Interesting stuff, and there's really got to be a philosophy of work and woodworking. Guitars are both science and art. There's a crucial precision, and yet there's an art in the nature of how it's made, how the choices are made to make it a beautiful instrument that sounds good, too.
I get where you are coming from - I have many, many jigs and fixtures that I made myself. You talk about focusing on the problem - I think sometimes the reverse could be true - in focusing on making the jig or the tool that becomes the focus - the jig rather than building a guitar. At luthier get togethers there is a great deal of discussion about jig building. Why not go one step further, why not build your own table saw, your own hand tools etc. I have several hand planes that I made myself and I love them, however a nice lie nielsen or veritas plane would work very nicely. I have dozens of clamps that I have built. But there is a trap to deciding that building your own is better than buying. Sadly LMI is no more but their jigs had the input and experience of several luthiers and then trial and error refinement, plus since they were making many jigs or fixtures rather than just one they could have specialty hardware made for the specific purpose. It would be difficult for most luthiers to match that. The Pye book is excellent, I used it as one of the texts for a university course I taught in design. One of the first questions should be - should I make this jig for myself or should I buy one of the ones available to me, then weigh the pros and cons. You have made a blanket decision that it is better to make your own and therefore skip that step. As you say you have made it part of your belief.
Thank you so much for discussing David Pye. You have given us an intellectually stimulating moment here. Reading Pye's book years ago shaped my outlook on woodworking in important ways. If you decide to share more of his work in future videos, I will be all ears! Thanks again.
I wish bye's books were required reading for any maker. Being broadly educated about what we do is empowering and I think the intellectual side of any craft provides fertile ground for contemplation and discussion.
I figure that it makes sense to use jigs as timesavers in order to focus on what really matters. Stradivari himself had apprentices to do the rough work. As long as one doesn’t automate and standardize everything in the vein of Henry Ford, there’s still plenty of room for art to thrive.
Interesting stuff, and there's really got to be a philosophy of work and woodworking. Guitars are both science and art. There's a crucial precision, and yet there's an art in the nature of how it's made, how the choices are made to make it a beautiful instrument that sounds good, too.
where science and art meet in harmony. No pun intended.
I bought David Pye's "The nature and art of workmanship" a few years ago. There's a lot of insight contained in that book.
That's a fact. I wish every maker was fully contiguous with Pie's work.
I get where you are coming from - I have many, many jigs and fixtures that I made myself. You talk about focusing on the problem - I think sometimes the reverse could be true - in focusing on making the jig or the tool that becomes the focus - the jig rather than building a guitar. At luthier get togethers there is a great deal of discussion about jig building. Why not go one step further, why not build your own table saw, your own hand tools etc. I have several hand planes that I made myself and I love them, however a nice lie nielsen or veritas plane would work very nicely. I have dozens of clamps that I have built. But there is a trap to deciding that building your own is better than buying. Sadly LMI is no more but their jigs had the input and experience of several luthiers and then trial and error refinement, plus since they were making many jigs or fixtures rather than just one they could have specialty hardware made for the specific purpose. It would be difficult for most luthiers to match that. The Pye book is excellent, I used it as one of the texts for a university course I taught in design. One of the first questions should be - should I make this jig for myself or should I buy one of the ones available to me, then weigh the pros and cons. You have made a blanket decision that it is better to make your own and therefore skip that step. As you say you have made it part of your belief.
Thank you so much for discussing David Pye. You have given us an intellectually stimulating moment here. Reading Pye's book years ago shaped my outlook on woodworking in important ways. If you decide to share more of his work in future videos, I will be all ears! Thanks again.
I wish bye's books were required reading for any maker. Being broadly educated about what we do is empowering and I think the intellectual side of any craft provides fertile ground for contemplation and discussion.
Well said!
Video looks really great! But I think the last shot got turned around in editing, it seems backwards. ;-)
You're just viewing it incorrectly. Turn your screen around:)
I figure that it makes sense to use jigs as timesavers in order to focus on what really matters. Stradivari himself had apprentices to do the rough work. As long as one doesn’t automate and standardize everything in the vein of Henry Ford, there’s still plenty of room for art to thrive.