Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I just took a few snap shots of my workshop.

What I forgot to take pics of was the front area of the shed which is paint mixing area, paint storage room and then the paint room. (You can see these in the laster pics seperated from the rest of the workshop by walls covered in plastic sheet.)

Lets start with the walk there:



Now I just took a heap of random shots at different angles as I walked around to give you the 360 degree experience!

Heres an old pic of the paint room - its about 3m x 4m and usually has the guitars hanging from a beam I made, however this pic I'd moved the heat lamps over a bench so I could manipulate some marbilizer on a horizontal surface

Allan,

I think you can take it from the number of responses to your post that you probably have the biggest workshop on the forum! Mine would fit in there about 25 times.

If you search the back catalogue of the forum there are a few workshop threads, its always interesting to see what other people do.

Cheers

Richard

seeaxe wrote:Allan,
Mine would fit in there about 25 times.

As would my previous one, the size of one car space, gravel floor, one workbench, no electricity and only three walls! How my first guitars were all built. If I wanted to route I had to join several extension leads to get power out there! Apart from routing everything was done by hand.

This used to be a large workshop.......benches seem to be turning into wood shelves these days.

For several years this was my workshop - one bench and a couple old shelves up the back wall. No lights. No power and like I said before - when I wanted to route I had to join several extension leads to take the router out there from the house. No jointers or thicknessers or linishers or anything fancy, everything was done by hand. This is how my earlier guitars were built. I didn't even have a paint setup at that time, oil finishes or handpainted only for my ealier ones. I built my first guitar around 1991, I didnt even have a router. All "routing" was done with hammer and chisel. All cuts with a handsaw, you get the picture. The tools I used could be carried in a lunch box.

There was a fair bit of discussion in my "planer sled" thread about "hand tools are best" etc etc and I know "talking down to me" is not the right way to put it, but basically the majority had a "hand tools or get out" kind of attitude. Well, I started off with hand tools, I've been there, done that, I know what they are for and how to use them. I've upgraded to a power tool setup for a reason, yet still find myself doing a lot of the jobs by hand even though I have power tools to do so.

The comment about my workshop being the "biggest" on the forum and hense why no-ones replying to my post, I feel I have to reply to this.

Sure it's a big workshop, but I didn't just decide that one day I wanted a big workshop. This was a building I have a mortgage for, that I borrowed money to buy land and build this large building (15m X 9m) for a business I used to own. This business was going well until I trusted in someone (one of my staff) and basically this guy took all my clients and started his own business, at the same time I had local council come after me for building violations (about 5 years after it'd been built and approved by them) telling me I had to stip it back and rebuild on an industrial slab - even though I met ALL their demands when the permits etc went through and met their inspections, including their inspections of the slab etc. This all came about because I was reported by my competition in a bombardment of various complaints they had agaist me as all their clients were coming to me rather than stay with them so they were trying to put me out of business. It ws all very political at the time.

So long story short - I was working another job 40hrs a week nightshift to pay my house mortgage and the new mortgage to try get my business off the ground which I was running through the day - business turned to shit - I had to shut up shop, sell every asset the business had for next to nothing - I now live in a old shitty house thats on the same block as my workshop, the workshop is fancier than the house. I'm working as an on call casual shiftwork at their beck and call (I havent had work for over a week as I'm on call only and its factory work so it's supply and demand) - so I'm working trying to pay all this space off with it no longer supplying an income, so I figured bugger it - I'm paying for it, I may as well turn this empty shed thats costing me money into a guitar workshop and get some use out of it as that is what my passion is.

Most of the machinery has come from selling various cars I had and sold - the bigger machines came when I sold a Corvette I owned, after paying off massive credit card debts etc, the difference all went on woodworking machines like my panel saw and thicknesser. I've downsized my life, sold off a massive guitar collection I had to pay bills/debts, sold off amps, recording gear, everything thats not bolted down to get on top of all the debt. So the big workshop comes at a cost. It's not flamboyance, its not greed, its not excessive - its a constant reminder that I took a massive risk at one point in my life and it blew up in my face - now I'm left trying to make an omlette out of the eggs.

I'm not writing this for pity or an attempt at a sob story - just saying that I'm the same as everyone else.

My previous workshop (was a bit less crouded back when I used this bench! You can even see a few neck blanks in between layers of treted pine posts):

I wish. Here's where most of my stuff happens. Power tools used under the house....

demonx wrote:
There was a fair bit of discussion in my "planer sled" thread about "hand tools are best" etc etc and I know "talking down to me" is not the right way to put it, but basically the majority had a "hand tools or get out" kind of attitude. Well, I started off with hand tools, I've been there, done that, I know what they are for and how to use them. I've upgraded to a power tool setup for a reason, yet still find myself doing a lot of the jobs by hand even though I have power tools to do so.

The comment about my workshop being the "biggest" on the forum and hense why no-ones replying to my post, I feel I have to reply to this.

A couple of comments:

1. I commented about using hand tools but I certainly didn't say that hand tools are best. I use a drum sander to rough thickness my tops and backs and there are 5 routers in my shop. Machines save time (and money) but that said I still enjoy going back to my hand tools now and then...just tp keep my hand in and because I love hand tools.
2. I haven't seen the post where it was stated that nobody was replying to your post because your workshop is the biggest on the forum. Personally I dont give a rats about how big a blokes workshop is....its what goes on in the workshop that interests me.
3. Unlike some forums we generally maintain a fairly easy going air about the forum and at times a fair bit of friendly ribbing goes on.

Anyway to cut a long story short...your posts are valued and we'd like you to stick around

I wouldn't get too worked up over responses or lack thereof. I've enjoyed seeing your building process, even though I'm not a fan of the SS guitar(And I'm an Ibanez fan )

Just kick back and relax. This is a cool place, and there's no point in stirring up otherwise calm waters. I don't think anyone's jealous(mostly) of your shed, but perhaps no one has come up with a post they thought needed to be made....

Cheers,
Nick

I may have read too much into it - I'm pretty kicked back and casual. No stress.

Allan, I think you did read too much into what was probably just an offhand comment. I think this could be a really good thread and perhaps a whole section of the forum itself - sort of like Gallery for workshops. Your workshop is definitely huge, no getting around that, but it's come at a cost that most of us wouldn't want to pay. There could be other reasons that there haven't been many posts so far. I, for example, couldn't fit into my workshop if I took a camera in with me as well. Others may be sweeping, dusting and vacuuming their workshops in preparation for a photo shoot. As has been said, it's what comes out of the workshops that's important. That's what we mostly admire and that's where the members are happy to give generous praise and advice. It's a great forum and I love the humour and general freedom from negativity.
My retirement is not too many years off and when it happens, I want a workshop like yours. Maybe even bigger.
Miguel

I do like a small workshop.
Maybe that's because I've never had a large workshop.
But I like the cosyness of my hide-out.
Everything is a short reach away & the space is nicely manageable.
There's no thickness sander, no table saw and only a small bandsaw.
That has been a choice both financial & aesthetic to my work nature.
But that's slowly changing.
I've got 2 routers now (OMG) and would like a thickness sander sometime, & I had my eye on a larger bandsaw until the mortagage took the cash away.
Maybe I'll have to add an extension on to the house down the track

Whatever space you've got on this planet, just enjoy it - it's yours!

Here's an old thread on this topic - my foreman has grown a little since then.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=830

demonx wrote:I may have read too much into it

Yes, that would be dead right. No offence intended. Nice workshop.

Cheers

I started building on the kitchen table and on a bench with a woodwork vice out under the patio. At the side of our house under the roof was a single car garage. All it needed was to be cement blocked in with two doors fitted and a good sized window. My mate has a cabinet making business and he did the renovation for me. It took over twelve months to organise as my mate is a busy man. I love my wokshop and it is my favourite place to be.

Looks like most of us started out in a small way Allan.

Here are the before and after shots




Cheers

Al

Al, I'm not sure that you have your workshop setup right mate !

The Corona's Go in the fridge not under the bench

I like that Fender stool....

Which one, the Red one or the White one?

Here's mine, unfortunately I need to share it with a car so everything is on wheels and gets pulled off the wall when I need to use it.



Here is the big boy belt sander with radiused jig lying on top of it, pin router which still needs to get wired up and hidden in the back the Carbatec 8" long bed jointer, you can also see the hose of the Renegade compressor hidden behind the pin router


Workbench, 17" bandsaw and next to the door the router table that my man P Bill gave me invaluable help to build, its a got a big Triton router in it, fantastic table, I love it. Hidden on the right side of the screen is more shelves and a small Carbatec disk and belt sander


Wood rack, PC, homemade CNC, Performax 16/32, dust collector and half hidden drill press


Missing from this is one of the spare bedrooms which has been converted into a setup/practice room whith lots of shelves and a small workbench

I'd much rather have Demonx workshop space but would rather not have to go through his problems to get it though in all honestly what I have is more than sufficient, I'm pretty happy with my setup, I don't know if the neighbours are though, I work with the garage door open every week-end

Hi Phil
You can store that big ass router at my place till you get 3 phase in.
It works out well, we both have tools the other doesn't.

That could work, now you only need to help me convince the boss

nnickusa wrote:Which one, the Red one or the White one?

I'll take 'em both

Well worth the wait, I'd say. Very nice indeed.

My last workshop was borrowed and after i took up residence in it would only be suitable for a "how not to series" and being homeless and unemployed at the moment would use/borrow/live in any of what i see above, now go build some guitars gang.

Steve

My Shed is pretty compact , but with some thought and inovation I have managed to get it to work for me, anyway a Picture is worth a thousand words !

ozwood wrote:My Shed is pretty compact , but with some thought and inovation I have managed to get it to work for me, anyway a Picture is worth a thousand words !

Theres some really well thought out storage solutions there! Awesome setup!