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A tool based on another tool that you find is a go-to tool and would not make a lot of commercial sense to produce. Do you have any? I have one. Just one. Sand paper glued to a stiff (that part is important) card scraper. I find endless uses for it like trueing kerfed lining ends and neck setting (to name just a few uses.)

What others exist?

Mike

A fine file with one narrow edge ground flat as to enable nut slots (and many other applications) to be tweaked on only one edge of file.


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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

This doohickey made from acrylic with a perpendicluar line scratched ito it.
I use it all the time for layout and alignment.
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

X-acto saw blade made into a flexible scraper.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Granite-topped tablesaw used as a truing/flattening surface. I know it's not ground to as high a tolerance as my truing plate, but it's pretty darn flat. It also makes a good coaster...


Ken Jones
Mountain Song Guitars

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

And along the same lines as Pat's idea, the perennial favorite, a razor blade with a hook burnished into the edge. Makes an awesome little scraper for leveling drop fills and such. One of my most reached-for tools.


Ken Jones
Mountain Song Guitars

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Oh, also, I like using a 4' rope light for inspecting guitar interiors.


Ken Jones
Mountain Song Guitars

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

1-foot lengths of PVC pipe in various diameters, used as sanding blocks. Lots and lots of small hardwood sticks in various widths, with the sides beveled like chisels--also used for sanding. A walnut stick about 3/16" thick with a shallow groove needle-filed along one edge--used with very fine sandpaper to re-crown frets. Mike, I really like your card scraper sanding plate. That's a great idea.

Ok, I'm stealing the pvc pipe idea. That's awesome!

For 40 years I have used this fine toothed hacksaw blade to shape nut slots for strings 3 through 6. Recently I cut one end down to shape exit ramps at the bridge. The size of the blade gives me good control of the cuts.





Michael

Had this dial indicator and spent the evening making this gauge. Not sure it qualifies.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Mike, I adhere sandpaper to the sticky side of the mylar pick guard material. It's a trick I picked up here on the forum I think. I use it for flossing the heel of the neck to the body. The sandpaper stays flexible but won't rip. Used the same 1" strip of 100 grit on at least 8 guitars by now.

Phil, that is a GOOD idea! Michael, like it a lot! Tom, what is that used for? Top thickness?

The starting idea was to take an existing tool, adapt it to other purposes which are not commercially viable. Or, if they were commercially viable, they would be ridiculous expensive.

Mike: Correct, checking plate thickness. It has a depth of about 9" so you can check up to 18"wide or so. Have never built any thing over about 16" though. I have a thickness sander and normally just check around perimeter but this will be nice to have anyway. Take care.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

This is a pretty common one I guess, but I don't think I've seen a commercial one. I have seen lots of shop made versions though, which were the inspiration for mine: Binding scraper / thicknesser, made from an old plane iron (which could use some sharpening, oops...), a couple of bolts and some wood.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

A sharpened piece of scrap to clean glue squeeze out.

I think Arnt's binding scraper/thicknesser. Simple and very stout. Looks easy to adjust, too.

This is yet another David Collins idea that we use in our shop and I made one for my home shop too. The uses are countless and include a nice stable platform for crafting nuts and saddles or simply to beat the crap out of something like an Ov*tion.....

There is more to the design than meets the eye too. The leather is important in providing a surface to dig one side of a file into for applications such as filing down, and flat, nut ends for that "built-in" feel that some manufacturers use for their nuts.

It all started with a scrap 16lb chunk of steel to provide the weight and hardness. Lots of ways to make an anvil so your own creativity is the limit.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Here's an old favorite that lots of folks use:

The half pencil which is excellent for marking the "do not cut below" point when making a nut.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I think it would take less time to count the non-improvised tools in our shop than the improvised ones. I think I do have an old screwdriver laying around somewhere that hasn't been modified.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

David, I can relate. I even 'modified' the half pencil thing; with a handle consisting of a thin piece of wood superglued to the top, along its length... I have lots of re-purposed screwdrivers, spatulas, knives, files and the like. Not to mention the many not so pretty 'plywood & drywall screw' class single operation fixtures, lots of those!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Someone once told me that if necessity was the mother of invention, then frustration was the father of progress. Progress requires frustration and inventive solutions. I've seen a bunch here!

Switchable magnets are not new. But maybe some of these uses will be of help to someone. They have been for me every day.

Here is a magenitc feather board. I paid about $7 for each switchable magnet at Harbor Freight. I can position this very exactly and very quickly - once for each repeated cut if needed. It makes for very consistent cuts and is also a safety tool since it keeps my hands and fingers far from the blade. Often the feathers are within 1/4" of the blade when cutting thin veneers and bindings. When not needed one of its magnets holds it within reach on the bandsaw frame. Cutting each of the first feathers 1/8" short allow for easy accurate placement of the wood inside the first feather without any tension. (I found that using miter slot secured feather boards was very slow and often could not be positioned easily.)








This is a magnetic low fence. Often my regular fence is too high for small or thin items. The low fence lets me lower the guide bearings much lower closer to the wood and gets the regular fence out of the way of my hands. The magnets stick to the regular fence, not the table, so that I can postion the low fence by moving the regular fence and tightening it down. This keeps it completely square and easy to position accurately. It stores on the frame too, but I find I use it more than the regular fence.






Here's a magnetic drill press fence and clamp holder. It has two fences of different heights depending on which way the fence is turned. It also has two tee nuts that can secure hold down clamps for clamping small items. I use this a lot to increase drill press accuracy. I can clamp my fretboard to the high fence and drill side fret markers very accurately.








This is a magnetic high fence. I use it mainly for resawing back veneers. The magnets stick to the regular fence so that I cam move the high fence by moving the regular fence. I can easly adjust the regular fence accurately by a few thousands, which makes small accurate adjustments for resawing back veneers. Note the pieces of paper used as shims under the magnets to achieve a perfectly square fence to the table. The two 3/4" pieces of plywood laminated together make for a very stable and stiff high fence. The magnets are staggered to increase stability.