Owl Hardwood Lumber (Des Plaines and Lombard) if you are in the Chicagoland area.
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Luthier's Resource: OEMs & Suppliers
- Thread starter BTL
- Start date
For electronic components (pots, connectors, wires and so on) RS components is a decent source. RS Components International. I think they are based in UK but it seems like they operate world wide.
In Europe they also supply metal stock in smaller quantities.
In Europe they also supply metal stock in smaller quantities.
Antique Electronic Supply (formerly "Tubes And More") for many components, particularly pots and control knobs of all types.
Ever wondered where you were going to find a knob for your Joe Dart knock off?
Ever wondered where you were going to find a knob for your Joe Dart knock off?
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Good one. The king of funky knobs, and has a lot more. I enjoy getting their weekly email with new items available. So far I have bought trim nuts for microswitches from them.Antique Electronic Supply (formerly "Tubes And More") for many components, particularly pots and control knobs of all types.
Ever wondered where you were going to find a knob for your Joe Dart knock off?
Antique Electronic Supply (formerly "Tubes And More") for many components, particularly pots and control knobs of all types.
Ever wondered where you were going to find a knob for your Joe Dart knock off?
I'm really digging Tocos pots these days. Great feels of quality...
I was looking for some a few months back, ran into the same issue.
I have heard that the evo Gold fretwire is discontinued? Can anyone confirm?
BTW, it's Jescar, not Jesco. I normally buy all my fretwire right from them, at Jescar.com. Their site currently says banjo size is unavailable in EVO Gold. Huh. Maybe e-mail them and ask?
Thanks, sorry I mistyped the name in a hurry… that’s the size I’m looking (43080) but by the pound is not available. I didn’t know I could get it direct, it’s much more expensive than my previous purchase for some reason. I did email them and just placed an order a couple 2ft pieces to get by. Any idea if the Stewmac Gold is similar?
Thanks again.
Jescar
For a long time, I thought that Stew-Mac was getting their fretwire from Jescar. I'm pretty sure LMII was. Jescar is an actual manufacturer of fretwire, one of only two (I think) in the US. For a long time Jescar was only selling it wholesale to companies like Stew-Mac. They would make it up in sizes that the retail shops wanted, sell in quantity. Then sometime in the 2000's, Jescar opened their own online retail store and started selling their fretwire directly to individual luthiers. I started buying from them directly around 2006 or so. I've been buying all of my fretwire from them since then. A good lineup of sizes, high quality wire, nice folks to deal with. I see no reason to go anywhere else.
Just ran across Cascadia Woodcraft and Lutherie Supply (Cascadia Woodcraft & Lutherie Supply). Haven't dealt with them, but looks like a useful Canadian source for various parts including Richlite and obsidian ebony fingerboards.
Oh I like that they have pots and switches and stuff too! Have you found anyone in Canada who does fingerboard radius and fret slot cutting like LMII used to do?
Also wondering if there's any Canadian shops doing spray finishes.
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I don't know of anyone in Canada who's offering a fret slotting service. I'm going to treat it as a reason to try doing it myself.
It's been a few years since I last went looking for a place to do finishing, but last time I gave up and sent a body to a guy in the states.
I haven't bought anything yet but I noticed the other day that (a) they ship to the US at somewhat-reasonable prices (as long as you're not buying just one or two things) and (b) they have some materials I haven't seen sold in the US, such as Obsidian Ebony and a limited supply of bass-size Rocklite Sundari boards.
Cascadia's good - they are here on the island. It's a previous company that was bought by a young guy as a new solo venture. He's been a great local source and has taken extra steps to keep me happy.
Wonder what it's like ordering from them from across the sound. Shipping prolly silly just across across the water.Cascadia's good - they are here on the island. It's a previous company that was bought by a young guy as a new solo venture. He's been a great local source and has taken extra steps to keep me happy.
You can get a shipping quote by dropping a few things in the cart and going to checkout.* For the southeastern US, the baseline cost looked to be around US$18, and a package of a few fingerboards sent the price to US$25. Which, y'know, not awesome, but comparable to some domestic vendors.
*(Be a mensch and empty the cart when you're done experimenting. I don't know how Cascadia's commerce site works, but some software will hold inventory for a while when you get to the checkout step.)
I'll throw this out there, it's a weird but not totally irrelevant suggestion for people in the US midatlantic -- roughly from northern New Jersey to Atlanta.
If there's a Lidl near you, check it out for hardware supplies from time to time. Roughly Harbor Freight quality, I'd say, also regularly cheaper than HF. (Which is nice since HF doesn't do their 25% coupon thing any more, and the Lidl is a quicker drive.) Obviously since Lidl is primarily a grocery store the tools on offer are going to be minimal and change frequently,* but I've gotten some useful pieces from them. I wouldn't plan to buy anything there that I wouldn't by at HF either -- for example Lidl currently has a plunge router for $40 which might be okay but probably not as rock-solid or accurate as I'd want in a router.
And anyway, you can get a $7 saw guide at Lidl, but you can't get good German pastry at Harbor Freight.
*(and also be extremely random. Currently they're advertising a plunge router for $40; in the past they've had 4' concrete drill bit sets and parts for pneumatic systems, alongside more predictably general-interest items like Dremel bits, sanding blocks, powered screwdrivers, etc.)
If there's a Lidl near you, check it out for hardware supplies from time to time. Roughly Harbor Freight quality, I'd say, also regularly cheaper than HF. (Which is nice since HF doesn't do their 25% coupon thing any more, and the Lidl is a quicker drive.) Obviously since Lidl is primarily a grocery store the tools on offer are going to be minimal and change frequently,* but I've gotten some useful pieces from them. I wouldn't plan to buy anything there that I wouldn't by at HF either -- for example Lidl currently has a plunge router for $40 which might be okay but probably not as rock-solid or accurate as I'd want in a router.
And anyway, you can get a $7 saw guide at Lidl, but you can't get good German pastry at Harbor Freight.
*(and also be extremely random. Currently they're advertising a plunge router for $40; in the past they've had 4' concrete drill bit sets and parts for pneumatic systems, alongside more predictably general-interest items like Dremel bits, sanding blocks, powered screwdrivers, etc.)
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