what do luthiers build with their scrap materials?

Oh, you're right Doug. Most of that was scrap too. But with koa getting so expensive these days I've been wondering what the cabinets would look like without the doors. ;)

Or you could string up your kitchen! Imagine that: every koa door with 4 strings, the sound being determined by the cupboard's content. Nice.
 
I'm a very small volume builder but I still have boxes full of scrap and cut-offs that I can't bring myself to burn in the wood stove. I use scrap for blocks, braces, heel caps, peg head veneers, and end grafts. Below pictures of tiny pieces of scrap which came in handy for end grafts and peg heads.

DSCN7348.jpg DSCN7179.jpg DSCN6996.jpg DSCN6693.jpg DSCN6519.jpg
 
Oh, you're right Doug. Most of that was scrap too. But with koa getting so expensive these days I've been wondering what the cabinets would look like without the doors. ;)



I will take the 7th door from the bottom left...looks like a nice back and side for a MB.....
 
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The larger the variety of instruments you make, the more useful small pieces of wood become. Most of the time a set of acoustic guitar wood creates enough scrap for a soprano uke. The uke scraps are good for inlays right down to the size of position dots. Electric guitars can swallow up lots of small scrap for control knobs, pickup bezels, whammy bar knobs, control cavity covers, and truss rod covers. Coarse saw dust can serve as added color and texture to colored epoxies for inlays, "wet" purflings, and cast pieces like control knobs. Fine saw dust is good for gap fills and inlay work. So there's really no such thing as scrap wood, just materials for uses you haven't thought of yet.
 
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