Official Luthiers Forum!

http://www.stewmac.com/tsshop/ts0083/Tools/Measuring_tools/1/String_Action_Gauge/Video.html?jrl=155875&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ts0083&clk=199425#details

This is one of the tools I grab every time I work on setting action on a guitar. It was a gift and I'm not sure I would have purchased it myself. The stainless six inch rule seems to be the luthier standard. But... the little business card size rule from StewMac is now, my standard tool for measuring action.

Anyone else have this tool? The single line measures along the long side are so easy to read. Each measure has it's own location and is so easy to read. With multiple lines of a standard rule, my eyes cross before long, trying to locate the actual measure. It has standard type rule as well. quite a versatile tool, pricey at close to twenty bucks, but money well spent if you've struggled with the old six incher yourself.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Bruce I have had one for years but to be honest since I bought the new nut slotting gauge I hardly ever use it for measuring sting clearance. The new gauge is a much more accurate way of reading the sting clearance from the bottom of the string. A lot easier read with all the strings at tension

That one is only $60.oo, not bad Michael.

They also have a neck relief tool that goes with it, both together are $150 something.



Simple enough a caveman could do it.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Speaking of the new Stewmac gauge any one notice that the instructions tell you to zero with the sting not depressed then depress the string and read the difference. There is an innate problem with this method. If you follow the instructions you have to subtract one reading from the other to get the clearance (or count the increments) because the scale on the indicator is a standard indicator reading clockwise. Not that this is hard or anything but just not necessary

Now if you zero when depressed then let loose you read the clearance directly. I am not sure why they wrote the instructions the way they did. it took me 1 attempt to use the gauge to figure this out.

I love it! It really makes setting action a breeze

The pic here show what I was talking about in my previous post. set the zero when depressed and you read directly the thousants proud of the fret on the other side of zero IE if it reads .023" then you have .023" clearance insted of the indicator reading .077"

I have all three tools mentioned above and wouldn't be without either of them.
I'm an old machinist and prefer using gauges but fully understand that some folks would rather rely on feel as that's the way they've always done it.
The relief gauge is nice in that it lets you see how the neck is responding as you adjust the truss rod.
Nelson Palen

Post script: I don't adjust zero on the string clearance gauge dial but just watch the needle and mentally calculate the movement in thousandths.
Probably should adjust the zero for each string using the better method mentioned above.

My wife bought me one of the String action guages for Christmas a few years ago. I made an action guage with a dial indicator several years ago. The string action guage is great for quick action checks, fret slot depths ect.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

If I lost my business card size string rule guage today, I wouldn't wait until tomorrow to order another. They are that good. So, I'll have to think about these others a bit too.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

That little string gauge also makes a very handy fret rocker for finding high frets Bruce.

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia