Official Luthiers Forum!

Just noticed how similar today's SM offering is to Hosco's.
Except the price.....

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Yeah.... Tell ya what, StewMac better send me a catalog pretty soon or I won't be buying anything in the near future from them. I hate their website. I prefer to browse slowly, page by page....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Hey Colin!

I've used this one for some years now and like it a great deal. I do wish however that Stew Mac would stop calling these things "pullers" because "pulling" frets is not what we do.

Instead the inside bevel of the jaws was originally intended to lift the fret simply by closing the jaws with NO pulling action by the user. This also keeps the face of the jaws firmly in contact with the board and reduces chipping a great deal

I've not used the new one, it's expensive to me and the one that I know and use is half the price if that means anything to you. I would like to evaluate the new one to determine the bevel angle on the jaws.

Reason being the newer fret "lifters" by Channellock and reworked for our purposes have very shallow bevel angles and suck at lifting frets. The original Stew Mac fret lifters had more radical bevel angles.

Anyway if you want to try these you might like them, I do and mine have lifted more frets than I care to remember.

Hi Hesh!
I actually ground some small end nippers like the one pictured to a very fine edge, and still sometimes use them to start a fret lift, progressing with the Hosco's which have a greater bevel angle inside the jaws.
I also use ultra thin (0.1mm) fretboard protectors to help with possible chipping and have not seen any since I started using this in combination with wicking some water under the frets/soldering iron.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

A small pair of end cutters from lowes for 5.99 and 5 minutes at the grinder and you have this same tool for lot's less.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

As an amateur luthier I use the Stew Mac catalog more as an "idea book" where I can see how some tools can be modified to better serve lutherie uses. I do buy some stuff that isn't available at the local hardware store and have been happy with the quality.
For a professional the time needed to find, buy, and modify the tool may not be worth the effort. The cost is a "write off" and the first couple of jobs would cover it.
The internet has not been kind to catalog sales. After perusing someone's glossy publication the buyer can go online and often find the item from a competitor (who doesn't have the expense of a printed catalog) for less money. Stew Mac hasn't sent me a catalog in a while, and I don't blame them - I buy infrequently. They do usually include one with an order. I use the free fret calculator and check out the website while I am there.

I buy from Stew Mac all the time and haven't received a paper catalog in over a year.

Stewmac has gone to an online catalog. $5 if you want a hard copy.

https://www.stewmac.com/catalog?lac_guid=39749af8-9467-e911-80ed-ecb1d775572a&utm_campaign=cat146&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NPA&utm_content=cat146_B_20190426