I bought a china made one like yours for around same price...basically scrap...not worth shipping back...bought another a D'Addario for 10 dollars...just as good as a stew mac...Love it.
Just bought this same instrument and it has the same problem. After communication with the vender it is clear they can't get one that is accurate so I will have to live with the problem and just know how far off the metric side string action measurement is. The only reason I didn't send it back is it also came with a set of under string radius gauges and they are pretty accurate. Live and learn. Thanks for confirming what I was also thinking and experiencing.
just re-fretted my strat. brought it up to factory spec using this tool and feeler gauges etc... none of it mattered because I adjusted everything to exactly where I wanted it to make the guitar sound good. If this was an expensive Starret product, accurate to 0.000001 of an inch, at sea-level, read at 72deg, it would make absolutely no bearing on how the guitar should 'feel' and 'sound'. Ears, hands and common sense are the best tools.
When they print it to the ruler, the ink tends to expand or shrink during the drying process of the printing. Especially if the use the silk screen process, most probably the laser type of printing method is far more accurate than the traditional Silk screen printing process.
Good Q. I've done the same exercise on the cheap rulers and came out with the same results (ruler is off). In terms of assessing the accuracy of the calipers, I've used the same calipers for purchasing a lot of small screws, and it hasn't let me down. I can't eyeball or use my plastic Office Depot ruler to tell if a screw is 5/64" vs. 6/64", but measuring with the calipers has consistently led to ordering the correct screws for my purposes. Restoring old guitars is what made me buy the calipers in the first place...!
I have the same tool, I have just done the same measurements and my rule is spot on ! also I don't have the burred edges you mention.. ? to measure accurately don't forget tempreture makes all the difference to callipers & rule !
Nice! That is awesome that yours is right on. I guess there are some good ones out there. And thank you about the comment about temperature, I remember hearing something about that for using metal measuring gauges. 100 thou for every 100 degrees, or was it 10 thou, or 1 thou? hahahaha I will have to look it up.
I dont know the formula, but i had the calipers & rule in room temperature before doing the measurments so they were both the same.. i dont know, but i would think these are all stamped from the same die, ive seen prices for these from £3.50 to £15 ? (I'm in UK) I have just finished setting up my Gibson J45 Custon, and have 1.25 mm low E @ 12f and 1 mm high E @ 12f Strings are DR Veritas 10s. Playing is a dream, not a hint of fret buzz, i'm a hard player as well i'm chuffed as hell !! I liked your video i never thought of checking measurments .. Thanks !
I had one that looked like yours but it was off more than that. The edges were so bad you could cut yourself with it. I only set up my own guitars and they don't need attention that often so I don't have the same feel for this as someone who does it all day. That means it's more important for me to have an accurate ruler. I spent $25 on a good one and since I'll have it for years, I don't think it's a bad investment.
I expect a correct tool if bying something for measering things - this one seems to be cheap crap. Spend some bucks more, good tools getting half the work done.
Rock Writer these are Lee Valley callipers. So, your opinion is what it is but these callipers have been more than reliable and accurate when put up against other $200 pairs.
Alexander James Guitars The increments are so fine just dress down the guauge with a fine draw file, remember they are cheap chinese. Have your calipers calibrated with an engineering plate, for accuracy. The measurments are so little little and minute for the set up, its not that critical. You can use feeler guages but again from china check them for accuracy with your trusted calipers. As a luthier i have been there many times .good luck ! Anyway Donauld Trump is going to see all is made in the states very soon, and back heel china lol
Terrible methodology for testing it Calipers weren't meant to measure that way It's tilted when you hold it up against the ruler,no wonder you're reading it as off Get some feeler gauges and use them to accurately measure it
kinda weird vid its not how to use the tool but him checking it against his calipers ??? not what i thought it was hence the name ???i thought it was how to use the tool ?? guess its me
Brian Kulakowski my tool talk segments usually going into my thoughts and review on the tools, not really how to use them per say. Though this tool is extremely simple. Just place it against the frets for the spot you want to measure and look where the bottom of the string meets the measurement indicated on the string action ruler/gauge.
