Posted on July 16, 2026July 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Magnets Hold Truss Rod Cover It Worked for Me: Magnets Hold Truss Rod Cover by Jon Sevy Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021 I use truss rods that are adjustable at the peghead, which requires a cover for the exposed truss-rod nut and groove. I usually make the covers out of rosewood, and have for some time been securing them with several small brass screws. One thing users frequently do when they get one of my guitars, especially when they live in a different region of the country with different humidity, is to remove the cover and adjust the truss rod to get the relief and action to their liking. However, to my extreme vexation, they almost never put the truss rod cover back on after adjusting! I’ve seen photos and videos of several of my guitars being played, and almost always there’s a gaping hole (to my vision) at the end of the neck with the truss rod showing. It finally dawned on me that those little screws were just enough of a PITA for the owners that they decided to bag the covers. And in truth, I found them a bit irritating myself. So I started thinking of ways to affix the covers without using screws. I considered some sort of compression clip or spring that would squeeze into the truss rod slot, but never came up with anything that seemed likely to work, until I saw some little neodymium magnets at the local hobby shop. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 15, 2026July 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Junk Plane Makes Sanding Beam Handle It Worked for Me: Junk Plane Makes Sanding Beam Handle by Aaron Cash Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021 I use a large aluminum radius beam to radius my fretboards by hand. I plane the edges of the fretboard to approximate the shape of the radius, then use woven-fabric double-stick carpet tape to affix it to my shooting board (Photo 1). The beam is hard to hold onto, so I used some of the carpet tape to attach an old handyman plane body to the top of the beam. I run the beam down the edge of the shooting board to make sure I won’t drift to either side (Photo 2). This is much more comfortable, and it’s not permanent, so I can use the same plane body on different-sized beams. ◆ Photo 1. Both photos by Aaron Cash. Photo 2
Posted on July 15, 2026July 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Magnetic Table Saw Jig for Narrow Ripping It Worked for Me: Magnetic Table Saw Jig for Narrow Ripping by Bob Gleason Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021 Here is a simple jig I use when I cut binding or kerfing strips (Photo 1). For this repetitive operation I needed an easy way to set up to cut the strips and also to add a zero throat to the saw. This will work on any table saw with a cast-iron table. It is simply a piece of cabinet-grade 3/4˝ plywood, cut to an appropriate size to fit your saw table, with six powerful magnets glued flush into the underside (Photo 2). Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 14, 2026July 14, 2026 by Dale Phillips Side Bender and Body Mold Cut from One Sheet of Plywood Side Bender and Body Mold Cut from One Sheet of Plywood by Terence Warbey Originally published in American Lutherie #142, 2021 After reading Mark French’s article about his time in the shop of Charles Fox (“A Guitar Is Born: Attending Charles Fox’s Hands-On Guitar Making Course,” AL#136 and Mark’s series, “The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method,” beginning in AL#139), one idea kept coming back into my mind: “a library of bending forms.” Wouldn’t that be delightful, to have the forms stacked like books rather than my jumble of assembled forms, precariously balanced upon each other on a shelf, collecting dust? I was able to make such a bending form and a matching body mold from a single piece of 24˝×48˝×18MM Baltic-birch plywood, cut into four pieces 12˝×24˝. The bending form uses three upright pieces. They are notched to receive two, also notched, cross pieces. These cross pieces are cut from the spare fourth piece and have a small horizontal piece attached to the bottom of them to easily clamp the assembly down to my Workmate. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 8, 2026July 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Shop-Made Deadblow Hammer It Worked for Me: Shop-Made Deadblow Hammer by Steve Kennel Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 I’m poised to fret a fresh guitar neck and had, in the past, used a well-polished machinist’s hammer. It just seems a little too metal-on-metal for the project, so, well, a dead-blow hammer with non-marring faces seemed to be the thing to get. Some days you just don’t want to leave the driveway and online shopping is annoying. So I scouted around the premises and came up with this. It’s kinda ugly but I really like the price and it exceeds my hopes for its functionality. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
