Buying the important tools and straightedges

[Luke Single]

        Hi I am a new Luithier and I am starting to buy some more expensive and quality tools to do more precise work. There are a lot of tools out there in different price ranges but I have been burned on going cheaper just to find out that I need the more quality one anyway, So I am here to ask advice... What to stay away from? What to pick up? I have standard tools Bench grinder, disc sander, band saw, Nut files, stain, laquor, knives, spatulas, repair vise, clamps, mirrors, ect. What tools do I absolutly need that may be a little pricier ie, fret bender, arbor press, capaccino machine for steaming necks, anything that I should just get instead of trying to make due using traditional methods.

       I am looking at buying a notched straightedge. I think I need one but I'm not sure. Stew macs is 80 bucks but GMI has one for 28 bucks shipped on Ebay but it appears that stew macs is more versitile than GMI's. It appears that you would have to buy two, three,or even four different notched straightedges to equal stewmacs one. Does any one have any experience? I have a guitar that has some buzzing in random spots and the frets appear to be level. I did a full fret dress and crown and it is still buzzing. I have raised the action and it gets better but still some buzzing, I am thinking it has a warped board. So I figured a notched straightedge would be good to tell if it is warped. Any thoughts? 

 

Here are links to the striaghtedges:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Straightedges/Notched_Straight_Ed...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=Notc...

 

Thanks! I knows its a long vague post.

[Mark Pollock]

A warped board won't cause buzzing if the frets are level, so time to checks the frets again, and perhaps time to adjust the truss rod.

For a notched straightedge, you can get a drafting ruler, and cut notches in it with a bandsaw. Much cheaper, and you can make all the custom sizes you need. For us beginners, our time is not as valuable, and we can afford to make a lot of our tools.

[Kerry Krishna]

Mark, I have done exactly what you just said with a quality thick plastic straightedge. Works for several different scale lengths too, as a matter of fact, I have yet to find a fretboard that I can't use it on. 

[Frank Ford]

Always remember that bottom line, and follow the money.  If somebody is selling something and telling  you that you need it, there's the obvious profit motive.  (That includes me, too, with Jack the Gripper, and the now discontinued fret expander pliers.) For some of us who started in this business before the luthier tool and supply guys, it comes as second nature to make and modify our own tools. For example, the fret pulling pliers - with no equipment other than a few sheets of silicon carbide sandpaper, you can make your own in a few minutes by grinding the faces flat.

If you read through my refretting articles, you can see the tools I use for all my fret work - four decades worth.  I, for one, have no need or use for most of the tools "they" tell me I need.  I've never used a notched straightedge for anything. I've never used a radius sanding block for anything, either.

As with playing guitar, its NOT the tools, it's the TECHNIQUE.  Practice is what it's all about. . .

[Mike Kolb]

Tools... they can become an obsession that gets in the way of doing good work.  Years ago, when I was earning a pretty good living as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, I went overboard on TAS ("tool acquisition syndrome") and purchased accordingly. It's since become apparent that it's generally the skill of the carpenter and not the cost of his hammer. 

Sure, it's nice to have what you need when you need it, but here's an example to the contrary: I've had an electric glue pot for 15yrs... and it's never once been used... pristine as the day it was made. No need for it.  I make-up hide glue in little batches as required.

So tread the tool path gingerly. Evaluate, determine what you need, buy as required.  Make them when you can, save your money for somebody's birthday!  

[nathan clark]

I suggest that you buy a large granite surface plate. Something very flat meant for checking flatness in a machine shop or laboratory. I picked one up that's 20" x 2' used from a company that manufactures atitude control systems for satelites. I use it for all sorts of tasks that involve sanding something flat or checking for flatness. I've also used it to make many notched straight edges for fretwork: different scale lengths and different lengths for checking the first 12 fret positions. Aluminum yard sticks from the blue home improvement store (they are painted yellow) are perfect for this.

You can also make your own flat sanding beams with 2 inch hollow bar stock (cheap and plentiful at welding supply places).

As I've gotten further into my career fixing guitars I've found myself making only the tools I can't simply buy, but in the beginning I made all sorts of tools and that would have been much easier and the tools better if I had a large very flat surface to use as a reference.

I also highly recommend the fret pressing tools stew mac sells, their diamond crownig files, long radius aluminum sanding beams and the erlewine neck jig.

[Mark Pollock]

cutoffs from a Corian countertop or granite countertop company aren't as dead flat, but just about as useful. I have a couple of Corian samples that just sit in my garage with different grits of sandpaper adhered to them all the time. 

To check for basic flatness - take two flat surfaces, say, two levels or rulers, put them against each other, then rotate one 180 degrees and see if they still are flat against each other. It's a little tougher with plane surfaces, but once you have a good straightedge, you should be able to check it out. 

[Hesh Breakstone]

Early on in my guitar building adventure... I was keen to attempt to purchase lots of tools too.  What I found out along the way is that much of the early purchases were not suitable for what I wanted to do and sadly were a waste of money too...  

Regardless of if your interest is building or repair my suggestion to you is to get em as you need em and along the way.  Keep reading the forums, visiting other Luthiers when you have an opportunity to do so and in time you will adopt your own methodologies for the operations that we do.

For example some builders are fairly table-saw-centric in their approach to building while others, me included, have long since nixed the table saw in favor of a beast of a bandsaw.  There is no right or wrong but there will be in short order your own preferential way of performing the tasks that you do.  You will arrive at what works for you and what will result is a list of sorts of the tools that you need to do things as you do them.

Also early on I spent a lot of time in big box stores thinking that I could use this or that or this other thing for my building and likely half the time those purchases because useless relics cast off to likely never be used again.

The point is that it's easy to waste money in the pursuit of Lutherie..... an understatement.  What's helpful though is to learn all that you can from others AND pay attention to the standards that they hold dear, or not AND the results that they obtain.  When you see a great method that provides excellent results adopt it as you will as your own method until, of course, you come up with a better in your view way to do things.

People often ask me or us how we do this or that and the answer is invariably "this is what we are doing at present and it's always subject to change..."  Point being that working Luthiers and how we work is very much a process that evolves over time, or it most certainly has for me..., and methods change, ideas occur, experimentation happens, and consequentially the tools that we use also change and morph over time.

As Frank very rightly suggested much of the stuff that we use and this is especially true for me is stuff that we make or modify for our uses.  Simple things such as a shop made fret end file (complete with BRW handle...) may become some of your own prized tools some day.  But you can't buy this anywhere including at Stew-Mac.  We have to make em which is also an opportunity of sorts to make em as we wish including with a BRW handle....;)

As a traveling Luthier who for a while worked out of two different shops I took my tools with me every day.  Store bought stuff included micrometers and calipers but shop-made stuff dominated my case and these days I would be lost without this stuff.

If it were me doing this all over and I wanted to spend some coin in an effort to advance my learning instead of purchasing tools in advance of the learning I would spend my money on the learning itself.  Once you know more, and there is ALWAYS more to learn no matter how long someone has been doing this... you will be in a far better position to know where your cash is best spent and why.

Best of luck to you, Luke!

[Thomas James]

Great topic and posts. All I can add is that eBay is a blessing! I have bought a few tools that were high cost and realized I could duplicate them. Those Don Teeter books must have a dozen homemade tools that are now sold in catalogs.

Also, I gotta say I love Frank's "Fret Tang Removal" tool. Worth every penny!

[Russell Vance]

This topic, as they say around here always tends to "draw the flies".   But, a little discussion shows that depending on what you do dictates what you need.

If you are an experienced repairman and have a natural aptitude and a good eye I expect you may not benefit from a tool that acts as a shortcut to good judgement and experience.   Our very own revered Frank Ford, a master at all things in our trade is firmly in this category and stresses the need to develop technique - this is indisputable - true to all.

Whereas, if one is involved in day to day production and simple quality assurance questions such as how flat are our fingerboards once installed a tool like a notched straight edge (which also acts as a precision straight edge on the original part of the edge) is invaluable - very easy to use even with relatively little experience. 

So, a tool which is of little use to a repair-guy or an experienced technician with a straight eye may be very valuable in use by a production manager or QA dude. 

On cost:   eighty bucks is expensive if you don't use the tool - it's not expensive if you use it all the time.   Similarly, its a precision straight edge as well and they come in handy as most of us will know.   

Further,  part of the expense of the tool  in question is that they are precision ground stainless steel.   You are paying for longevity and precision.   Once again, as has been clearly detailed - you can build your own if you wish out of less durable and less stable material and providing it is light duty or infrequent work that will be fine also.  

If you are not getting paid by the hour this tool making is fine and an enjoyable thing - if you don't get paid when you are whittling tools you may be better off just buying the more cost-effective commercial tool.

Occasionally, how we see things depends on where we sit or stand - we start with three cornered fret files and sandpaper and we may end with a Plek machine or settle somewhere in between.   As long as it happens for the right reasons it's useful to take the time to talk about the whys and wherefores and the cost-effectiveness.

Waxing philosophically yours,

Rusty.

  

[John]

Everything Frank said

[Luke Single]

Thanks everyone. You all have helpful advice. I appreciate your wiliness to help a new guy. I don't know how you guys got started without the help of the Internet.

[Paul Verticchio]

Luke...

You know how we talk about the mistakes we made in the past (when starting out...or just yesterday)?  That's how we got along without the web.

When I first got into repair work, there were only 2 'guides' on the market: The Guitar Player Repair Guide [$2] and Fretted Instrument Repair [$1] from the some manufacturing organization (G.A.M.A.?).  Both were about 15 pages and gave me just enough info to do things 'almost right' (due to lack of details) for a couple of years.

The great thing about THIS forum is the way it's beneficial to everyone, at every skill level. After 40+ years, I learn something new, or a better way to remedy a problem, all the time.

Have a GREAT weekend ;)