Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm going to invest in a good reamer - been using a repair reamer that works ok but feel it's a worthwhile investment for a better fit.

So, which angle are most of you using & is there a specific reason why?

Thanks,
Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I use both , but if I had to pick one I would go with the 5

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I use a three degree taper. Grumpy recommended it some years ago, and I've gone with it ever since.

3 deg, easier to get the string balls through, though harder and more expensive to get unslotted bone pins. Ebony is easy from LMI though.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Find a reasonably priced reamer first....then buy pins to match.
I think 5degree pins are more available

Thanks for the replies so far.

LMI has better pricing on the reamers, about $46 for either taper.

All of my builds so far have been 5 degree, but LMI has a better selection of 3 degree than 5 degree and good pricing IMO. Stewmac offers more 5 degree, higher price, but StewMac is closer so in a pinch I could drive there & pick up.

I see a lot of Asian pins on Ebay, bone etc., does anyone know what taper they typically are?

Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I use both. If you slot and ramp your bridges the 5 degree works fine with a fully tapered hole. 5 degree is a little easier to fit and pull the pin on a tight fit.
3 degree pins do allow the ball end to pass through easier. If I was going to buy A reamer it would probably be the 5 degree

Where do you tend to buy your pins? Most suppliers seem to have good selection of one or the other. I have reamers for both, but most of my pins are sourced at LMII, so the 3 degree gets the most use.

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I prefer 3 degrees because of it's easier to get the string ends through the holes. This is LMI territory but they mostly have slotted pins which I hate. The five degree pins are a Stew-Mac feature and they have unslotted pins. I think someone should make unslotted 4 degree pins and I would be the first to sign on. If one is looking for accurate pins that do not have to be fitted individually to their holes, get the Stew-Mac pins. Fit one pin correctly and the other 5 pins will fit correctly to the same depth. Todd Stock put me on to these......................Thanks Todd.
Tom

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

I use 3 degree. Any more taper seems excessive for the task, and 5 degrees only ever seem to be available in black, white, and occasionally dark brown... but the boxwood pins from LMI are my favorite, and they have lots of other colors as well in 3 degree slotted.

That said, 5 degrees do seem to be available unslotted more often, which is a good thing. You can always just turn slotted ones around, but I'd have to fill the slot with something or otherwise mark it, because an unsuspecting person could end up flipping them to the obvious slot-in-use orientation, which combined with a slotted bridge plate would only accelerate the damage compared to slotted pins with unslotted plate.

Does anyone know if Gurian (the source of LMI's pins, I believe) will do unslotted 3 degree pins? Maybe I should become a pin supplier, ordering batches of whatever colors I want and selling off the excess Or maybe I should just get a mini-lathe and make them myself. I'd love to be able to use domestic woods like persimmon, mulberry, pecan, maple, desert ironwood... and rarely available exotics like pink ivory, ziricote, purpleheart, pernambuco, the many shades of Honduran rosewood, anything with some sapwood on the pin, and of course unslotted boxwood.

I make pin sets for other builders and most ask for 5 degree. Actually, no one has ever asked me to make a set of 3 degree pins although I certainly could, it would be no problem. I have both reamers and make 5 degree pins for myself mostly out of habit. It is true 3 would the ball through with no "pushing" but the 5's still work, as long as your bridge/top/plate sandwich is not abnormally thick.

Dennis, a set with sapwood on each pin looks nice - I sold a set like that in ziricote that was killer.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I do quite a bit of repair work & find that many (more than half) of the guitars I see have 5 degree pins. On my own work, I use three degree.

Like Dems and Repubs; about 50/50 and not a whole lot of difference.

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Pat

Like Burton, I make my own. I also make pins for other builders in Santa Cruz. I use what I make too many of or whatever taper I am set up for.
FWIW While I prefer unslotted pins there is a local school of thought that the pin should have a shallow slot and the bridge should also have a shallow slot, both making contact with the string. It's a system used by some very respected luthiers.
I really have no preference other than the pins diameter be on the large size similar to the vintage Martins. The others just seem too wimpy.

Tim