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Dave, I hope you don't think I was making fun of you, it's just not everyday you hear about body-bag use around the house.

What length bar is " the ****" ?, 'cause I just ordered the 16" one (and got carried away, and ordered the notched straight-edge, fret-rocker straightedge, bulk fret-wire, nut files. and several other post-x-mas stocking stuffers) CHRISTMAS GIFT MONEY HAS LEFT THE BUILDING !

Rob

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What length bar is " the ****" ?, 'cause I just ordered the 16" one

I have the medium one and the long one (heh-heh, yes beavis, I said I have the long one!). I like both but the longer one is great for being able to hit all frets at the same time. I think you will love it. That notched edge must be sweet to have also - isn't that something like $100 ?

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Yeah, 100 damn dollars, which is why I never bought one. I've been trying to make one, and keep failing in my attempts, and now I am getting much more busy with repairs coming in, so I finally gave in and ordered it.

I could have gone out and got a plastic T square to make an economy one, but what the hell.

What sucks is that it's 100 bucks and is only good for 2 scales. Now, I guess after using it, I'm going to start depending on it, like I do with everything I buy from stew-mac. What am I gonna do with the next bass that comes in, or 25" scale guitar, and I ain't got a notch-edge for those ?

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lol. i guess i wont hammer it in, then...

so do any of you see any reason i shouldn't do it DaveMan's vice strategy?

assuming i buy stew mac cauls, instead of making my own...

this would save money on the arbor (yeah i know its less than the press system, but its still $30 more than just the caul&vice method). it would also save wear on the drill press.

im goin to bed, see you guys in the morning, thanks for the continued help

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Sopabarstrat,

No offense taken on the body bag jokes. If I am going to discuss 1001 home uses for rejected body bags, I had better have a sense of humor about it. B) (BTW, they are great at Halloween, man. Fill them with straw and pillows in the right shapes, and decorate the house and yard. ) :D

The Questioneer,

If you can afford the arbor, it is a handy tool for anything that needs to be squeezed or pressed. You will want one someday anyway. If you can really afford it, the "Jaws" things are even slightly handier, as you can move them around from fret to fret without sliding the whole guitar back and forth. I used the vise method because I didn't have any better tools, and it worked well, but it was slow and cumbersome. If I had to do it now, I would mount the vise at a 90 degree angle, so that I could keep the guitar laying on its back. This would make it easier to see and support the guitar while lining things up. My way took three arms and four letter words sometimes. I had a couple of frets that fell out and landed on the floor before I got pressure on the thing, and I had to support the neck with one hand, while tightening the vise with the other.

If you buy the Stewmac cauls, you might want to revive my C-clamp experiment. The only problem I had was that I used fairly narrow maple cauls. By the time I got them affixed to the C clamp, they started to crack up under the pressure. They needed to be attached to a wide surface like the vise face to work well. (Thicker cauls would have done the job, but before I made them, I got a real press.) I happened to have a huge C clamp (about 15 lbs or so) with a fairly fine thread and a foot long handle to torque it down with. I don't know if a lesser C clamp would drive a fret home or not. (Maybe those wood clamps with the two threaded rods and wood jaws would work here?)

Good luck,

Dave

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i finaly got around to getting a arbor press at a local place .... 1 ton, 45$CAD ~ 33.33$USD i think i did ok, the only thing is i have to drill the hole for the caul to fit into and put a set screw in, but i have titanium bits, tap and die set, and buckets of little screws so i'm set :D

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that's the half tone, which they didn't have at the store i'm at, the 1 ton was cheaper then HF's 1 ton :D either way shipping one of those to canada would be..............yaaaaaaa...........................

course stew mac doesn't list the ratting on they're fret press arbor

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course stew mac doesn't list the ratting on they're fret press arbor

Its a half tonne, made in china, available (or copies) everywhere. I got mine, including buying stewmac arbor press kit with all the cauls, for less than the price of stewmacs press on its own.

Derek, the square rod that you need to drill for the arbor, is real soft metal. Chinese quality. Just take it out, and drill it. I made mine half a mm oversize, and just wrapped a couple layers of masking tape around the arbor to make it a tight fit. No need to set screw it, but hey, if you've got them handy, it would only take a couple minutes to add one of them also.

Make sure you bolt it to the bench, and dont use it over a fingerboard overhang, it will snap the fretboard (im experienced in this) :D

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my drill press was being a jerk, but i eventually got things setup properly (translation: time for a bigger and sterdier drill press) you were right rhoads, it was pretty soft, didn't really have any problems and the set screw works great :D all for 74$ LESS than the stewmac one B)

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