Guitar repair tools and supplies?

[ClaptonWannabe2]

Aside from StewMac, who are your go-to's? Not here to bash StewMac as they produce quality tools and videos, and very well maybe a sponsor on here. If I wanted a set of files or was a luthier and had my own shop they'd make sense.

Their metal string height gauge and setup tool (metal index card shaped thingy) is $30-35, and others are 10 bucks.

Some tools I can see dropping the extra $$ as Stew makes good products. Who else do you guys use? Who else is a good Amazon/Ebay vendor?

[ChalkLitIScream]

Try Japarts. They're Japanese made, so enough said. I bought a set of nut files from them, and it was the cheapest one (but by no means cheap) for me.
I know they supply mostly files and tuners and materials for inlay, binding, etc only, so if you're looking for other tools or jigs, I can't help you any further

[BT55]

Philadelphialuthiertools.com
Great selection of quality tools at competitive prices.
StewMac is an excellent vendor that stands behind anything they sell and their customer service is top notch. They’re more costly but you are paying for their excellent support.
eBay offers inexpensive tools but you don’t really know what you’re getting. If it’s a one off use they are probably good enough.

[charles Tauber]

Depends on what tools you want. Chisels? Vieces? Planes? Files? Machine tools? Different suppliers for different types of tools.

There are only a handful of necessary specialty guitar-repair tools. Those can be purchased at any of the standard luthier supply houses. The rest can be purchased from a variety of sources.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by ClaptonWannabe2

Aside from StewMac, who are your go-to's?

Today, the amount of choices one has to buying speciality labelled "Luthier Tools" is endless, from ebay to stewmac, to luthierstools,to Lmii to Georgias Supply and so on and so on.

Literally thousands of sellers out there, they are all marketing a product from 30 cents up to 150,000 dollars per tool.

When I started, tools were cheap, because we used tools from local hardware stores, still do.

Examples just relative to setups.

Action height = Steel ruler $1.00
Crowning file = Hobby file kit assortment 12 files $3.50
Fret leveller = Builders spirit level $5.00
Relief Gauge = A4 piece of paper $0.01
Nut files - Welder tip cleaners $1.50 set

Under $12 and you can file nuts and set actions and level and crown frets

Steve

[Rodger Knox]

Same here, only I used the hobby files for the nut, so no welder tip cleaners. I think I paid a little more for the same stuff, the files did come from StewMac.

[bnjp]

I've got a few tools from Fretguru on Ebay. Their fret end file is the best one I have. Also, CE Distribution has a lot of the tools that Stewmac sells.

[jwayne]

My 3 cents.

http://www.uaac.us/luthier-tools

They are an aluminum company that somehow figured out they could make some guitar tools at very reasonable prices. Including notched straight edges, leveling beams, rockers, etc.

Also for fret leveling blocks: lots of options including Great Planes Easy Touch, freebie Corian pieces at your local countertop place, aluminum beams.

eBay for many inexpensive choices for radius gauges, feeler gauges (also auto parts place).

String height gauge: I have a Fret Guru one and the ink is wearing off. Newer Black Diamond version is MORE than the Stew Mac one. Yeah, you can avoid the need for this with a good ruler, but it really is convenient to have.

In my very limited experience: don't cheap out on files for frets. Although those cheap needle file sets often come in handy for all kinds of things. And welding cleaner tips are crappy for filing string slots.

[phcorrigan]

A lot of stuff is available from Amazon as well. I just ordered a truss rod hex wrench for Martin with a string gauge for about $10, including Prime shipping. I picked up a set of welding tip cleaners for cleaning up nut slots for $3.00 at a big-box home improvement store (Lowes). BTW, those welding tip cleaners are commonly sold as nut files, but they are not really good for cutting slots in bone nuts. I cut mine with hobby files and do the final cleanup with the tip cleaners.

[Gribb]

Recently I was looking for a good quality Martin style bridge that was finished other than pin holes and saddle slot. Looked for days, and finally found what I wanted at Luthiers Mercantile International...
They had many different configurations and types of wood available. I ordered one and am very satisfied with all aspects of it. Reasonably priced also.
Good selection of flake shellac too... $15-20 bucks for a half pound depending on color, and fresh...

[D. Churchland]

If you really want tools, you should learn to make and adapt your own.

Most of the Stew-Mac stuff is stolen from other industries. The machinist trade specifically is one they copy a massive amount of tooling from. They also rob alot of ideas from gunsmithing.

What I should actually say, is that "specialty" tools for luthiery are simply tools that come from other industries and have been *slightly* adapted to work for guitars/instruments.

[redir]

For a while I was buying my martin style truss rods from Stew Mac but apparently they don't sell them anymore. I took a chance and bought some rods from a place called Bitter Root Guitars and I was sufficiently impressed with the quality of the rods. The welds look good and the action is smooth. I've not installed one in a guitar yet but I will soon. They were also significantly cheaper.

They also have a whole lot of other supplies for luthiers.

https://www.bitterrootguitars.com/