Members dogfish Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 I am working on learning how to do a set-up of my own. I got a great book, Dan Erlewine's How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great (highly recommended), and one of the points it makes is, first thing, determine whether your guitar's neck is straight. You can put a straight edge across the frets, but you really want to measure the neck, not the tops of the frets. Stewmac sells a nice notched straight edge for $72 (!), which seems like a reasonable price for a full-time luthier, but not for me, not for occasional use. So the question for me was how I could get the same effect for less. At Home Depot today I was poking around the levels and rulers and saw a $2.97 metal yardstick hanging on the wall. I remembered the nibbler no, wait, I mean nibbler that I had bought when I was wiring up a tube amp and needed to modify the sheet metal case. I bought the yardstick, brought it home, laid it against the fingerboard, and got out a Sharpie and marked off the frets. A couple of minutes with the nibbler (and a hacksaw to cut it down to about 19") and, as the French say, ta daaah! $3 for the yardstick, plus tools on hand (a $13 nibbler and a $2 Sharpie) -- much better than $72! And hey, if you're all thumbs, I'd be happy to hand-craft one for you, only $29.95 plus shipping. (Although if you're all thumbs you probably don't need one of these.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McCain Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 :thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 It looks like the nibbler leaves distorted metal behind. You might want flatten the points down with a file. Great DIY idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dogfish Posted November 21, 2010 Author Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 It looks like the nibbler leaves distorted metal behind. You might want flatten the points down with a file. Great DIY idea! It's not optically flat, certainly, but it's not bad at all. I think what you might be noticing is the plastic (cellophane?) cover on the metal. It's easiest to see in the left-hand notch on the 2nd pic. But you're right, a little filing wouldn't be out of place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 Looks like it works good. Now straight'en that neck out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JohnLucente Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 side note: when you're setting up the guitar, don't you want a very slight bend in the neck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 side note: when you're setting up the guitar, don't you want a very slight bend in the neck? My understanding is that you use the truss rod to adjust board so it's flat and then level the frets. Then with the fret tops and board parallel you add in the relief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jshannon59 Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 side note: when you're setting up the guitar, don't you want a very slight bend in the neck? you want to straighten the neck, then do your fret leveling, and restring and then put your relief back into the neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jshannon59 Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 My understanding is that you use the truss rod to adjust board so it's flat and then level the frets. Then with the fret tops and board parallel you add in the relief. sorry, you beat me to it. But I did the exact same thing with a strightedge. alot cheaper than the stew-mac straightedge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted November 21, 2010 Members Share Posted November 21, 2010 sorry, you beat me to it. But I did the exact same thing with a strightedge. alot cheaper than the stew-mac straightedge. Brilliant minds thinking alike.......nothing wrong with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Just A Box Posted November 22, 2010 Members Share Posted November 22, 2010 You're off to a great start with that book. Dan Erlewine is a true Yoda. The more work you do on your own guitars or those of your friends, the more you;ll appreciate the increased accuracy of the more professional and more expensive tools. Good job making your own though, as you may be aware that many of the tools Dan & Don use in the Stew mac shop are self designed or existing tools that were modified for a specific purpose in the shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rocky_IV Posted November 22, 2010 Members Share Posted November 22, 2010 Hey guys, been reading here for a short while, great forum BTW, thought I'd toss in my 2 cents on this one. I was going to pull the trigger on the stew mac version when I found this on eBay, I got one and they work great. As someone mentioned above, finding out if the neck itself is really straight helped me get my LP set up quick and easy. http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290494884573&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT It's just too bad the seller doesn't do both sides (Fender and Gibby scale) on one rule like Stew Mac does, but what do you want for $19.95 Anyway, hello and thanks for all the info out there on this site, R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steadfastly Posted November 22, 2010 Members Share Posted November 22, 2010 I am working on learning how to do a set-up of my own. I got a great book, Dan Erlewine's How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great (highly recommended), and one of the points it makes is, first thing, determine whether your guitar's neck is straight. You can put a straight edge across the frets, but you really want to measure the neck, not the tops of the frets. Stewmac sells a nice notched straight edge for $72 (!), which seems like a reasonable price for a full-time luthier, but not for me, not for occasional use. So the question for me was how I could get the same effect for less. At Home Depot today I was poking around the levels and rulers and saw a $2.97 metal yardstick hanging on the wall. I remembered the nibbler no, wait, I mean nibbler that I had bought when I was wiring up a tube amp and needed to modify the sheet metal case. I bought the yardstick, brought it home, laid it against the fingerboard, and got out a Sharpie and marked off the frets. A couple of minutes with the nibbler (and a hacksaw to cut it down to about 19") and, as the French say, ta daaah! $3 for the yardstick, plus tools on hand (a $13 nibbler and a $2 Sharpie) -- much better than $72! And hey, if you're all thumbs, I'd be happy to hand-craft one for you, only $29.95 plus shipping. (Although if you're all thumbs you probably don't need one of these.) I appreciate seeing such a sharp and practical mind at work. That was a real case of problem solving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted November 22, 2010 Members Share Posted November 22, 2010 Hey guys, been reading here for a short while, great forum BTW, thought I'd toss in my 2 cents on this one. I was going to pull the trigger on the stew mac version when I found this on eBay, I got one and they work great. As someone mentioned above, finding out if the neck itself is really straight helped me get my LP set up quick and easy. http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290494884573&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT It's just too bad the seller doesn't do both sides (Fender and Gibby scale) on one rule like Stew Mac does, but what do you want for $19.95 Anyway, hello and thanks for all the info out there on this site, R Welcome Rocky Great first post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HumanFuseBen Posted November 22, 2010 Members Share Posted November 22, 2010 awesome idea! thanks man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members atrox Posted November 22, 2010 Members Share Posted November 22, 2010 I don't buy into the notched straight-edge thing. It will work, just not needed. Buy a nice flat straight edge and you'll be fine and you'll get the exact same result. I know this because I have been doing this stuff for years and have never needed a notched straight edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.