CTN
The Drama Dude
Some time back I went and decided that I should probably get some tools for nut-work and detailing and such.
I got on eBay and ordered like 30 bucks worth of parts.
A set of jeweller's magnifying eyeglasses w/ LED lighting, and two sets of needle files, all with various profiles (one set of really tiny files, and one slightly bigger). Like I said, I've mostly used it for nut-work. Looking really closely at the nut slots and smoothing out grooves, getting rid of tiny burrs and such. Around the same time I got a dremel rotary tool.
Well, the other day I decided that I wanted to take off the Graphtech string saver saddles off my '62RI strat and put the original bent steel ones back on. So I dug 'em outta ye olde parts box, and had a look at them up close. They weren't in BAD shape, but there was some rust, some of the saddles had some serious grooves in the top of the steel from the higher strings, some had multiple side-by-side grooves, and just about all of them had smaller grooves in the slots where the strings emerge from the trem block. The height adjustment bolts were grimy as hell, too.
I basically went about filing down the small grooves, grinding the large ones, and then smoothing and polishing the steel with the dremel, and checking it REALLY up close and personal with the jeweller's glasses all the way through. Also let the height adjustment screws sit in a few millimeters of a degreaser solvent to clean them up and get rid of the grime.
I realized that those files and those glasses, along with my dremel, are pretty much some of the cheapest, most versatile, and some of the most invaluable tools in my kit. being able to get really close to those critical points of the nut and the saddles and having learned up the info and how-to of dialing in the nut and getting the saddles to function as they are designed. That stuff, to me, is hugely important, and having the right tools makes all the difference in being able to get that stuff done right.
My next purchase in the similar vein is going to be a set of proper gauged nut files and some fret files for crowning, and such, so I can start doing my own fretwork.
You guys have anything that are basically shop favourites?
I got on eBay and ordered like 30 bucks worth of parts.
A set of jeweller's magnifying eyeglasses w/ LED lighting, and two sets of needle files, all with various profiles (one set of really tiny files, and one slightly bigger). Like I said, I've mostly used it for nut-work. Looking really closely at the nut slots and smoothing out grooves, getting rid of tiny burrs and such. Around the same time I got a dremel rotary tool.
Well, the other day I decided that I wanted to take off the Graphtech string saver saddles off my '62RI strat and put the original bent steel ones back on. So I dug 'em outta ye olde parts box, and had a look at them up close. They weren't in BAD shape, but there was some rust, some of the saddles had some serious grooves in the top of the steel from the higher strings, some had multiple side-by-side grooves, and just about all of them had smaller grooves in the slots where the strings emerge from the trem block. The height adjustment bolts were grimy as hell, too.
I basically went about filing down the small grooves, grinding the large ones, and then smoothing and polishing the steel with the dremel, and checking it REALLY up close and personal with the jeweller's glasses all the way through. Also let the height adjustment screws sit in a few millimeters of a degreaser solvent to clean them up and get rid of the grime.
I realized that those files and those glasses, along with my dremel, are pretty much some of the cheapest, most versatile, and some of the most invaluable tools in my kit. being able to get really close to those critical points of the nut and the saddles and having learned up the info and how-to of dialing in the nut and getting the saddles to function as they are designed. That stuff, to me, is hugely important, and having the right tools makes all the difference in being able to get that stuff done right.
My next purchase in the similar vein is going to be a set of proper gauged nut files and some fret files for crowning, and such, so I can start doing my own fretwork.
You guys have anything that are basically shop favourites?
