GuitarMaestro Posted April 26, 2004 Report Share Posted April 26, 2004 Hi! Where can I get a long and very precise straightedge for fretwork without paying an insane amount for it? Any recommendations? Thanks, MK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 Hello, Use a piece of acrylic or plexiglass, just run the edge of it over a joiner. You will get a nice clean, precise edge. The big downside is that you must look very closely, as its transparency makes it a bit tricky. From one sheet of acrylic (at least a 1/4" thick) you can make several custom length straight edges. Peace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 why not by a square?? and before you taper your neck mark your frets then, slot then taper neck? thats how I am doing it, just make sure your neck is level first Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted April 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 Thanks for the answers. I am talking about a straightedge precise enough to measure the height of the frets and level them accordingly.... Would the plexi method be precise enough for that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJohn Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 It can,you just have to keep it straight,if it curves it can give the appearance of a false read so you want to get a thick piece.I use a piece of cold rolled steel that I deburred.Glass is also good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 maestro, certainly..... of course you have to make sure that you join it properly. if you make two straight edges out of plexi then you can check them against each other. the plexi will be stiff along the two edges but not very stiff along the wider faces, make sure you have it straight along the wide faces as well, if not it could potentially affect you readings on a radiused board, the stwe-mac edges also tend to flex in this way- I hvae used them both. you could always. mate (glue and screw) another strip of plexi at a 90 degree angle to the primary "straight" edge in order to acheive stability in all directions. I would make the primary strip AT least 3 inches wide for strength. peace, Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted April 28, 2004 Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 Both the methods described already, plexiglass on a jointer, and a cheap square, and DEFINATELY not accurate enough for what you need. 0.005" is all it takes to get a buzz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted April 28, 2004 Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 Both the methods described already, plexiglass on a jointer, and a cheap square, and DEFINATELY not accurate enough for what you need. 0.005" is all it takes to get a buzz. Totally agree with Perry on this.. You really need a good straightedge to get an accurate reading of your fretboard otherwise you'll end up with headaches when you get ready to setup the guitar. I bought a good straightedge set from Stew Mac when they used to have the 15" ones also, they wasn't cheap but they are accurate enough to guage how level your fretboard is after leveling. I recently purchased a 18" from MisterArt.com after StonesCreed posted a link for them in a previous discussion about good straightedges. It's just like my Stew Mac one, but I still haven't had the two compared with measuring devices yet. But as far as I can tell it looks to be the same exact ones that they sell and they are a whole lot cheaper. If I was gonna buy just one, I'd get the 18" one for guitar work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted April 28, 2004 Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 did you compare them one to another and measure the gap in the middle? then try comparing it something else like your jointer? basicly if you have 3 straight edges and you compare each to each you can get a pretty good idea of how accurate each is. Locally the best i could find was aluminium straight edges accurate to 0.003 over 19" for 20$... i was a bit hessitant, i'm still trying to find economical leveling bars for sanding. Making my own is starting to prove a tad difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted April 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 Thanks alot for your answers....exactly what I wanted to know.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted April 28, 2004 Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 did you compare them one to another and measure the gap in the middle? then try comparing it something else like your jointer? basicly if you have 3 straight edges and you compare each to each you can get a pretty good idea of how accurate each is. Locally the best i could find was aluminium straight edges accurate to 0.003 over 19" for 20$... i was a bit hessitant, i'm still trying to find economical leveling bars for sanding. Making my own is starting to prove a tad difficult. No I haven't, but I did put the two together and didn't see any light between them, so they are well within tolerance, at least the ones I got was. The Pro Art one's are slightly wider than my 15" one from Stew Mac, other than that they are almost the same. I'll still have some test run on these when I get time, the bio med guy has all kinds of ways to measure stuff like this. As far as a good Fretboard Leveler bar, like the ones that Stew Mac sell, I haven't had any luck finding another source either. I've even used that bar on the back on my neck sanding after I got it off the duplicator, so that it will leave me with a very straight neck back that will play great. Basically I like to use the duplicator, then the 3D sander will get all the small grooves out left by the duplicator, and then last but not least the 16" Fretboard Leveler will sand it that last little bit, without messing up the neck. So you can see there are many things I use this on.. lol Maybe someone will find a cheaper place to get those also, but for now, I guess it's Stew Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted April 28, 2004 Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 I don't know if this is an option for you or not but WoodCraft sells a precision straight edge that is very close to the accuracy of stewmac's for about $40.00 (I think). That's what I've been using. Someday, I'd like to get one of those fancy notched straight edges. I've been thinking about cutting notches in the woodcraft straight edge but who's got time for that nonsense? I think the least accurate of the choices mentioned would probably be the jointer. If you don't have an accurate straight edge to check the wood against, how will you ever know if it's been jointed properly? Also, the little cups that the blade creates can't be good for accuracy either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted April 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 I think the least accurate of the choices mentioned would probably be the jointer. If you don't have an accurate straight edge to check the wood against, how will you ever know if it's been jointed properly? Also, the little cups that the blade creates can't be good for accuracy either. I agree with you 100%. I already have several straightedges that surely are more precise then the jointer method, etc.. The reason I started this topic is that I am looking for a REALLY precise straightedge for fretwork. The Woodcraft one sounds very interesting. Thanks for the hint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted April 28, 2004 Report Share Posted April 28, 2004 WoodCraft The woodcraft specs are .002 over the length of the blade (24"). Stewmac says theirs is .0015 per foot. I thought the stewmac tool was $100.00 though. I think the price is $55.00 so maybe it's worth the extra $15.00? I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 Didn't anyone notice the link I posted above for the 18" straightedge... I said it was just as good as the Stew Mac's almost identical. It's only 18 dollars... Why wouldn't you buy that one? Or am I missing something and am I just that dumb. Let's break it down... length----------Stew Mac price-------MisterArt.com price----Savings 18"...................43.90..........................18.45...................$25.45 24"...................55.90..........................22.14...................$33.76 36"...................97.90..........................29.65...................$68.25 You don't have to be the manager at Chucky Cheese to figure out that's a great deal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 And the edges are beveled like StewMac's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 And the edges are beveled like StewMac's Yeah.. no doubt a great find StonesCreed, glad you posted that link before I bought the 18" one.... saved me some money for sure.. lol .. Yeah and those have the nice beveled edge so you can really get an accurate measurement just like the Stew ones do. You been able to find anything that is similar to the Fretboard/Fret Leveler bar that Stew Mac sells yet? I got the 16" one, but would like to have some other sizes also.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 Shouldn't all this be part of the recent straight-edge thread in the tools section ? Still looking forward to hearing what Guitarfrenzy's buddy finds when he gives these a good test. Does the mister art one appear to be surface ground ? How does mister art's shipping charges compare to Stew-Macs ? For the sanding bar alternative, check out my thread in the tool section about the glass surfaced one I made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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