vehicles are parked out in the weather but the tractors are covered

.

The only flow I'm concerned about lately has to do with a 72 year old prostate.

If you want a clean shop get a female coworker to hound you about clutter.

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John Shelton - www.sheltonfarrettaguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 10 2014 14:42:40

Stephen Eden

Posts: 914
Joined: Apr. 12 2008
From: UK

RE: Workflow and Questions (in reply to HemeolaMan)

Cheers John, I'm glad someone here reads them! I completely forgot I said I would post you a few pictures of my shop. It has been one busy year. Give me a day or two and I will get something up as my workshop is in a bit of a messy phase and I would be far too embarresed to show it as it is right now!

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Classical and Flamenco Guitars www.EdenGuitars.co.uk

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 11 2014 9:24:58

HemeolaMan

Posts: 1514
Joined: Jul. 13 2007
From: Chicago

RE: Workflow and Questions (in reply to HemeolaMan)

Sorry I stepped out for a hot minute there.

I like what I see so far. Presently I'm in the process of reconsidering my workflow and this has been most helpful!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 12 2014 17:48:45

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Workflow and Questions (in reply to HemeolaMan)

quote:

ORIGINAL: HemeolaMan

What is your workflow process? I know this is complex. If it helps, choose a particular guitar or batch of guitars and describe the order in which you did the various steps in constructing it.

I always start with neck blanks usually 4-6 at a time, then select and join the tops, sand to thickness and install rosettes. Once this is done I know the dimension needed to inlet the top into the neck, cut that and bend the sides. Once the sides are joined to the neck (we don't attach the top first like most makers) the sides are tapered and linings installed (always solid). While this is happening the fan braces are being glued in the go-bar deck. From there on it's obvious. I like to do things in batches like making linings, bindings, neck blanks, fingerboards, overlays, bridges, etc. Always at least 4 at a time since it saves a lot of set up time. I cut fret slots on the table saw with a setup that was shown on the foro a year or so ago this allows cutting slots in 4 fingerboards in just a few minutes with great accuracy.

quote:

Secondly, how do you prepare your bracing stock? some prefer splitting, others sawing. What’s your take and why?

Split billets, jointed flat and sawn into sheets. The sheets are sanded to exactly 7mm high then the individual braces are sawn and sanded to exactly 4mm wide. I like this method since all my braces end up perfectly quartered and of uniform dimension. It makes shaping them much easier.

quote:

Thirdly, What are some ways you keep your shop organized? I personally am a complete mess and would love to know how you manage to keep things straight

If you have a co-worker it becomes essential that tools be put away when you're finished with them. It avoids conflict. Once that rule is established keeping the place tiny and clean just seems to follow logically. We have a vacuum in the assembly area and another in the machine tool area (we call that the dirty shop). It makes it so much easier to have a vacuum handy so you can immediately clean the area when a process is done. I'm much too clumsy to allow debris to get under foot and don't like a cluttered bench since it always seems to end up causing a ding on a guitar.

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John Shelton - www.sheltonfarrettaguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 12 2014 18:32:50