Thread: Basic Tool Kit

Hi Fiend,

What did you use at school? That would be a great place to start. Also as this is an Australian forum we will not really be able to help with pricing. When you get your basic list going we may be able to suggest alternatives.

band saw, surface sander, planer, jointer, table saw, RA saw, multitude of clamps, milling machine

a lot a big stuff that is really expensive and i dont have room for

also i know this is an aussie forum but its the best forum for woodworking that ive found

and i know prices will be different but it would give me a general idea on how much it would cost

Originally Posted by DarkFiend

band saw, surface sander, planer, jointer, table saw, RA saw, multitude of clamps, milling machine

a lot a big stuff that is really expensive and i dont have room for

also i know this is an aussie forum but its the best forum for woodworking that ive found

and i know prices will be different but it would give me a general idea on how much it would cost

Are you going to be building electrics or acoustics?

I'm an acoustic builder and my basic tool set would be as follows:

Planes: block and bench.
Chisels: set of paring chisels and a few bench chisels.
Rasps: a couple of Auriou rasps.
Saws: decent back saw.
Clamps: lots of these. I use mainly cam clamps.
Cabinet scrapers.
Fret installation and dressing tools.

Router
Bandsaw (minimum 14")

all electric
i was working with good stuff and now dont have room or money for anything really major but i want to continue building

A word of warning/caution..sounds undeniably like early stages of Gas, Was and Tas to me so be really, really careful Darkfiend.

Steve

Originally Posted by kamusur

A word of warning/caution..sounds undeniably like early stages of Gas, Was and Tas to me so be really, really careful Darkfiend.

Steve

im afraid i dont quite follow

Originally Posted by DarkFiend

im afraid i dont quite follow

TAS = Tool Acqusition Syndrome
WAS = Wood Acquisition Syndrome
GAS = Guitar Acquisition Syndrome

Every person who logs into this forum is suffering from at least one of these deadly diseases.

As you have built before you should have a fair idea of what you need but I'll chuck in my two bobs worth anyway.

For the body. jigsaw or more slowly a coping saw for outline, rasp for body contours. Then a drill and bits to rough out cavities and chisels to clean them up. Soldering iron for electrics. For the neck a coping saw, rasp and handsaw for shaping. Something to insert, level and dress frets. Then clamps, clamps and more clamps. I reckon I have left something out but you will just have to buy that when you need it.

Jim

Someone please turn up the Tele!!!

Originally Posted by DarwinStrings

As you have built before you should have a fair idea of what you need but I'll chuck in my two bobs worth anyway.

For the body. jigsaw or more slowly a coping saw for outline, rasp for body contours. Then a drill and bits to rough out cavities and chisels to clean them up. Soldering iron for electrics. For the neck a coping saw, rasp and handsaw for shaping. Something to insert, level and dress frets. Then clamps, clamps and more clamps. I reckon I have left something out but you will just have to buy that when you need it.

Jim

Someone please turn up the Tele!!!

i have an idea but then again i was using big equipment so i was wondering about smaller stuff and was kind of wondering what you guys use that dont have the big band saws and surface sanders

Jim has given you a list of handtools there Fiend. The only thing I would add would be some method for holding your timber very still when you work on it such as a bench.

Seriously Darkfiend the best about Jim and Martins suggestions (barring the specialist fretting tools) is that they are basic woodwork tools not just specialist ones and they can be used for countless other timber projects as well as Guitars.

Steve

I'll suggest a decent router. As well as taking care of the obvious things (routing of pickup cavities, neck pocket, trussrod etc.), plenty of people use it with templates and pattern following bits to trim up the body, neck and headstock to their final shape. With a table mounted setup (which I believe plenty of people build themselves) and some jigs you can get heaps of jobs done with just the one tool.

Coming from a seemingly similar situation as you, one tool I bought early on was a thicknesser. Don't underestimate how many jobs you'll want those accurate machined dimensions ie: neck laminates, body/top, fretboard. Another tool I was lucky not to need is a jointer - only by virtue of the fact that I know a guy with one who could give me those flat surfaces when I needed them. Unless you're able to buy perfectly square, plane, flat stock, or know someone with a jointer, or are very proficient in flattening boards with a handplane, you might want to consider buying one...

A bandsaw is a nice luxury for sure and I'd definitely recommend one if you have the funds, but many of its jobs can be worked around with jigsaws, routers+templates, hand saws etc.

EDIT: another favourite that I bought for my guitar build was a spokeshave. Just a cheap, old Stanley from ebay - a very enjoyable tool to use for neck shaping and body contouring.