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I just finished putting in a pickup using the Stew Mac reamer for the first time. That's pretty slick and easy.

Can anyone share specifics on using it? Pilot hole size? Drill speed? About how long do you take from start to 0.5"? I suspect I was trying to go to fast. It bound up once or twice.

I assume I should be using it very differently from a drill bit. It's not a cheap tool and I don't want to abuse it.

Thanks,
Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

A 3/16" to 1/4" pilot hole followed by a cheepie Harbor Freight step drill up to 7/16". There are 3 in the set and one of them has longer steps, which is the one to use. You don't want to go all the way up to 1/2" on the reamer. Most jacks are metric at 12mm. There is a step on the StewMac reamer before the full 1/2" at the end. That's where you want to stop unless the jack is specifically 1/2" diameter. The extra snug fit on a 12mm jack helps the jack stay in place better. The StewMac reamer is a terrific tool and I can't imagine installing a pickup without it.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Use it on the slowest drill speed. The reamer cuts fast and can get away from you. The key is to keep it perpendicular to the guitar sides.

Variable speed drill and sloooooow. A minute or a little less.

Here you go:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/a2guitars/photos/?tab=album&album_id=113600518747043

I use the StewMac reamer too. To ensure that the end pin jack hole is perpendicular to the body, I made the jig below. The drill guide is clamped to the wood jig which is clamped to the bench top. The drill can slide in the guide, sort of like a horizontal drill press. The guitar sits in a cradle clamped to the bench and aligned with the drill axis. I drill a 1/4" pilot hole with a brad point bit using the jig and then swap out the bit for the reamer without taking the drill out of the jig. I place my neck rest sand bag which weighs about 7 lb on the guitar to help hold it in place during drilling. In my case, I run the drill at full speed and push the reamer forward slowly. I would guess I take about 20-30 seconds to run the reamer to the 15/32" diameter. I stop there and don't go to 1/2" based on a detailed explanation from David Collins in another thread which is worth a read: http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=44971&hilit=forstner. Btw, I got grief from Hesh when I posted this jig in another thread some time ago for still using a corded drill.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

The replies in this thread seem to cover most aspects of using the reamer. I've been installing a lot of endpin pickups recently and the SM reamer has been indispensable. Combined with a reverse spotfacer to counterbore the tail block, installing the endpin unit is a choreographed dance.

A 5/16" (8mm) pilot hole, either freshly drilled or enlarging the existing endpin hole, gives perfect support for the 5/16" shaft of the spotfacer, which is used to reduce the thickness of the tail block from inside to accommodate the endpin unit. A mark ground on the pilot shaft tells me when I've removed enough material. You can get the job done with a custom reverse-ground spade bit, but it likely won't be as clean a result. (I got mine from Travers during a 20% off online sale https://www.traverscanada.com/high-speed-steel-reverse-spotfacers-bayonet-lock-pilot-arbors/p/108779/?keyword=Spotfacer&lite=true&pricelistname=CANSITE

The 5/16" hole is an ideal start to guide the reamer at low speed in a (rechargeable) drill. Even cleaning the flutes of the reamer a couple of times, it's a 30-second job. Don't go past the 12mm (15/32") portion of the reamer (I taped off the 1/2" section as a reminder to stop!). If hand held at low speed, you can manipulate the reamer a bit to ensure the resulting hole is exactly centered on the end graft.

Some tools are expensive, but do the job perfectly and quickly, every time. The endpin reamer and the reverse spotfacer are in that category.

One other thing, both the reamer and the reverse spotfacer can really squeal so I always wear hearing protection.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I had already seen most of those pictures in other threads I reviewed while deciding to spend the money for it in the first place. I did know about the pre-half inch step and that's what I used. But I was heading out the door for work and typing 0.5" was faster. It was a very tight fit, but it did fit. It sure is a lot easier than every other way I've done it before. I'm fairly certain I tried to go too fast. My only real experience with reamers is hand reaming bridge pin holes, so I didn't really know what to do for this.

That reverse spot facer is new to me and very cool. I had done something similar with a disk of wood glued to a dowel with sandpaper on it to clean up the exit wounds back in my pre-reamer days. But I bet I could repurpose end mills sold for pen turning to do the same thing.

Thanks again.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

The reamer can sound like the dragons on Game of Thrones. I shove a towel in the sound hole too and that helps a lot.