Official Luthiers Forum!

I am about to shell out for 20 or so to stock up. What brand, what supplier do you like?
Hopefully one of our sponsors

I get 'em here. http://drillbitcity.com/

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

http://bqtool.com/cart/index.php?cPath= ... 54cdddab21
I use these bits. The 1/32 bit is under .032 in diameter. They also are now making a .020 diameter bit. The prices is under $7 and these are industrial quality . They do the job in my shop .

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Thanks for the quick replies.

What sizes do you reach for the most?
Fine detail, routing out the back strip and such.

My dentist...all sterilized and nice in a little white envelope...no charge!

_________________
http://www.presnallguitars.com

Hey john .. might those be the ones that Dave Nichols uses as well . I got some fomr him with my inlay base and they are pretty good.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

yup

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I get all my small cutters from http://www.precisebits.com/

I use 1/32" cutters quite a bit, though the majority of my clients have inlays that require a 1/64" and so I use those most. I've also got a box of 0.01" cutters that I use on some special stuff. If you're running them in a CNC with low spindle runout and accurate feedrates, then the quality of the cutters from PreciseBits is worth the price many times over. If you're running them manually or in a higher runout situation, then they might not be worth it.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I agree Bob .. maybe its the manual routing that breaks them more often than the ones that Dave and John use .. I have both, and prefer the others over the precise bits .. I have yet to break one of those, but the first precise bits one lasted one inlay .. seem much more fragile (and they cost a lot more, especially to Canada .. they wont ship USPS, so you get the UPS fees .. ouch.)

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

They're really optimized for machine use, I think. I can run the same bit for hundreds of inlays; I've had one 1/64" cutter cut over sixty full fretboards worth of falling-leaf inlays (and I'm not sure how much more after that before it broke!). And they can cut much faster than other cutters, if used just right.

That said, it's a lot like using a glass tool: it's harder and sharper than anything else, but the tiniest slip destroys it.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services