Official Luthiers Forum!

So I bought a 3 deg reamer from Grizzly which wouldn't cut no matter how much I spun it in the hole. They sent me a 2nd one which is the same, and .5mm narrower at the top of the taper.

I've been working on this first guitar for a looooooong time and I'm so ready to play it --

Is there any real downside to following Cumpiano's option of just drilling a 7/32 hole and being done with it?

Tanks,
Chris

Go to http://www.use-enco.com , get some "taper pin reamer" and get either size 2 or 3... I used them they work great and they're only like 10 bucks each.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Yes. All due respect to Cumpiano, that's a really, really bad idea. I'm quite surprised any experienced luthier would ever suggest such a thing. You would be sentencing your bridge plate to a much earlier death than they would normally suffer.

You get what you pay for in tools like this. Make sure your reamer matches your pin taper. If you get a machinist reamer with some sort of Morse taper, you'll have to do the math to make sure it's the right taper. Personally, I feel StewMac's reamers are the best out there for this job. They may cost an extra $20, but the semi-fluted design allows great control and a very smooth, chatter-free cut.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I have that Grizzly reamer, and I would say it's usable. Just barely, but it does work. Should do the trick if you are an occasional builder.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

The Grizzly reamer I got is too narrow for the pins I also got from them. I won't be buying guitar specific stuff from them in the future.

I was thinking of grinding a jigsaw blade to the right taper and using it as a scraper.

Then again, I've yet to regret spending the dough for any tool I've bought from Stew Mac.

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Gabriel Regalbuto
Carlsbad, California
Freedom 35!

As a self professed cheapskate, I made the bridge pin reamer one of the few guitar specific tools that I spent the big money on. I bought StewMac's and it is top notch. I've managed to figure out ways to make some of the other tools buying just the critical pieces that are often sold as replacement pieces. This was one that I felt was critical to get right.

I will be taking very good care of it as it is a spendy lil sucker.

Darrin

I also really like my Stewmac reamers. I got an inexpensive unhandled one from LMI first, but it cuts very poorly and was no fun to use. If you think the Stewmac reamers are expensive, check out the prices on some quality violin or cello reamers… My best reamer is a tin coated spiral 1/30 taper violin peg reamer, it cuts even cleaner than the Stewmac ones. The Stewmac ones are more than adequate for the job, though, so get it and be done with it. Simply drilling is not a good idea.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin