New Festooligan Lusting After Domino / Any Other Luthiers in the House?

[GuitarDoc]

Hey everybody!

I picked up a TS5, MFT/3, CT26 and OF1400 a couple months ago to help build some shelving units for a closet in my new house and now, like you, I'm totally hooked on the green and black. I'm pretty new to woodworking overall and am still getting my workshop set up in my new house and really, really excited about these new tools. Like many of you, I've been lured in by great testimonials and demos by folks like Spagnuolo, St. Onge, and Parfitt and I'm intrigued by the Domino. Seems like a really unique tool that can fill several niches and help with many of the tasks required by pros, semi-pros, and hobbyists alike. Obviously the price tag has been the main sticking point with me to date. Just got a new jointer and lunchbox planer so the bank account is tapped... for now...

My main question/interest/topic I wanted to post is related to luthiery. Any other luthiers/wanna-be luthiers lurking on this board? One of my interests is to get more into building solid body and acoustic guitars (probably mostly solid body) and was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for unique uses for Festool tools to help with luthiery. I'm running through all kinds of weird possibilities in my head (alignment of neck angles with Domino, textured finishes with the HL850 and rustic blades, etc.) but wanted to see if any of you had thoughts on what might be some cool uses for Festool tools that might give a unique approach/advantage that is less readily accomplished with other, more conventional tools.

Looking forward to chatting more with you guys in the future!

Long live the green and black(/blue)!

Cheers,

Brady

 

[Loren Woirhaye]

I build acoustic guitars and fine furniture.  The domino has a substantial price tag and I've not really felt a need for it, though at times it would have helped me speed things up a bit.  I use traditional mortise and tenon when making chairs generally and for work that doesn't get such stresses I sometimes use dowels, which are adequate and easy to work with.

I'll point out that in some furniture and instrument applications I find myself joining small x-section parts where end-boring one part for a dowel, much less a domino or other loose tenon, would remove an uncomfortable amount of stock, weakening the part and leaving a void full (or not) of glue at the bottom.  Consider chair rungs.  If you have to thicken the part in order to allow a cutter like a domino to do its thing, then that's an aesthetic compromise that would not have to be made if using traditional mortise and tenon joinery. 

I don't know how well set up you are for making guitars but I would think if turning out guitars more efficiently is your objective, that building things like side-bending machines and things like that would be a good use of resources.

If making electric guitars a pin router is most useful.

The smaller Festool routers would come in handy for guitar applications,  but the advantages to the Festool design are not so dramatic that they are a must-have for efficient lutherie work, imo.  One of the things that is tricky is the routing of binding ledges and often an inexpensive laminate trimmer is dedicated to a custom-built set up for the job.  In theory the Festool MFK700 could be used to freehand the ledge, but it still takes a very steady hand even with the best router.