Official Luthiers Forum!

I have found with most things in lutherie that the tools we use exist in other industries and are simply retitled/labeled for our use. I love finding the original tool/part/etc and saving a little money here and there. Recently I found cheaper reamers (juzek) at http://www.swstrings.com/ and cheaper heating blankets at http://www.omega.com/index.html.

Anyone else have any good finds lately?

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

I also appreciate our sponsors and how they tailor to our exact needs. This is not intended to discredit them.

I ordered a 6 x 36 heating blanket from omege for $85. I then ordered the controls I wanted from John Hall.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

I don't know about Omega but since I know nothing about heating blankets Omega's don't seem to have the right watt/square inch compared to LMI or others... and at least LMI's are correctly sized for the jobs intended (such as bridge removal).

The prices I have found at the site mentioned don't seem much cheaper (maybe 10% or so) and the risk of getting the wrong stuff as well as having to deal with that is just not worth it. As for reamers you get what you pay for. You can buy taper pin reamers for tuners but they don't cut wood that well compared to luthiery reamers because of their cutter design, so you end up with pentagon shaped holes rather than round holes. By the way Stewmac Endpin Jack reamer can be used for tuning pegs, I mean to fit/ream 10mm tuner holes from smaller vintage holes. I just wish it allowed a handle to be mounted (I tried drilling into the shank of the reamer so I could stick a handle to it, but the shank is hardened and impossible to drill) because using a drill is too fast.

Even a Juzek reamer is about 45 dollars which isn't really that much less than the equivalent from Stewmac or LMI. LMI has better prices for reamers than Stewmac by the way.

_________________
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

I think a big chunk of the specialty tools are essential and priced right. What gets me is that stewmac still invents tools that you could make in your own shop in like 10 seconds, like the classic Fret Slot Depth Gauge.

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Wow. This thread turned negative REAL fast. I was hoping to share some good finds on alternatives (not cheap knock offs) to help others save money while still getting quality tools.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Well you can make a fret bender in 10 minutes, and you can use a cheap triangular file to crown frets instead of expensive fret files, however I'm afraid there's no substitute for reamers. Grizzly sells some cheap reamers for around 10 dollars a piece but I'm told they are not even worth the shipping.

_________________
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

I've used Omega heat blankets for years in several applications including side bending, no problems. They come in different wattages BTW.
Thanks for the link on the reamers Chris.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Can you please link to the right one? Having never used a heat blanket before I'm not really sure which one is the right one... they have so many different kinds.

_________________
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

Tai, Here's a link to an omega heating blanket. It looks like LMi's blanket runs about 3 watts/sq in. Lmi's blanket also has a nice cord on it, the omega blanket just has leads. It's also a 1/4 wider and 1" shorter.

http://www.omega.com/pptst/SRFR_SRFG.html -SRFG-636

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I was thinking to make a solera for classicals, and wanted to dish it.
Rather than making or buying a convex plane for this, I sourced a Chinese wooden plane for modification from amazon here, http://www.amazon.com/Amico-Replaceable-Blade-Woodworking-Length/dp/B00A7851PE/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1375173842&sr=8-25&keywords=wooden+planer#productDetails
Seems fit for purpose.

_________________
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.

Great ideas.. thanks Filippo.

I can't tell you how many "Cheaper" alternatives that I have bought or rigged up... Only to have spent about 5x as much Money and Time trying to get them set up right.....

Perfect example... Grizzly pin reamers..... Oh.. Sure - the taper is right.. but the LENGTH isn't... so you end up with pins that stick up proud of the bridge by about 1/4"... I ended up running it all the way in, then wrapping it with sandpaper and doing a SECOND sizing on the hole.... and that's real fiddly - as you can push a bit too hard, then your pins wobble around... or your sandpaper clogs up and quits cutting.. Then you change it out and it cuts way too fast... Screwed! I did 2 guitars that way - wrecking about 3 bridges each time - before I bought a Stew Mac unit and NEVER looked back!!! Drill, ream, test fit, ream a bit more, test fit, DONE....

Another example... fretwire bending... Oh.. you hear "Fretwire benders are overpriced gimmicky things"... "Oh.. I bend it by hand".... "Oh, just use a scrap of wood"... I did 5 guitars without a fretwire bender... and ended up re-doing about half of the frets on each one because they weren't bent enough and the ends poked out or were crimped in 1 spot or whatever - and it stuck up there.... The fretwire bender IS money well spent!.

Gaged files for cutting nuts is another great example... I did the first 3 guitars with the Fine Nicholsen jeweler's files you get in the pack... You *Can* make it work... but it takes 40x longer and you ruin 3 or 4 nuts on each one getting it right... then you gotta pick *Exactly* the right spot on the file or the grooves are the wrong dimensions.... Got the gaged file pack.. Never looked back...

Now.. Don't get me wrong.. As you have read - I like to go cheap at first and then buy a tool once I realize I really need it.... Here's one... I have tried out those "Fretwire Radius" dressing files - and HATE them... They never do what I want... Give me the triangle file and fine sandpaper any day...

and so far, I have built all my own bending forms out of Plywood and scraps... which - while less accurate than a Proper Bending Form... It's also about $300 less....

Thanks

Instead of buying the special fret tang nipper, you can buy a plier like this:


It is made for cutting metal, it is called a nibbler I think (pardon my english), and with a dremel tool and a small bit you can modify it and make your own fret tang nipper for 10$!

Q.

Yup; the fret tang nipper is a nibbler with a groove in the anvil. The suppliers do a much better job on that groove than I could do...

I've used a feeler gauge for slotting nuts for years. You just use a diamond jewelers file to sharpen the leaves into saws, and you're ready to go. I suspect you could do the whole bunch a once by clamping them all together and using a jewelers saw.

Sometimes the cheap tools are worth using, and sometimes not...