LMI Heating Blankets Vs Stew Mac Bridge Heater and Fingerboard Iron

[Cyrus Comiskey]

Hi Guys,

 I was wondering what peoples opinions are regarding the LMI Heating Blankets and the Stew Mac Bridge Heater and Fingerboard Iron. The Stew Mac System is definitely the cheaper of the two, but I wouldn't be opposed to shelling out the extra $ if it really is that much better. Thanks!

[FRANK]

the lmii stuff works great that's all I know, it comes with a dimmer /timer that work good no problems with Lmii blankets and the one for the bridge is good also .so I don't have any opinion on stew mac but there stuff has never Failed me either happy shopping ...

[Chris Rochow]

I have StewMacs.... it's good. I use a 'glue pot' heater purchased at the local craft store. (less than $10)

[Bob Steinarsson]

Don Teeter recommends a normal houshold iron for fret removal in his book. He says that the frets help the transfer of the heat through the board. I have used an iron for both removal of fretboards and for straightening warped necks, with and without frets, with great success. I would, however, prefer to heat bound necks with the frets on to prevent the hot iron from touching the binding. Frets is of course a must on boards with plastic inlays.

[FRANK]

I purchased a 80 watt weller cut a fret grove through the center and has served well with frets and removal.

I have also found that for finger boards to run leds under neath ill flip the neck over on to my Lmii side bending blanket making a truss rod adjustment to get the maximum surface area heat it for 10 minutes... Find an opening pushing steam and a modified putty knife through O and I really like pushing a floor scraper razor through to seperate anything that needs to be removed .

Hey Don my friends back in the day would use those house hold Irons for Tattoo Removal FYI my kids ever come home Tatted O my .

Yo Cyrus I would also invest In something Steam like a Cappuccino Machine good conversation piece to chat with amongst friends and customers to then also convert it to good Luthier use I mean dual use .so just looking to do 1 finger board I d say watch your money if your looking for a Competition shoot out between Lmii and stew mac buy them both give both an equal shot but i will say both companies are top notch Ive never had any issues with any tools if it were me again id be looking at how I would use each one and with what frequency will you use it and if you can help it buy the one that will suit you best for as long as possible just out of curiosity any one know with out looking what the price difference would be US.  

[Bob Steinarsson]

Sorry, there is a word in my text which is not complete: The first sentence should focus on fretboard removal and not fret removal. The rest of the text should, however, make my point clear.

[nathan clark]

I've settled on the LMI system for bridge reglues.  It took a little getting used to but it works fine.  Much easier to deal with than a heat lamp and works a lot better than I could ever get the s.m. iron to perform.

[Paul Breen]

I make my own heating irons from scrap Aluminum that I buy from a local machine shop. I get 1/2" or 3/4" thick material and cut the shapes I need on my band saw. The blocks are heated up on a cheap hot plate and the temperature is monitored with a contact thermometer I bought from Stew Mac. Some of the shapes can double as clamping cauls when you re-assemble. It is easy to make custom heating irons for about any application this way.

 

Here is a picture of one for a Gibson J160E bridge iron heating up.

And in use. This one doubled as a clamping caul.

 

 

I beat a curve into this one for Martin bridges. I don't have a picture but I also made small squares to heat the bridge wings.

[Cyrus Comiskey]

Great guys! Thanks for all the info, this has given me a lot of info to think about. Paul, thanks for the pictures of your Heating Irons/Cauls. That's a great idea. Cheers!