Fret Nibbler

[cherokee6]

I was reseaching some aircraft tools and came across a metal nibbler like the one at Stew Mac at ATS (Aircraft Tool Supply), but much less $. Then I checked Harbor Freight and there was one for about $8. I figured for the amount of times I may need it, It's certainly a lot less than Stew Mac's.

[guitar_player]

I was reseaching some aircraft tools and came across a metal nibbler like the one at Stew Mac at ATS (Aircraft Tool Supply), but much less $. Then I checked Harbor Freight and there was one for about $8. I figured for the amount of times I may need it, It's certainly a lot less than Stew Mac's.

Yeah the only thing different is that the end is ground so it cuts flush, a few minutes with a grinding wheel or a little bit with a file should fix it. The stewmac one may be made of a little harder metal. Stainless steel frets dinged up my regular end snips a litte bit.

[Ilikes2shred]

I had the flush ground end nippers from LMI. They got pretty dinged up after just one fretboard worth of 6000 guage nickel-silver fretwire.... so I sent them back. I think that the must of ground the edge to too shallow of an angle or screwed up the tempering when the flush ground them (they were originally made by Channel-lock).

My next fret job was on 110 gauge stainless steel (almost as big as 6000). So I just went down to home depot and got some channel lock diagonal cutters (NOT flush ground). There wasn't even a dent on them after the whole board.... I just had to put the fretwire back in the innermost part of the cutter to get enough leverage. They were not flush, but I fixed that with a coarse bastard file in about 5 minutes....

The original flush ground ones were a little problematic anyway.... If you cut the fret side to side (so the blades were like this || ) then you'd be left with a little sideways cresent in the bottom of the fret because the nippers would smash it a little. And you had to hole the cutters like that over the body.

The diagonal cutters weren't the best either because it took a lot of effort to cut the stainless steel (they would probably be fine for normal fretwire). I was very tempted to pick up the big bolt cutters the had sitting there....

Uhhh... second thread today I misread.... I read it as "nipper" like for making frets flush....

Edited December 26, 2008 by Ilikes2shred

[Woodenspoke]

I was reseaching some aircraft tools and came across a metal nibbler like the one at Stew Mac at ATS (Aircraft Tool Supply), but much less $. Then I checked Harbor Freight and there was one for about $8. I figured for the amount of times I may need it, It's certainly a lot less than Stew Mac's.

Yeah the only thing different is that the end is ground so it cuts flush, a few minutes with a grinding wheel or a little bit with a file should fix it. The stewmac one may be made of a little harder metal. Stainless steel frets dinged up my regular end snips a litte bit.

Even though I have the SM nibbler I did some googling after reading this post. I believe; more than believe I am 100% positive, the SM Nibbler is based on the Klein 76011B. If you do a Google search you will see it it is identical. Looking at my tool the handles are covered in a red shrink tube (grey on the web site) which covers the one yellow grip visible from the opening under the shrink tube. They removed the stud on the handle and those are the visible differences. I do not believe the cutter has been modified at all.

However, SM has cut a 45 deg angled notch in the face of the tool (down 90 deg to the cutter face and up at a 45 deg angle away from the cutter), your fret wire sits in this notch so the tang will sit flat against the face. I do not have an unaltered Klein to compare this to but given the fact the tool is all black and the notch is silver (bare metal) this is a good assumption it is modded.

Here is a link to one site selling it at a good price $21. This is $23 less than the SM modified one.

Klein Tool at discount

Maybe Soap has modified a cheaper Nibbler?

[soapbarstrat]

Maybe Soap has modified a cheaper Nibbler?

Of course. What haven't I modified ?

You are 100 % correct on the Klein nibbler. That's what Stewmac's is, and I bought 2 kleins and modded one for large fret wire and another for smaller fret-wire.

GuitarFrenzy once peeled the shrink wrap off his StewMac bought nibbler and exposed the yellow handles AND the klein name stamped into the metal.

In another thread not long ago, I told how you can by the replacement cutter piece for that Nibbler (for around $10) , after Wes said his was getting worn from SS wire.

I also had at least one good close-up pic of Stewmacs in one of their old catalogs, so I knew just what kind of notch they ground into it.

The tang file jig from LMI is probably a better method to go with.

[Woodenspoke]

Maybe Soap has modified a cheaper Nibbler?

Of course. What haven't I modified ?

You are 100 % correct on the Klein nibbler. That's what Stewmac's is, and I bought 2 kleins and modded one for large fret wire and another for smaller fret-wire.

GuitarFrenzy once peeled the shrink wrap off his StewMac bought nibbler and exposed the yellow handles AND the klein name stamped into the metal.

In another thread not long ago, I told how you can by the replacement cutter piece for that Nibbler (for around $10) , after Wes said his was getting worn from SS wire.

I also had at least one good close-up pic of Stewmacs in one of their old catalogs, so I knew just what kind of notch they ground into it.

The tang file jig from LMI is probably a better method to go with.

I kew you wre ahead on this one.

If anyone is interested I can take a picture if you want to duplicate the SM notch.

[soapbarstrat]

Uhhh... second thread today I misread.... I read it as "nipper" like for making frets flush....

Come on now ! No need for the fancy lines and all that !

I do that now and then. I did it a while back in a thread about a drum sander. I misread and thought they meant a little drum for on a drill press and then wrote how I made one. But the thread was actually started about a big thickness type sander.

But, when I do that, I usually just leave my incorrect post. Helps give some of the smart-asses a false sense of superiority

("Oh my, he's sooo incompetent , I never do stuff like that " ) LOL !