Recommend Inexpensive calipers on AMZ?

[Wags]

Several on offer are around 20 bucks. Just need them to occasionally check string gauge because I suck at keeping track of what gauge is currently on what guitar. Thx

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by Wags

Several on offer are around 20 bucks. Just need them to occasionally check string gauge because I suck at keeping track of what gauge is currently on what guitar. Thx

I have a fairly cheap set of digital calipers, works great. Inch to .000 or metric to .00 selection is a nice feature and a zero set is essential.

Mine looks like this one https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Calip...NrPXRydWU&th=1

[phavriluk]

They're a lot more alike than dissimilar. For our nonprecision uses, almost any all-metal caliper will do nicely. A hard case/storage box is a good idea and there are many which read metric/English decimal/English fractional, which I've found to be nice. Availability and price seem to vary day by day.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by phavriluk

They're a lot more alike than dissimilar. For our nonprecision uses, almost any all-metal caliper will do nicely. A hard case/storage box is a good idea and there are many which read metric/English decimal/English fractional, which I've found to be nice. Availability and price seem to vary day by day.

I agree, I had a cheap plastic jawed one, it was useless. The fractions would be helpful but I get by without.

[Sasquatchian]

I never see the point in buying cheap tools. Not only are they generally less accurate but they don't last as long. Mitutoyo is the brand to buy. Not horrendously expensive at about a buck twenty, but a very high quality tool. You will thank yourself in the long run and you'll find so many other places to use it where the accuracy matters as well.

[Mirosh]

This is my first digital caliper and has been entirely satisfactory. I never use my decades old logarithmic any more, except as a straight edge for saddles.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Wags

Several on offer are around 20 bucks. Just need them to occasionally check string gauge because I suck at keeping track of what gauge is currently on what guitar. Thx

You'll find a standard 0 to 1" micrometer much more reliable, accurate, and easy to use. Vernier calipers have their uses, but string measurement isn't one of them.

An example of a inexpensive 0-1" micrometer can be found HERE.

Old school, no batteries to think about, works fine / lasts long time.

[darkwave]

I have a couple 30 year old Mitutoyo dial calipers that I use for work (designer) and guitar repair. A couple years ago I bought a Harbor Freight digital to keep at work hearing “they’re all the same now”. It was returned the next day. Gritty action and a slim “probe” that extends out for depth measurement was wavy as a noodle. I checked a couple others at the store considering an exchange and they were all the same.

I’m not adverse to mixing in cheap tools with realistic expectations, but these were crap.

[phavriluk]

HF quality can be quite variable. I don't know why, but if they're a reseller, then I suspect they're chasing the cheapest price for stuff. But back to OP, I agree. Price is right but the utility's got to be there.

[Kevin G String]

Don’t buy cheap. Mitutoyo are exceptional value and give a lifetime of use. I bought a cheaper copy initially and it was rubbish. Micrometer for string gauge as mentioned. I bought a second hand Starrett mic for £20 in mint condition 0 to 25mm.

[Horsehockey]

I bought a cheap metal caliper and I’ll be darned if I can figure out the little - as in minute - gradations. Like trying to read a small clock..with bad eyesight. But it does make me feel more professional when I attempt to actually use it for something. I try to concoct some use for it when my wife is around, hoping that she’ll see me with it and be impressed. Worth every penny so far.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Horsehockey

I bought a cheap metal caliper and I’ll be darned if I can figure out the little - as in minute - gradations. Like trying to read a small clock..with bad eyesight. But it does make me feel more professional when I attempt to actually use it for something. I try to concoct some use for it when my wife is around, hoping that she’ll see me with it and be impressed. Worth every penny so far.

If you come from the era when you had to use a slide rule in upper level science or engineering classes instead of an electronic calculator then you'll feel right at home with a vernier caliper!

The old style vernier calipers are the reason that dial and digital calipers became so popular. I have a cheap digital caliper and it works fine for general measurement, but oddly enough I most often use it with the units selection button to quickly convert between inches, mm, and decimal equivalents.



For quick n' easy nothing beats the old micrometer, although I sometimes have to break out the magnifier headband to see the little barrel graduations.

[phavriluk]

We're getting some (normal in discussion) 'specification creep' here. OP asked about twenty-buck digital calipers. Someone posted a nice one from Amazon. Unmentioned is that these things measure anything that fits between their jaws, and micrometers are good at measuring strings, but the general utility of the digital caliper is lost in a micrometer. And these days a mechanical dial caliper, measuring in only one numeric system, are costly, but they always work and don't need batteries.

[Simon Fay]

This is the cheapest "quality" caliper that you can buy. It is well-suited for machining work and you can't say that about most of the cheap ones. This is what I've been using for my entire guitar building career. With how well this one works and is constructed, I don't see much reason for buying a Starrett or Mitutuyo.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

If you only need it for checking string gauge, then even the cheaper calipers around $20 will be fine.

[warfrat73]

I'm generally in the camp of not liking cheap tools, but there's a time and a place.

Use case is important too. If you're a professional, by the best you can. If you're going to be using it every day, buy the best you can. If extremely tight tolerances need to be met, buy the best you can.

If you're going to use it 4 or 5 times a year to measure a guitar tops, backs and sides as a hobby builder, close enough might be ok.

That said, I have a strong inkling that nearly all the really cheap ones with the fiberglass jaws are the same, just marketed under different names with different color schemes.