Are neck jigs necessary?

[Dave Yelverton]

Can someone enlighten me? In my woeful ignorance, I've been doing fret jobs and setups for over 30 years WITHOUT a neck jig! Despite the fact that I have never had a dissatisfied customer, I have been told that I cannot perform a PERFECT fret job without paying Stew-Mac £230 + postage for four bits of wood, a few screws and a couple of dial gauges ....and a further £60 to British Customs, which I would bitterly resent! I know William Cumpiano is slightly scathing about neck jigs, I don't know what Frank Ford uses, but I don't think I have seen it mentioned in his pages.
The only advantage I can see is the "WOW!" factor, when the customer walks in the shop and thinks. "this guy's really hi-tec!". It pays to generate mystique!
Anyone care to set me straight?

[William F.Eden]

Keep your money in your pocket & keep doing what you have been Dave. If you like the Jig take a picture of it and tell your Customers this is how I set up your Guitar . Bill.""""""""""""""""""

[Bob Webster]

I side with Bill. I'm always looking for better, quicker, surer ways of doing things and, every once in a great while, I fall prey to JIG ENVY. If you're still thinking about getting one of these in a few days, tell us. and Bill and I will organized an intervention. Just keep up the good work.

Bob

[Dave Yelverton]

Know what you mean, Bob! I gues if I'd bought every jig I 'needed' I could wave goodbye to any profit margin!
As I see it, there are only two reasons for using a jig, accuracy and speed. I'm a great browser of catalogues, but usually for ideas..I've copied quite a few ides for jigs and tools and made them myself for a fraction of the price, but only where I see an absolute necessity for them. I can't see any difficulty in making a reasonable facsimile of a neck jig, but until now I haven't seen the need. But can anyone tell me in all honesty that it does a better job? or even that it does what it says? To simulate string tension, forces are applied at right angles to the neck, yet the string tension force operates at a few degrees from the fingerboard, exerting mostly compression on the neck with a small turning moment at the nut. How accurate can this 'simulation' be?

[Cliff Morris]

You could really impress your customers with your hi-tech savvy and send it out to have it PLEKed......Ah yeah, another overkill way to use a computer for something that can be done easier and less expensive the old way. Then again maybe I'm just a dinosaur.

[Dave Yelverton]

Fascinating! Just had a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG4BOLlKOb4

It's a definite must-have ! So, let me see, if I did 2 full setups a day for a 5 day working week, let's say 2 weeks off for holidays, how many years would it take to break even on my investment?

I suppose it's good for achieving a quick an accurate initial setup when the guitar is new but 6 months down the line the guitar's going to need setting up again

[Harry Spring]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess it's the perfect device for someone needing to do several hundred setups a day. Kinda makes me feel like a caveman with olny my files, sanding blocks and a little steel wool.

[Fred Riggen]

Neck Jig tutorial with pic's
If anyone is interested here is a file I downloaded a few years ago. I never built it. At 68yrs old teach an old dog new tricks ??? Fred Riggen

[Jeffrey L. Suits]

No. The whole thing is overfussing.

Reading the back of the neck, to see what's going on with the fingerboard? Re-read Don Teeters' books.

I level with U-stock & PSA sandpaper, strings on, fingerboard as flat as it'll get.

Don't EVEN get me started, on, "plek"!

[Cliff Morris]

Really? I'd love to hear your opinion on PLEC or PLEK or whatever the correct way is. I have sort of a one article promoting it understanding of the process but I'm very suspicious of hi tech solutions to old tech problems.

[Jeffrey L. Suits]

Easy: Expensive, high-tech guitar repair snake oil.

[Dave Yelverton]

Thanks to everybody for your opinions. Mostly my own feelings are confirmed, but I would have been interested to have heard from someone who used neck jigs and had positive experiences to report so that I had a balance.

Thanks also to Fred. The Matt Vinson link was very helpful; I may just build one as relatively cheap experiment. I could always re-use the dial indicators on other jigs if I decide to junk it!.
Jeffrey, I had been meaning for a long while to get Don Teeter's book on acoustic guitar maintenance, so I appreciate you giving me the impetus to get off my butt and order it!
The reason I am so concerned with this issue, which never troubled me before, is that a new guy has set up in town, offering 'super-accurate' setups with the aid of this jig. Whilst I have no worries about the loyalty of my current customers, this guy's advertising puts him in direct competition for new customers, especially the more tech-minded!

[Bob Webster]

God, don't you just hate disruptive technology?

Bob