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Thread: Nut file sizes

  1. #26
    Adrian Minarovic
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, Europe
    Posts
    3,461

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    Just for info. I do own 0 (zero) specialty luthier tools. I made all my mandolins using standard HW store tools or with tools I completely made or modified from common items. I don't have power sander or bandsaw, just old hand drill and barely working dremel knockoff that I mostly use to offcut small metal items. I also have old crappy electric jigsaw that I can't remember when I last used it, it just vibrates too much for any good work.
    Adrian

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  3. #27
    Teacher, repair person
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
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    Southeast Tennessee
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    4,078

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    Well, Strad didn't have no belt sander either.

    But when I changed houses and was able to set up some real shop space rather than working on the kitchen counter, I wasn't sorry when I purchased a belt sander and a drill press from Harbor Freight for $100 apiece. Both tools have saved me a lot of time and made life in the shop easier. The drill press doubles as a spindle sander and a bridge slot router. I still don't have a bandsaw, and probably will continue to live without it.

    My shop has always been primitive by many people's standards, and I avoid specialty tools unless I feel that they are necessary for doing a job right. But I have accumulated a few, mostly for slotting nuts, fret work, and clamps for working through guitar sound holes.

    I still use my now worn-out Grobet joint files for nut slots, but after 30 - 40 years of use I may break down and replace them. If I do, I'll either get the Stew-mac double-edge nut files because I know they work well, but I'll curse the price; or get the Warmoth set, save some money, and hope that they are nearly the same quality.

    Other specialty tools I have bought:

    I bought a set of Herco deep-throat bridge clamps and had the rather flimsy threads wear out on two of them. I replaced them with some of Stew-mac's deep-throat clamps and am glad I bought them before they got too expensive. I also have a few turnbuckle style brace jacks.

    I bought an old-fashioned double sided fret crowning file 40 years ago for $5 new. It's about worn out, and I'll replace it with a similar one. I also use a Gurian crowning file with an angled handle and interchangeable burrs.

    A set of fret tang nippers has proved invaluable, and as far as I am concerned, paid for itself in saved labor time the first time I used it. The tang crimpers, though expensive, have also proved invaluable for time saved on soft old worn-out rosewood fingerboards. And the high grade end cutters were a great improvement over the home-made version I started out with, which kept chipping.

    A mistake was the 1/4 round crowning file, which was a disappointment. It turned out to just be an example of "the latest and greatest," which it wasn't. It does occasionally come in useful on bar frets, but if it disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't miss it at all. Since then, I've avoided the crowning file of the year.

    Three 12" long radiused sanding blocks have come in useful. I have them in 12", 16", and 20" radiuses. They too have gotten expensive. I'm glad I bought them when they were 10 or 12 bucks.

    I have two other specialty tools: Stew-mac's neck-removal jig, and their saddle slotting jig. I could have made the neck jig myself, but I bought it back when the price was lower. The saddle slotting jig replaced a home-made version and is worth the money if you work on a lot of Martin flat-top guitars.

    I also have an adjustable peg shaver and a few soundpost setters for violin family work.

    I've made a lot of clamping cauls and sanding blocks over the years. I bought violin spool clamps when they were a couple of bucks apiece. When I needed a set for guitar, I made them from scratch.

    Some people would consider that to be a lot of specialty tools, but compared to a lot of shops I've seen, it's a pretty modest collection. Everything has been used enough to pay for itself many times over except for that quarter round fret file.
    Last edited by rcc56; Jan-21-2022 at 2:48am.

  4. #28
    Adrian Minarovic
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, Europe
    Posts
    3,461

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    Here are some of my "specialty tools"... I hope I match the order.
    -purfling/binding cutter (I've got also older ugly version)
    -lathe
    -peg shaver (the hose is connected to handdrill)
    -router (cutting the concave rounded bevels of bridge bases)
    -"beltsander"
    -neck setting jigs
    -various small tools (that is pic from years ago, I accumulated more by now)
    -thumbplane (I made more planes than just this one)
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    Last edited by HoGo; Jan-21-2022 at 4:42am.
    Adrian

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  6. #29

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    Aaaaaaay, what can I say? What can I do? I got a lot going on and sometimes I overlook some things. Aaaaaaay.

  7. #30

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    That was mentioned and briefly explained in the second reply to your original post.
    Aaaaaaay, what can I say? What can I do? I got a lot going on and sometimes I overlook some things. Aaaaaaay.

  8. #31

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    I don't mind spending 💰 on quality stuff but I have to be able to afford it at the time. life/the universe/everything has been throwing me some costly curve balls lately. I used some graphite and a set of gauges that I picked up for$4.99 out the door. I've been playing on it for a while and it seems like it never had an issue. The slot definitely was too tight. I appreciate everyone's help and patience with me. I can be a little dense and slow on the uptake, but I do thank y'all for perspective and advice.

    Cheers,
    -B.

  9. #32
    Registered User bpatrick's Avatar
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    Jan 2017
    Location
    Conway, Arkansas
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    101

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    James, thanks for the clarification.

    I get the modification thing. I have made and modified many tools to suit my needs. I also have a Stew Mac fret tang nipper - aka Klein Tools sheet metal nibbler. I bought it years ago and then slipped the heat shrink off the handle to expose its true origin. A very slightly modified nibbler. Klein Tools no longer makes this model, but Stew Mac sells a similar version for $61. The Amazon equivalent is around $15 and 15 minutes of modification.
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    Bryan Patrick

  10. #33

    Default Re: Nut file sizes

    Quote Originally Posted by bpatrick View Post
    James, thanks for the clarification.

    I get the modification thing. I have made and modified many tools to suit my needs. I also have a Stew Mac fret tang nipper - aka Klein Tools sheet metal nibbler. I bought it years ago and then slipped the heat shrink off the handle to expose its true origin. A very slightly modified nibbler. Klein Tools no longer makes this model, but Stew Mac sells a similar version for $61. The Amazon equivalent is around $15 and 15 minutes of modification.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    (Long!)
    A foot in several camps here. An antique technology buff, and tool accumulator/user with an enjoyment of make-do that often looks like being really frugal, I also was a specialized manufacturer in a business that required endless jig-making, tool making and design, often for one-shot jobs. Just today on the phone with the one-man machine shop that coincidentally used to make all the Dampits up to some falling out. (Money I think, but I never asked.) I have a good picture of what it takes to make and market low volume products. It’s not only expensive, but unpredictable and prone to the cardinal sin of having inventory. So small guys feed product to a catalog house like S-M, not knowing how many items will never sell, will be undercut by someone in China, or just turn out to be a warranty disaster. A $20 hand tool, bought retail, again in small volume, with a trivial mod, like a rebrand or some alteration, turns into a $60 tool and still loses money.

    Obviously, hand-building instruments, often custom, requiring a high level of several skills, in a market with plenty of competition, is not profitable in the industrial sense, and does not justify even the tool investment of contemporary one-man machine or even carpentry shops. An exact copy of a Rogue, that might wholesale for $50, in the luthier environment, would have to sell for at least ten times the retail, even if no better in any aspects.
    So one has to be skilled, frugal, a good salesperson, have a low cost shop, good health, and, I think, a nice bench. Easy job description?

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