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Tempted by this.

A small shooting board's been working OK, but a bit time consuming and fiddly.
Anyone using this item?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Not in my estimation.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Haven't felt the need.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It is darn expensive. If it cost $50 or less, I might be tempted. At a cost of more than 3X that much, I can live without it.

Make a little holder out of wood, that captures the nut or saddle. Fit it with a little wooden handle on top. Makes it much easier to sand the stuff. You'll probably need a few of these although they don't take long to make. You can also scrape bone pretty well

$94 from Canada

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I found a small 90 degree shooting board with a block plane blade honed at 10 degrees back bevel works fine for bone, and anything else I've done so far.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

We do bone blank sizing using our 10-20 drum sander -- multiple blanks are hot glued to a piece of Masonite (no reason not to do one at time). Release the glue with alcohol. I've become pretty good at shaping bone using a 1x30 belt sander.

As for buying the gadget -- no way. $15 maybe

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I have never seen one of these. Who sells it?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

SM sell these, as do http://heart-sound.com/en/products/nut-and-saddle-sander/
Least expensive I found is here http://www.guitarbuilderonline.com/luthier-tools.html
What attracts me is the quick and accurate removal of different amounts from the two sides of a saddle as I've had a fair amount of set-ups over the past couple of months.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I have one, the stewmac version. I like it
A friend bought one and was enthusiastic so it bought it.
You do not use it for blank sizing, it is aimed at allowing you to adjust action height quickly and accurately without relying on working to marks, and with my aging eyes that is a good thing.
Say you have a guitar where the action is 2.5 and 2.2 mm and you want it at 2.3 to 1.6.
Fit it in the jig level then dial in the adjustment at each end, clamp and then sand till it rides on the wheels.
Done
If it saves you from having to detune, try, retune etc or having to make up another blank if you overshoot then I think it is worth it.

Thanks Colin, I'll check it out. I do like what Jeff is saying. Sounds very useful.

Might be a good item for my Christmas list.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Accurately marking bone has been tricky for me because pencil lines tend to smear. If this can really be had for $93 rather than $180 from Stew-Mac, and if it really makes precise heights easy to dial in, I think it would be worth it.

That would slow me down, I make nuts and saddles every day. Free hand or a block handle with duct tape attaching the nut/saddle blank, an eye on safety, next. Part of how I work with my nuts.... and saddles is to use my caliper frequently as I approach the machine thickness that I want. Wondering if this thing exposes enough of the blank to even get the caliper on it.

This one might go down in Stew Mac history as giving the previous most useless tool, the toothing file.... a run for it's money.

Pass.

I've made a few holder thingamabobs from plywood, bolts and wingnuts to hold nuts and saddles, which I shape on my belt sander. They are great for saving you knuckles, and best of all, cheap (just like me). Accuracy and speed comes with practice.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I've also got a home grown "Luthier's Friend" and "Small Parts Vise " so preparing/shaping and squaring nuts and saddles is no problem.
But 120 grit doesn't cut it in my book for the bottom of a nut or saddle, (especially with a UST)
Yes, Arnt, I've learnt my lesson with the belt sander too, got the scars to remind me..

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I agree with Hesh. I make and adjust nuts and saddles daily. I can lower a saddle by marking a fine line with a mechanical pencil with sharpened lead (I keep a little piece of 320 grit stuck to the corner of my bench for lead sharpening), sanding to the line on a disc sander, and then honing the bottom flat on a slab of granite with 320 gold on it, in less than 3 minutes. I looked at this tool when SM introduced it, and quickly decided to pass.

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It will probably be alright.

That is exactly the way I do it too.

Some time ago I received a Luthier's Friend as a Christmas present; I don't use it for too many things but it does a great job of doing the initial thicknessing for nuts/saddles. Last step is on the 320 gold/granite. I was able to thickness a saddle on Dave Collins' belt sander but when I tried it on mine I just sanded my fingertips so the Luthier's Friend will work for me.

Also, I notice StewMac touts that their tool lets you keep the nuts/saddles square. If you have trouble with that by hand you can always put them up against a square block of wood while you sand the edge. That will keep it square. I do that all the time when I sand braces in a radius dish.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

That's how I do it too too.

The start of any set up work includes checking the saddle for flatness and nut slots for shape.
I used to actually check with a straight edge and fix if necessary. Now checking is fixing. I swipe the saddle bottom with a pencil and put it up against the disc sander and rotate the disc a fraction of a turn by hand. Scratches show and fix in one operation. Same with nut slots.
Pencil drawn in the slot bottoms, one very light pass with a file, and it shows whats going on with string contact. All subsequent issues and estimates are dependent on the two string endpoints, so starting the fix is just part of the evaluation. It's faster than even taking the time to talk to a customer about it so i usually just do it. Even If they decide not to have work done.
I guess its a little door prize.

Now c'mon guys! Luthiers are supposed to LOVE jigs and fixtures. Where's the love!

It might be a cool little tool for $5 or $10, and that's about all you could sell it for at a flea market. In a couple of months you might find a Chinese knock off on eBay.

Steve, just curious, but is your Luthier's Friend permanently set up? If not, how long does it take to set up? If it's set up all the time, or doesn't take long to set up, it seems like a great option because it will work both planes of the nut or saddle (thickness and height), where this little tool only seems to do height.

I just looked at it for the first time. I've been envisioning something similar in my mind for flattening the backs of headstocks on my Ridgid belt/spindle sander, only my version would be larger out of necessity.

James, it's temporary but it only takes a few minutes to set up, not much more than putting a new drill bit into the chuck. I chuck the sanding drum in the drill press and use two quick clamps to hold the base on my drill press table.

I made an adjustable table for the end of my 6x36 belt sander that I use to flatten the backs of headstocks.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks, Steve.



That's exactly what I'm trying to recreate. I don't have the belt sander, so I'm trying to create the same tool in effect to use with the spindle.

Perhaps somewhat off topic but...

James Orr wrote:
That's exactly what I'm trying to recreate. I don't have the belt sander, so I'm trying to create the same tool in effect to use with the spindle.

I too used my belt sander to thickness headstock. I never made the jig. I would mark final thickness on the sides of the head then sand by eye.

I have recently resurrected my 30 year old Safe-T-planer and have been using it. It is more accurate and easier than the sander routine.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

It's not really used for the initial making of the nut or saddle at all. I do that on my disc sander.
Where it is used is on an existing saddle or after the initial stringup with a new saddle which you have left high. Measure the string height at the 12th, work out how much you need to take off, dial in the appropriate notch on the thumbscrews and sand.
No, calipers will not fit, you don't need them, it stops when you get to the required height.