Make Your Own Stew Mac Dial Calipers

[fryovanni]

Tasty- Thanks for the link to the review.That answers all the questions I had. I do keep my dial calipers clean and have never had issues with clogging, but I see how that would be their downfall. I am definately going to give the digital a try (maybe a couple).

Peace, Rich

[Desopolis]

I also was skeptical with untill your reply.. ill try it out as well

[rhoads56]

i just saw some gibsons on ebay that were 50000% cheaper that the real thing. Even the logos looked pretty good!! Im never shopping at (insert store) ever again!

And I have played some $300 "Gibsons" that were %xxxx cheaper than the real thing and you know what...they played better! Tokai etc.... So I guess I'm never shopping at (insert dumb comment here) again!

Perry, its okay that you spent too much on your Stew Mac calipers..i can see you are really upset about it.

Not upset about it at all dude. As a person who relies on quality tools for my living, ive learnt that saving a few bucks doesnt mean you'll have more money in the bank at the end of the day. I have four broken cheap digital calipers, and two stewmac sets that gets used EVERY day with out fail. Even the batteries last longer. Each to their own...

[GarageRocker]

It's not the same exact caliper. It's one of many almost-identical looking calipers on the market. HF sells lots of tools that look identical to more expensive tools. In some cases they may be as good. In my experience, most of them aren't.

Did you even look at the pictures? How about this review regarding if "they may be as good"...:

HF Caliper Review

You are gonna tell me that the molded plastic LCD housing is different? You can see the same exact calipers, except for one difference. The Stew Mac version appears to have a silver track, where harbor freight's is black. The button placement, button colors, battery cover, LCD size, functionality, specifications...are all the same.

And as far as accuracy, as stated in the Harbor Freight review:

"The readout module is in a plastic housing with a 4-1/2 digit LCD display. The 1/2 digit reads out to the nearest 0.0005"

Stew Mac's:

"An accurate measuring tool for other guitar shop jobs as well, this caliper has hardened stainless steel parts. It's switchable for readouts in inches or millimeters, and measures outside, inside and depth dimensions up to 6" (152mm), with .0005" (.01mm) resolution. The jaws can be locked at any position."

Gee. I am not saying don't buy from Stew Mac. However if you feel the extra 200% markup is well worth the cost (on some of their items including this one) and nothing else will work...fine. I will be enjoying the extra money I saved that could go towards some wood, glue, MOP, strings, AAAAA flamed tops, etc...

I've seen both products in person. They are not the identical product. Both the Stew-Mac and the Harbor Freight are Mitutoyo knockoffs. So are several dozen other brands out there. The knockoffs all look identical or nearly so. But they aren't all identical. And FWIW, reading out to .0005" doesn't mean it's accurate to .0005". And the Stew-Mac may not be either. I doubt either would meet A2LA accredited calibration standards. The Mitutoyo will.

If the accuracy and lifespan of the HF unit is good enough for you, then more power to you. I'm using one that cost me $25 and has lasted for 3 1/2 years in adverse conditions, which is a lot longer than the HF unit as reported in that review. Whatever. Suit yourself. You think anyone who pays Stew-Mac prices is a sucker, but HF exists because of suckers who devoutly believe that if it looks the same it has to be the same. I see them post at my favorite woodworking forum about how they got the same thing for less, then a few months later I see them post about their problems (inaccuracy, shorter lifespan, etc. etc.) while my more expensive tools and machines run year after year with routine maintenance.

David Hannum was right.

[tasty]

Wow.

I do believe you just contradicted yourself when you said:

...doesn't mean it's accurate to .0005". And the Stew-Mac may not be either. I've seen both products in person. They are not the identical product. Both the Stew-Mac and the Harbor Freight are Mitutoyo knockoffs. So are several dozen other brands out there.

So if the StewMac is a "knockoff," and not as good as a Mitutoyo..why pay the huge price difference? Durrt.

Perhaps if it was a true Mitutoyo then it would be worth the price?

Then you followed up by

If the accuracy and lifespan of the HF unit is good enough for you, then more power to you. I'm using one that cost me $25 and has lasted for 3 1/2 years in adverse conditions, which is a lot longer than the HF unit as reported in that review. Whatever. Suit yourself.

If you RTFA you would know that the reviewer still uses his original HF calipers, and liked them so much that he bought a second pair.

I guess more power to me and I should "suit my myself"

I agree with you that a lot of the Harbor Freight tools are cheap knockoffs, but in this instance we are not making valves for the space shuttle..just measuring fretwire. I think "0.0005 is plenty good enough for measuring crown height.

[Doeringer]

Tasty, you had a good argument going until your last few comments, but thanks for the interesting banter!

[tasty]

Eck whatever. Just tryin' to save some bucks, and help others do the same. I'm no luthier- just a regular guy tired of getting raped at the repair shop for things I know I can do myself. Nuts, frets etc. I don't get why everyone is so defensive regarding Stew Mac's tools. I am willing to put in extra time, so I can afford to modify some inexpensive tools to save money I really don't have.

If I was a world class luthier it would be different, hell..I could write them off as business expenses. But I am not. Not even close. For the limited amount of uses I will get out of a fret press/fret bender/dial calipers...i can't see over spending on em' when I know damn well that I can make them excellent enough to do a great job. (and save several hundred dollars too).

I own too many guitars and play the hell out of them gigging every weekend, therefore I am willing to work on em' myself. Anybody who says that they can't do as good of a job with a non-stew mac fret press/fret bender/calipers is full of it. A vast portion (not all of) Stew Mac tools are just cheap imported knockoffs that have been specially modified for a specific use.

Reminds me of this mountain bike race I saw one time. Everybody had the most expensive, greatest mountain bikes, and gear.... along comes this guy on a late 80's Huffy! And you know what...he kicked everyone's ass and took first place...just goes to show.

Southpaw crowns his own frets with a rounded triangular file, and does a good job.

I just remember reading posts from Guitarfrenzy and Jay5 about homeade fret benders/converted arbor presses and thought the same thing when I saw the calipers. Tryin' to share the knowlege...give a little something back because of all the great things I have learned on this site. Thats it. I am glad some see what I was only attempting to do.... others are just willing to say "thats crap" or "inferior products"..

well.. bah.

[fryovanni]

Tasty- The tool tip is good, and the review is good info. It is cool that you shared

You should have counted on a bit of back lash when you compaired the tool to Stew Mac's(why not just let it ride on a good review, and a note that it worked well for you). Honestly there is a bit irony in that. To prove a tool is a "good" tool you need to show it is almost as good as or equal to a Stew Mac product. That does speak highly to Stew Mac's reputation for only selling good tools. I can see why people want to defend a company that they appreciate.

One way or the other. Thanks for pointing the tool out and posting the review. Pointing out good deals or things you find work well is helpful for everyone.

Rich

[GarageRocker]

Wow.

I do believe you just contradicted yourself when you said:

...doesn't mean it's accurate to .0005". And the Stew-Mac may not be either. I've seen both products in person. They are not the identical product. Both the Stew-Mac and the Harbor Freight are Mitutoyo knockoffs. So are several dozen other brands out there.

So if the StewMac is a "knockoff," and not as good as a Mitutoyo..why pay the huge price difference? Durrt.

Perhaps if it was a true Mitutoyo then it would be worth the price?

Then you followed up by

If the accuracy and lifespan of the HF unit is good enough for you, then more power to you. I'm using one that cost me $25 and has lasted for 3 1/2 years in adverse conditions, which is a lot longer than the HF unit as reported in that review. Whatever. Suit yourself.

If you RTFA you would know that the reviewer still uses his original HF calipers, and liked them so much that he bought a second pair.

I guess more power to me and I should "suit my myself"

I agree with you that a lot of the Harbor Freight tools are cheap knockoffs, but in this instance we are not making valves for the space shuttle..just measuring fretwire. I think "0.0005 is plenty good enough for measuring crown height.

I didn't contradict myself at all. I never said the Stew-Mac was a Mitutoyo or as good as the Mitutoyo. I have no idea if it's any better or not. What I did say -- and I'll say it for the third time -- is that the HF and Stew-Mac units are not identical. And I said this because you claimed that they are the exact same, implying that Stew-Mac is ripping people off. There are a number of identical looking units. Just because they look the same does not make them the exact same.

I read the review, no need to get all hostile about it. He said "Although I've had pretty good luck with the import dial calipers, they seem to have a lifetime of about a year under the conditions in my shop." I pointed out that I've used mine (yet another Mitutoyo knockoff) for much longer to make the point that they're not all the same quality. I'm a semi-retired woodworker who spends many hours a week in the shop. Mine has seen plenty of use in a shop with less-than-ideal dust and chip collection, and it's still going. I have a friend who has been in the guitar repair business full time for many years and he's used the Stew-Mac gauge ever since it came out. Another case of longevity.

And once again -- reading to .0005 is not the same as accurate to .0005. My bathroom scale reads to 1 oz. I guarantee you it's not accurate to 1 oz.

If you can grind the slots as accurately as Stew-Mac, and your time is worth $0.00 per hour, then I guess it's worth it to you to save the bucks. Just don't represent it as the exact same as the Stew-Mac unit.

[tasty]

rully? wowr.

[soapbarstrat]

I have 3 cheap digital calipers. Sometimes I walk into the shop and they are having a Chinese fire drill.

[tasty]

LOL...!

I had a quick question, if anyone could help. On the Stew-Mac calipers, they have that end with the notch in it to measure fret height as installed on the fret board. Since the notch must travel inward (towards the digital unit)..it must be ground shorter. Therefore my question is, when you use that end, do you have to "zero" out the calipers on a hard flat surface in order to measure fret height. I think the answer is yes, but was wondering if you guys knew the answer.

Once this mod is done it makes it a bit more cumbersome to measure depth of holes, as you have to zero out the calipers on the recessed end. However, this seems like the only way to do it? Yes? No?

[davee5]

I'd like to add to GarageRocker's comments about accuracy of the tool. Genuine, benchmark Mitutoyo digital calipers (and Starrets, and Browne & Sharpe) are almost all rated to an accuracy of +/-0.001" even though they readout to 0.0005". This may be misleading, that the resolution is higher than the accuracy of the tool, but it is absolutely critical to keep in mind if you're going to make measurements at that level.

Nearly all the cheapo digital calipers have the same case and button layout as the OLD Mitutoyos, because in China (where I work in mfg. a lot) you copy what sells. As a restul Mitytoyo has changed their case design in the last few years to step away from the rabble. The knockoffs are usually flimsy, leading to bad readings form a lack of stiffness. They have poorly ground jaws so they don't give great readings across the whole measuring face. The materials are inferior, the electronics might be close to teh same but they aren't graded or guaranteed. As with any tools you get what you pay for.

Now for my caliper rant as copied and pasted from a post a few days ago in a different area:

Regarding calipers, digital vs. dial. Digital calipers are really handy for 2 things: converting between metric and english units (mm & in) with the push of a button, and easily checking "relative" distances (setting a zero point arbitrarily, rather than in dial calipers where zero is always the closed position).

Let's say you have a neck you really like the taper of (not the fretboard, the neck for illustrative purposes) but you think it's too thick for your next project. You could take the thickness at the nut, set that dimension as zero, and then take measurements up the neck at various points to quantify exactly how the taper changes. Then you could make the neck next a thinner starting thickness at the nut and use your new, no subtration necessary, dimensions to recreate the feel you like. Maybe a lousy example, but the zero set can be very useful.

Since dials are analog and only in one unit you will also have to do math to convert, but most digital calipers have a button that you can push to see that 1.267" is 32.18 mm.

However digital calipers have their own issues. Excessive dust or almost any amount of liquid on the sliding surface can cause errors in reading. While I don't expect anyone in this forum to be checking tolerance on parts flooded with CNC coolant, it's worth noting. When dial calipers get junk in the gear track it's pretty obvious, whereas when digitals skip a beat it's impossible to detect. Digitals also need batteries, which last forever, but still...

My personal biggest issue with digital calipers is the dastardly combination of flex and the use of discrete units. With dial calipers you can pretty easily tell when you are between lines, closer to 1.267" than to 1.266", but with digital you only get the number on the display to work with, it's quantum measurement. Likewise all calipers, or any precision measurement devices, can easiliy be used with excessive force which distorts the accuracy of the measurement. With dial calipers I find it much easier to watch the dial to determine when I'm pushing too hard and causing the needle to move because the caliper is flexing, not taking up a gap. With digital much less visual feedback is given, so many people get readings that can be off by as much as 0.005" (big is engineering terms). It seems like you're just taking up slack and getting a more accurate reading as the number on the readout seem to refine, but you're just botching the measurement.

Lastly a good dial indiciator or dial calipers is a finely-tuned mechanical device, like a fince watch, or maybe a good acoustic guitar. We all know there's something visceral about using a finely crafted and carefully tuned mechanical instrument, and it's a satisfaction I never get using digital calipers. But watching that needle spin and hearing the whir of zero-backlash gears inside that little dial housing is a wonderful thing.

I actually have both: for general day to day engineering work the versatility of a digital caliper can't be beat and would be my go-to for most things (it's all I travel with). But for the nice feel of an accurate and old-school, true mechancial tool I go to the dial.

My $0.05.

-Dave

[soapbarstrat]

Therefore my question is, when you use that end, do you have to "zero" out the calipers on a hard flat surface in order to measure fret height. I think the answer is yes, but was wondering if you guys knew the answer.

Once this mod is done it makes it a bit more cumbersome to measure depth of holes, as you have to zero out the calipers on the recessed end. However, this seems like the only way to do it? Yes? No?

Yes, move that narrow bar out of the end, then press it against a flat surface, then hit the zero button. Yes, it makes the caliper wacky for regular use, and with the price of them being under $20.00, I found it's worth the bucks to keep at least one pair of calipers stock.

Also, when your battery dies, and then you go to walmart and get a replacement, I think it's a different number, which is not the important part, but at Walmart you will probably end up with an *alkaline* replacement, and then wonder why it doesn't last that long. What you want is a *silver oxide button cell*. Harder to find. I'm getting at least 3 of those suckers on my next MSC order.

[tasty]

Thanks Soapbar! I thought thats how they were used when the notch is in there! I am gonna try and to a quick tutorial really soon with pictures etc.

Typically if you need button cell batteries, Egay is the best place to purchase them in bulk. I have a friend who's young son has a lot of toys that take the button cells, and online is the way to go. Thanks again for the silver oxide tip!