Frankenbackpacker

[WGTroutman]

So I'm going to sell my electric guitar and amp and with some of the funds I'm going to get some supplies and use my Martin backpacker as the test dummy. I was thinking about the stewmack guitar shop shopvstarter kit:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/To...arter_Kit.html

Its no cheaper than buying the kits seperately, but I get free calipers.

I want to:

Replace the plastic nut.

Radius the fret board.

Put in jumbo evo frets.

...that's about it for now.

You guys want to guide me through this? I would love to learn from people who have been doing this for a while.

Thanks in advance!

[Comfyfoot]

I doubt you will get much support for buying that kit, that is quite a bit of $$ for many tools that are certainly nice, but not imperative to what you wish to accomplish.

The nut files are nice, but you don't really need one per slot, I have 3, with some rocking side to side you can get a good fit with a smaller file making a larger slot. Plenty of pros will still use a good old flat file to level frets, store bought diagonal pliers with the back ground flat is fine for cutting frets. Putting a radius on the board can be done with a sharp plane or other flat cutting tool. (you may need to deepen fret slots after this)

Personally I would get the book, 3 nut files, fret crown file, from Stewmac, then some diagonals and a file from a hardware store. Something flat for reference like a scrap of thick glass or a quality starret ruler, feeler gauges are cheap at the auto parts store. Then buy a garage sale special guitar and make it playable.

The tools are not as important as experience with doing refrets and setups, you do need some proper tools, but nothing like StewMac's list. If money were not an issue, it would be nice, but you are selling an ax and amp to get started working on guitars, save the money for after you get your feet wet with some basic setup work.
IMO of course,
Rob

[WGTroutman]

Thanks. I'll take all of this advice in, and will look for the cheapest option.

Any recommendations, specifically? I need all of the help I can get.

[arie]

i wouldn't necessarily go the cheapest option, cheap tools are in fact cheap. to get done what you want to do to the backpacker this set is overkill, but on the other hand if you really like doing this kind of work you are going to want to do more of it and of different types -guitar work is highly addictive, think about the future. you might find that you like working on guitars a lot and the stew-mac kit is a decent way to get started.

[Comfyfoot]

I agree with Arie, I was not recommending cheap tools, just not needing all of those tools to do a good job. StewMac sells good quality tools and I commend them for that, and enjoy buying and using them, but they also sell many quality but unnecessary tools. Cheap files are a drag to use.
Rob

[WGTroutman]

I want to get in to guitar repair/setup. This is exactly what I want to do.

I figured if I messed up my backpacker, its not THAT big of a deal. The tools I'm buying aren't just for this guitar, but hopefully all of my guitars, and friends guitars, etc.

My goal is to one day build a guitar. I'm doing this partially to get my feet wet to that.

Thanks for the advice. Given that I plan to use these tools over and over again, what should I do? I really am a beginner at this.

[arie]

then get the kit and some books. the kit has good bang for the buck and offers enough proven tools to ensure an easy learning curve, fun, and an enjoyable and confidence inspiring result. later on when you get your skills up, you can experiment with work arounds or even come up with your own tools and tricks.

[charles Tauber]

I agree with Rob. Half of what is included in the kit isn't necessary. Good quality, but not necessary.