the
Looth Group
access
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connection
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innovation
Learn new luthier skills, build your business, and connect with some of the best guitar builders and repairers in the world.
All in a friendly, hassle-free community.
access to
help knowledge resources
interactive live events
Online video events are the heart of what we do. From interviewing some of the luminaries of lutherie to in-depth tutorials teaching repair, restoration, or building techniques.
We’ve got longer series too, including the Doug and Dan Show with Doug Proper (from The Guitar Specialist) and the one and only Dan Erlewine (the godfather of guitar repair).
And it’s not just hammering nails into stuff: Our Loothing for Dollars series is incredibly popular and our Health and Wellness for Looths series continues to be hugely helpful.
content and forums
Sharing tips and knowledge is what we’re all about here. We’ve a huge (and growing) content library full of luthier info and trade ‘secrets’.
Got a question? Ask it in the forums?
Yeah, we know what you’re thinking… Online forums generally suck. Not here. We’ve got good people discussing loothing in a supportive way and without condoning nonsense information. Genuinely helpful advice without all the pissing contests of some guitar forums.
just ask the experts
It’s important to mention that we have a ton of great looths who are all super-generous with their time and knowledge and who can help answer pretty much any question.
In addition, though, we also have a number of ‘contributing partners’ who provide additional content, advice, and help to run the Looth Group.
You may even know some of their names. They are…
featured content
We make a tons of our own video content, showing tips, tricks, and various cool stuff. We also curate interesting videos we’ve found, showing clever people doing interesting things and try to bring them to the attention of other looths.
Check out a featured short video…
connection to
friends community expertise
we're a community
The Looth Group is an online luthier community.
We started as a way for looths to hang out. And we’ve still got that.
Many of us guitar builders and repairers busy ourselves away in workshops all day. The Looth Group helps us remember there are other humans out there doing the same thing.
Check out our Looth Map to find looths near you.
loothalong
The Loothalong is a 24/7 global Zoom meeting of looths, working in their shops and shootin’ the breeze.
Friendships, collective experience, and bad puns!
Come join the Loothalong. It’s the looth’s water cooler and a great way to remember there’s a world outside your workshop window.
anyone seen this before?
And there’s another really big benefit here:
The Looth Hive-Mind.
Connect with some of the best in the business and ask about that tricky repair, or that tricky build, or that tricky customer.
It’s nice to get some reassurance when you ask “Has anybody ever seen anything like THIS before?”
innovation in
tools techniques technology
cutting-edge lutherie
More than just accepted wisdom. Many of our members are hauling this industry into the twenty-first century with new methods, tools, and ideas.
Just some of the cool stuff we’ve been treated to lately are carbon fibre headstock repairs; a new and awesome method to index a bridge for super-fast regule and clamping; and structured light scanning to ‘read’ the void from a missing chunk of guitar so a piece can be precisely CNC milled to fill it. Wow!
loothprints and loothcuts
And while we’re on the subject of CNC technology, we should talk about Loothprints and Loothcuts.
Loothcuts are how we share CNC projects with fellow looths so they can use them in their shops.
As for Loothprints, well, many of us have found the addition of a 3D printer to be invaluable to how we work today. Useful 3D models are shared as Loothprints. It’s sort of like Thingiverse for luthiers.
learn from the experts
Learn to use some of these new tools and technologies. Find out how to use these new-fangled gizmos and incorporate them into your work.
3D Club is an ongoing series working through techniques for modelling and producing parts, jigs, widgets, and more. Dig into the archives or join in live.
Tried-and-trusted techniques alongside cutting-edge luthiery. That’s what we like.
and there's
more even more plenty more
save with member benefits
luthier marketplace
news feed
buy/sell classifieds
employment postings
online chat
cool merch
frequently asked questions
What the heck does 'looth' mean?
looth noun. one who makes or repairs stringed instruments; e.g. guitars.
looth verb. to build or repair a musical instrument; to engage in the business or hobby or loothing.
looth pop. a less serious and po-faced way of saying ‘luthier’. 🙂
Folks on here are serious about their work but that doesn’t mean we have to have sticks up our ass.
Is this for professional luthiers only?
Nope. We’ve certainly got a lot of pros hanging out here but the Looth Group is for anyone who’s serious about levelling up their luthier skills. Pro, semi-pro, hobbyist… everyone’s welcome here.
How come your forums don't suck?
Well, it certainly helps that we have some of the most experienced and knowledgable luthiers on the planet hanging around. We have a lot of friendly people who want to help but we don’t condone my-gear’s-better comments or you-shouldn’t-have-bought-that-guitar discussions. No bad-mouthing, no snobbishness, and definitely no looth-on-looth violence.
Can I really talk to [insert name of revered luthier here]?
Sure. We’re a friendly bunch and lots of us hang out on the Loothalong all the time. Feel free to say hello.
What's the difference between Looth Lite and Looth Pro?
Here’s the deal: We try really hard to keep subscription costs low as we really want to serve as many looths as possible.
With that in mind, Looth Lite gets you a heck of a lot of our content at a very wallet-friendly cost. It’s really very good.
Of course, if you’re able to spring for a Looth Pro subscription, you’ll get access to additional shows, workshops and perks. We reckon that, if you can stretch that bit further, the extra value you’ll get from Looth Pro will be more than worth it.
I'm convinced. How do I sign up?
Right now, just follow the link to our Patreon and sign up there.
