CBCG Instrument Builds
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Location to document various aspects of instrument building Learning the art of luthiery one instrument at a time.
05/24/2026
Getting a little time on the build side of the shop today (and I do mean little) 😂
Continuing with the white oak OM.
Something so lovely about laminated sides slipping watertight into the outside body mold.
05/15/2026
Sperimentin’
04/25/2026
Going to have to clean the squeeze out from the bug hole! ✌️
04/21/2026
Continuing with the white oak OMC - I was able to grab a little time in the shop this evening. I want the bug holes to be in the upper bout so I marked the location in the side template, cut the side profiles and then grafted a proxy onto the soundboard side. That is the piece that gets routed away and then the original spalted strip will be used as the binding. Some tricky alignment during bending but I think it will work out. I’ll take these down to .050” for the outer and then laminate a .040” dyed black tuliper veneer as the inner. ✌️
I don’t have a very fancy CNC machine with tool changers and such so I have to find other ways to gain efficiency.
One of those ways is by using the system to make simple fixtures that let me quickly mount material blanks and get started cutting.
The Airweights fixture plates are very affordable so you can have many of them and dial them in for a very specific task. They are simple to design and I get faster each time.
Finally got a chance to make the OM bending forms so I can get the white oak OMC build back on track!
Happy Easter! ✌️
03/29/2026
33” fret slotting template for bass? For sure.
Enjoy ✌️
BTW - If you’re in Cincy or the surrounding area, come by the lab, you can see the fishbowl. 😂 If you need custom templates shoot me a DM.
03/28/2026
“Can you make a set of custom templates from my mandolin plan?”
Of course!
“Extra credit - can you make the contour guides fit the Pentel GraphGear 500 just like the old LMI templates?”
No problem!!
Hope they work great for you, Ken! ✌️
03/19/2026
Excited to share that a OM kit is now available from !
Building a StewMac OM instrument kit? Building from scratch using StewMac OM molds, forms and plans?
Add repeatability and accuracy to those builds with the Strings Micro Factory kit for StewMac OM.
This one is going to for a full review. Watch for that coming later in the spring!
Reach out with any questions. I’m here to help! ✌️
03/12/2026
This is a milestone! 🎉 A new kit for
This is not just a new kit, it’s the first custom kit designed directly by the customer! Robbert at Wooden Shoe Guitars used the Brace Layout Generator to tell us exactly what they wanted.
What an honor to build a kit that will help someone accomplish their goals.
Check out the Brace Layout Generator tool (link in bio) and reach out with any questions. I’m here to help.
02/21/2026
Here’s an idea I learned from Don at Vandalia Instruments. It’s a quick adjustment for the GoBar deck to switch between plate / brace gluing operations and plate / rims gluing operations.
You basically put the spacer, mine is. 3D printed, above or below the roof depending on what you’re doing. I used threaded k***s to make adjustment a bit faster.
I’ve seen most people using a booster seat for their base, I like this better.
I put an STL & 3MF on the resources page of the Micro Factory website. Pretty neat! ✌️
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