Where to buy wood in Singapore for guitar building (+ power tools) ? Thanks?

October 8, 2009 by admin · 2 Comments
Filed under: Do It Yourself (DIY) 
power tools
a v asked:


do you know any community center with a workshop with power tools and access to wood?? :)

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2 Responses to “Where to buy wood in Singapore for guitar building (+ power tools) ? Thanks?”
  1. VinceY says:
    October 10, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    You can buy wood from any hardware store in Singapore. They usually keep a stock, or they can order it in for you. However, your best bet will be to go to Geylang near lorong 9 where there is a hardware shop called The Builders Shop. It also sells power tools there.

    For guitar building, you’d need plywood as well as solid 1/4 inch. However, you’d need to bend the wood under heat and have presses that allow you to do that. You wouldn’t be able to find any place selling those kinds of equipment and even if you did, it’d cost a lot.

    Alternatively, you could call up some specialty furniture makers and ask them whether they have the facility to bend wood using heat. If they do, try negotiating with them for use of their equipment for a fee. VinceY

  2. salu215 says:
    October 13, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    DO NOT BUY PLY-WOOD!!!!!! Ply-wood is not used in any form of guitar building. For guitar building you need specialty woods that most hardware stores will not have. They may be able to get their hands on it as a special order but it will be large blocks, not thin sheets that you will need for the top, sides, or bottom. My suggestion would be to order from LMI (Luthiers Mercantile International). Custom furniture makers would probably have the resources to help you find the woods that you will need, and some of them may even build guitars themselves. Ask around for a luthier (someone who builds stringed instruments) they will be your best bet. If you need any more help then just let me know, I would be glad to help in any way.

    To bend the wood you only need a couple of hot plates and a metal box. Get a couple of sheets of metal and weld them into a retangle box. You fill the box with sand and heat it up. Once the sand is heated you can place the wood into the sand, leave there for just a few minutes, and then you can begin bending by hand. For more complex bending you can find diagrams of machines online that will help bend the sides. salu215

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