Here's an online company selling some useful guitar setup tools.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Everyone,

I found this online company that sells some useful guitar setup tools:


www.skyscraperguitars.com


There's a pretty nifty Floyd Rose intonation tool they sell, called a Pick Pocket, which I will be ordering next week.

[XP Rider]

Thanks for the link, Doc. I was looking at notched straight-edges, a little cheaper than StewMac. They have edges for Fender, Gibson, and PRS guitars. Do you know what the difference is? What about my PBG kit G-style guitar, looks like an Epiphone? Thanks.

[DrNomis_44]

Thanks for the link, Doc. I was looking at notched straight-edges, a little cheaper than StewMac. They have edges for Fender, Gibson, and PRS guitars. Do you know what the difference is? What about my PBG kit G-style guitar, looks like an Epiphone? Thanks.

From what I've read, and going by what I understand, the difference between Fender, Gibson, and PRS are as follows, Fender typically use a 25.5 inch scale length on their Strat and Tele necks, Gibson typically use a 24.75 inch (I think) scale length on the necks of all the guitars they manufacture, and PRS use a 25.0 inch scale length on all their guitar necks, which is in-between a Fender and a Gibson scale length, by scale length I'm referring to the distance from the nut to the bridge (allowing for the extra length needed for intonation correction) , so, the frets on a Gibson neck will all be positioned closer together than on a Fender neck, I think the G-style PBG kits use the Gibson scale length, and the F-style PBG kits use the Fender scale length, note that the necks on the Fender Jazzmaster, and Jagstangs use the Gibson 24.75 inch scale length, at least that's what I'm led to believe.

Epiphone typically use the same 24.75 inch scale length that Gibson use, since Epiphone guitars are effectively the same as Gibsons, although they are lower-priced, so, if you're after some fret-leveling tools for Epiphone, or G-Style PBG kits, the ones for Gibsons should work fine.


There's some other differences between Fender, Gibson, and PRS, Fender typically use a 9.5 inch fretboard radius on their modern-style Strat and Tele necks, and a 7.25 inch fretboard radius on their vintage-style Strat and Tele necks, both Gibson and Epiphone use a 12 inch fretboard radius on their necks, whereas PRS use a 10 inch fretboard radius on their necks (going by my PRS SE Custom 24 guitar), I would recommend buying a set of fretboard radius gauges, since they take all the guesswork out of determining exactly what fretboard radius is used, Stewmac sell a nice set of stainless steel radius gauges which you can order online, I've got a set, they have proved to be very useful when setting-up a guitar.


I believe that all the necks in PBG kits use a 12 inch fretboard radius.


One other tool I would recommend buying for guitar setup purposes, is a good set of automotive feeler-gauges, you can buy them from your local Bunnings store or any automotive store, very handy for checking clearances and neck-relief on guitars.

[XP Rider]

Thanks for a comprehensive treatment. Just reading the advertisements, you might think that any notched straight-edge was just like any other. I'm constantly grateful to have access to all the build gurus on this forum.

[Joe Garfield]

Thanks for the link, Doc. I was looking at notched straight-edges, a little cheaper than StewMac. They have edges for Fender, Gibson, and PRS guitars. Do you know what the difference is? What about my PBG kit G-style guitar, looks like an Epiphone? Thanks.

Edit: I saw a pic of the Skyscraper tool and figured it would be way more expensive - their stuff looks VERY nice and reasonable, too! Nice link, Doc!

I got this straight edge which has Gibson (24.75") on one side and Fender (25.5") on the other. Like Doc said, that covers the vast majority of electric guitars other than PRS. The one linked by Doc looks a lot more robust but most people seem to use one similar to this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Guitar-Neck...item3abf6bd654

[DrNomis_44]

Edit: I saw a pic of the Skyscraper tool and figured it would be way more expensive - their stuff looks VERY nice and reasonable, too! Nice link, Doc!

I got this straight edge which has Gibson (24.75") on one side and Fender (25.5") on the other. Like Doc said, that covers the vast majority of electric guitars other than PRS. The one linked by Doc looks a lot more robust but most people seem to use one similar to this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Guitar-Neck...item3abf6bd654

I think $30 for a Floyd Rose intonation tool that actually works, is reasonable enough, Stewmac sell an intonation tool called "The Key" for less money, but I've got one and to be honest, while it does seem to work okay it is a bit finicky to use because it keeps slipping out of adjustment under spring/string tension, so I'm fine with paying some extra money for a Floyd Rose intonation tool that works a lot better than The Key.