'24 Partscaster Project

[muttley]

The ones I use. Pricey but they last decades and sell on is always excellent.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hosco-Set-Ten- ... 105&sr=8-5

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hosco-Japanese ... 5&sr=8-50

[JD01]

The ones I use. Pricey but they last decades and sell on is always excellent.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hosco-Set-Ten- ... 105&sr=8-5

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hosco-Japanese ... 5&sr=8-50

That would be lovely - but I just can't justify the price of Hosco stuff when I'm just having a go for the first time.

[JD01]

..................

The thing I'm struggling most to find is nut slotting files. There's plenty of sets for about 100 quid and there's some that look unusable for a tenner. Ideally I want something in between, nut slotting is something that I will use more often.

Again, I haven't used them so I can't vouch for the quality of the steel but you can score them pretty cheap these days.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alomejor-Guita ... C-pUw7gEVo

When I started out non of these cheap tools were available so we all had to import from Hosco. I still have many of those tools. Not so much for the cheap stuff I've tried. Buy cheap buy twice, but for one or two nuts you would probably get away with them.

One or two nuts... I imagine I'll go through at least half a dozen before I get this right!
I'll try those cheap ones anyway and see how I get on, I guess I just have to start trying, see what works and what doesn't.

[muttley]

One or two nuts... I imagine I'll go through at least half a dozen before I get this right!
I'll try those cheap ones anyway and see how I get on, I guess I just have to start trying, see what works and what doesn't.

If you go steady and work methodically you should be able to nail it first time. It's not difficult work you just need to be precise.

[JD01]

One or two nuts... I imagine I'll go through at least half a dozen before I get this right!
I'll try those cheap ones anyway and see how I get on, I guess I just have to start trying, see what works and what doesn't.

If you go steady and work methodically you should be able to nail it first time. It's not difficult work you just need to be precise.

I'll have to look up a few videos. I'm thinking that I need to have to just work slowly and carefully until I have a reasonable action at the first fret and the string moves freely in the slot without pinging and catching when tuning.

[JD01]

Same on the Thomann site looking for nut files, there's cheap Harley Benton stuff
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton ... le_set.htm
And then really nice looking stuff for over 100 quid.

[muttley]

There isn't really a halfway with these things. It's either the tried and tested pro stuff or the cheap Chinese stuff.

[CeeBee]

If you are only making one or two guitars the cheap stuff will normaly do the job.

[Lt. Bob]

those little wire ones are crap and hard to work with ..... I have some .... .... try these ( of which I also have a set ... mo' better )

https://www.temu.com/3pcs-set-of-portab ... jpjqrzdzi0

[CeeBee]

those little wire ones are crap and hard to work with ..... I have some .... .... try these ( of which I also have a set ... mo' better )

https://www.temu.com/3pcs-set-of-portab ... jpjqrzdzi0

Looks good, ordered them, and a load of other junk as well. Keep telling myself "keep away from temu

[Lt. Bob]

those little wire ones are crap and hard to work with ..... I have some .... .... try these ( of which I also have a set ... mo' better )

https://www.temu.com/3pcs-set-of-portab ... jpjqrzdzi0

Looks good, ordered them, and a load of other junk as well. Keep telling myself "keep away from temu

lol ..... I've got a ton of temu stuff .... lots of tools for woodworking and such and a couple of tool boxes full of guitar tools and turntable set up tools and such.
It's a rare week when we don't get something from Temu .... lol

I have a nic e collection of 8x12 tin signs!

[JD01]

those little wire ones are crap and hard to work with ..... I have some .... .... try these ( of which I also have a set ... mo' better )

https://www.temu.com/3pcs-set-of-portab ... jpjqrzdzi0

Cheers, a recommendation from Lt. Bob for cheap gear is always good. I'll get these. Levelling beam and crowning file are gonna be easy, it was the nut slotting files I was struggling with.

[Lt. Bob]

those little wire ones are crap and hard to work with ..... I have some .... .... try these ( of which I also have a set ... mo' better )

https://www.temu.com/3pcs-set-of-portab ... jpjqrzdzi0

Cheers, a recommendation from Lt. Bob for cheap gear is always good. I'll get these. Levelling beam and crowning file are gonna be easy, it was the nut slotting files I was struggling with.

yeah .... I imagine the metals so-so and if you were doing hundreds of nuts they'd prolly go dull but for what I do they've been holding up just fine

[JD01]

Argh, nothing is simple... the tuner posts are slightly too big for the holes in the headstock! I'm gonna have to make them bigger.

[muttley]

Argh, nothing is simple... the tuner posts are slightly too big for the holes in the headstock! I'm gonna have to make them bigger.

That's fairly normal. What you need to do it properly is a reamer. Careful trying to open them up with standard drill bits or a round file if you want a neat job. A violin peg reamer is what I use.

[JD01]

Argh, nothing is simple... the tuner posts are slightly too big for the holes in the headstock! I'm gonna have to make them bigger.

That's fairly normal. What you need to do it properly is a reamer. Careful trying to open them up with standard drill bits or a round file if you want a neat job. A violin peg reamer is what I use.

Ah, another random tool
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116094465361 ... ikQAvD_BwE

[muttley]

That's fairly normal. What you need to do it properly is a reamer. Careful trying to open them up with standard drill bits or a round file if you want a neat job. A violin peg reamer is what I use.

Ah, another random tool
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116094465361 ... ikQAvD_BwE

Again that would probably work for a few instruments and I can't vouch for the quality of the steel. Slow and steady is the rule with them as they can cut quite fast if used aggressively. Keep it at the correct angle and half turn then quarter turn back. Clean out the flutes every few turns. Work from the back until you have the correct size hole on the front when using them on a tuner holes, that way the larger diametre hole is covered by the tuner casing. Keep an eye out so the hole is correctly positioned on the front.

Work it on a few test pieces to get the feel for it. Once you have the correct depth on the fist hole you can use a bit of tape to mark how deep you need to go.

[JD01]

Cheers, aside from possibly pickups when I get that far, I'll have spent way more on tools that the guitar for this one.

[WhiskeyJack]

Careful trying to open them up with standard drill bits

I would go so far as to say definitely do not use drill bits. I tried it with my Sparrow when i was making mods to it and the pot holes needed a bit of expansion. In my own arrogance i used a drill bit and told myself go slow, go easy, take your time ... ZZZIPPPPPPPPPP, off it went rght thru the fucking thing. Fucked the surface clear coat and paint. Luckily a little bit of CA glue in the crack sort of hid it and also it was entirely covered by the washers and reflector knobs.

Don't be a Shan, Get a reamer.

[WhiskeyJack]

Cheers, aside from possibly pickups when I get that far, I'll have spent way more on tools that the guitar for this one.

That is kind of how it goes. Think of it no differently than playing music. Try and think of a few other things you want to do down the road on top of this project to justify it all.

A ukele kit for Dodd 2.0 and 3.0. ???