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So what tools do you really need?


LucSulla

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I would like to be able to do a couple of things with my guitars I cannot do either professionally or at all.  For what I spend to get it done, I feel investing in the tools to do it would yield a return pretty quickly, however, luthiers tools run from cheap to ridiculous.  Additionally, where I live means at least a 90 min. drive if I'm taking it to someone that knows what the hell they are doing any better than me. While I'm pretty sure cheap isn't the way to go, I'm not sure I want to spend $1k either. 

Here's what I would like to do:

  • Slot a nut properly 
  • Level, crown, and dress frets

Any suggestions on what to get to be able to do this level of guitar maintenance? 

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  • nut file set
  • nut slotting gauge
  • nut slotting saw
  • radius gauge
  • nut shelf files
  • fret leveling bar
  • radius blocks
  • fret crowning tool

You will need some patience, too. 

Some days I think it would be good to sell off my tools because you have to regularly use them to be good with them, just like your playing skills have to be kept up. 

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Feeler_Gauges.jpg

 

It's interesting that in this photo, from the StewMac online store, they're doing it wrong.

1.the file isn't angled down toward the back of the nut to maintain an edge at the front

2. it doesn't look like he's cutting a proper string angle across the nut to account for the string break away from the center line toward the tuner

3. you need to remove the feeler gauges from the holder so they lie flat against each other - note the big gap at the top of the photo

4. you need to press down to curve the feeler gauges to match the fingerboard and fret radius - otherwise you get higher than optimal slots as you move toward the edges .  Stew Mac even sells a gadget to do this for you:

StewMac_Safe_Slot_Nut_Guard.jpg

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In addition to needing proper tooling, start stockpiling pawn shop and CL beaters now to serve as guinea pigs/crash test dummies.

DO NOT do ANY fretwork - not even LCPs - on your nice guitars until you have AT LEAST a half dozen experiences under your belt on the cheap shit beaters. Without walking through each step early in the game with an experienced teacher helping you, you will get less than desirable results early in the game. I promise you. Every situation is different, every neck is different.

I can not tell you how much work I get because some guy amassed "correct" tools, watched an afternoon of YouTube videos and learned just enough to bolster a sense of false confidence, and subsequently create more, more complex and more expensive to correct problems in the process. Read that sentence again. You will make mistakes early in the game. Make them on planks.

Start with nut fabrication as your target task and your tooling acquisition list because that's cheap and easy to correct - if you botch it, you grab a new blank, or you remove the old one and start over. I don't care how good your tools and lighting and headset magnifiers are, nor how good your eyes, hands, mind and instincts are ... it will take at least a dozen nut fabs under your belt to get you where you can consistently produce good nuts. "At least a dozen" being the key words. That applies to frets too. And you will learn your own tricks, which tools you prefer, which methods you prefer. I have never used feeler gauges to slot a nut. I don't need or want to - I have my own way that I feel works great. :)

I use the red-handled nut files from StewMac (nut slotting files, nut shaping files, nut seating files). I use the red-handled gauged saw to start my slots and that ruler-looking nut slot spacer rule. That's basically what they call their essential nut making tool set. Also get a set of their micromesh soft touch pads to polish out a bone nut after it's cut and slotted. That's the difference visually between "good" and "bad ass."  Get plenty of low-tack painter's tape too. Heavily mask the face of the headstock and the first few frets of the fingerboard to protect from random "oops" marks from the file tips. Plan also to get cheap ass throw-away strings in your preferred gauge. The tuning-detuning back-and-forth of cut a little, test, cut a little, test, will compromise and break strings mid-process.

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