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I need a fret tang nipper. Which one(s) works well and are a good value?

If it makes a difference, I'm using the goldish colored wire that is a little harder than standard........and I may want to use stainless one day.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I have some from StewMac that have worked fine for Evo frets. If you have a bench grinder and some shop time to spare, you can buy a regular set of end nippers from your local hardware store and make fret nippers pretty quickly.

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Aaron Craig

I bought mine from LMI, and they are just Channel Lock Nippers, the same ones they sell at Home Depot (and they're still made in USA!), except they are simply ground down so the front of the nipper is flush with the edge of the cutter. They work well, even with Stainless Steel frets, in my experience, though others have stated that they had trouble cutting stainless steel frets in general..?

It really wouldn't be at all hard to grind the front edge of the regular Channel Lock nippers down on a grinder if you have one.

Jonas

Assuming that by fret tang nipper, you mean nipper that nips the fret tang....

I have 2 similar nipper style devices. If you like that good feeling of using a nice tool that makes you go, "Ahhh", get the Stew-Mac. The $20 Ebay "I could of made that" gets the job done.

Haven't tried the LMI file style or Gangnam style.

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Pat

Stew Mac tang nippers work great, even on stainless steel. I have a few of the cheapies from Harbor Freight that need modified, but not as clean of a cut as Stew Mac.

Chuck

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A fret tang nipper isn't just a flush cut nipper but rather one that removes the tang to place frets over binding for example. I made one from a metal cutters tool for cheap and it works great. Here's a blog post on it and how I found out about it.

http://glennaycockwoodworking.blogspot. ... for-7.html

Yep, I read the op's question too quickly. I originally modified a nibbler from Radio Shack (same tool as Harbor Freight probably) but was never impressed with the quality of the cut. Bought StewMac's version and was very impressed. Works wonderfully on nickel alloy and Evo frets. Much cleaner cuts that require little touchup with a file. I don't use stainless, but I'd suspect it works fine for those too (with quicker tool wear).

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Aaron Craig

I modified a Klein Nibbler to cut the tangs. A dremel with a cut off wheel and 5 minutes of time and I saved $30.

I have tried Gangnam Style and I can't do it.


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PMoMC

Thanks for the info - I'll try this.
DZ

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I used flush cut nippers for years before getting the Stew Mac tool. Theoretically, the Stew Mac tool does reduce the need for filing, but I still end up filing most of the time.
With a flush cut nipper, you make two cuts....first under the crown, and second perpendicular to the fret. It takes all of 3 seconds.

I have the Channellocks that I ground flush over 25 years ago, and they are still going strong.

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John

With the harder Evo fretwire that I am using now, it is oly a matter of one cut with the flushground cutters under the fret and the tang snaps off.

The StewMac tang nippers are a dream to use. they work great on EVO wire. I don't use SS fret wire so I have no experience there but the StewMac sites says not to use them on SS frets.

This is what I did. Cuts a lot closer than I can get with StewMac's flush cut nippers (which I use for cutting frets off the coil and trimming off the ends after installing them), but does still need some filing to smooth out the burr left after nipping. Although you could possibly just mash it into the binding without removing it.

Stew Mac's

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

Yeah ok that makes sense, but you do find the nibbler to be a better tool though?

As for end nippers, I did the same thing, just ground down some Channel locks. I've had that tool for about 20 years now myself and it's still working just fine.

If I purchase a pair of Klein nippers and cut the recess myself, how critical is the sizing of the channel I need to cut? Will it introduce error in the cut if it is oversized? I can buy the Klein nippers online for $21 with free shipping so can save some bucks if the size of the channel makes no difference. If the channel size impacts the quality of the cut, then I'll just order the StewMac version.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I’d like to see some close up photos of the file work people have done to modify the different nippers. I have the HF nippers and I messed them up due to lack of forethought. I ended up cutting the whole face of the base plate flush with the cutter. It works okay now but could be better. I have to do a little wrist action as I nip to keep the tang from just mashing. The end result is not as clean as it could have been. It isn’t so bad that I would spend the money on a specialty tool, but I would consider getting a new nipper if I knew for sure how to modify it.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I can post pics tonight.


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PMoMC

You 'da man! Wait, you didn't mean goat pics did you?

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

No sir. Pics of my nips...errr I mean my nipper!


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PMoMC

Here's mine. I used a dremel cutoff wheel to grind the slot.

The size of the slot is important. Mine doesn't work on ukulele/mandolin size wire. Kind of tips the wire sideways as you clamp down, and then crimps the wire and doesn't cut much of the tang off. I think it's mainly the depth of the slot that causes it.

I guess I just got lucky that my slot size works well with medium sized fret wires. I just eyeballed it to approximately match the shape of a fret crown.

That's exactly what I did to mine. I made my slot a bit too high over the cutter so I still need to file a bit but it's not so bad.


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PMoMC

I just recently started using mandolin sized fretwire for some of the banjos I build but have had trouble nipping the tang with the stew mac nipper that I normally use for medium wire. I'm thinking about making the modified nipper 'jfmckenna' and 'DennisK' posted. Anybody had any luck with this with a shallower slot for small fretwire?

Do you have the small one or the big one? I find I use the small one most for guitar fret wire. The big one is really only appropriate for jumbo wire. Maybe the small one is too big for really small wire? The biggest problem I have with the nippers is they want to twist the fret if the wire is too small of not seated correctly. Is that what you're running into? I could well see it being a problem with a wire with a really small crown.

Thanks Dennis and Tony. I think I tried to get to fancy with mine and ended up going too deep. I was trying to keep a flat edge for the flat side of the wire and a rounded edge for the crown. Dennis, I have the same nippers as you have. Try taking the plate that you filed off and flipping it over. You should be able to file a smaller groove for your smaller wire. Then you can just use whatever side you want for what you are making. The screw hole won’t be counter sunk on the other side, but it won’t need to be flush for fret nipping. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.