cheapo tool for bridge pin reaming

[Bob Hammond]

Hi,

The 'perfect' reamer tool might not be available around the corner, and it might be a bit too expensive from a speciality vendor, both in price and the cost of shipping. This idea might be useful for beginners, or the occasional builder (me), or for repair work where a steel reamer just makes the hole worse. (Please excuse me if I get the sequence of pictures wrong.

Materials & Tools: some plastic bridge pins, a vise, a fine-toothed saw, abrasive papers (various grits), CA glue, plastic toothpicks, and a 3x5 notecard (and a failed scrap bridge for practicing the use of the tool):

[Bob Hammond]

Clamp the bridge pin in the vise, and saw down the groove.

[Bob Hammond]

Place the grooved pin on the abrasive paper, and cut a suitable length.

[Bob Hammond]

Put a drop of CA glue on the notecard, and then use a plastic toothpick to apply the glue to the sawn groove so as to fix the paper in place. Trim off the excess abrasive paper so that a single layer goes around the shaft of the pin, and then back into the groove.

Note: a plastic toothpick is useful for applying all kinds of glue, in small amounts into tight spaces.

[Bob Hammond]

Put a smear of glue around the pin, and then wrap the paper around the pin and then fit the paper into the groove, and then lay a bead of CA glue in the groove to fix the paper in place.

[Bob Hammond]

Put the papered pin through the hole of the bridge and then twist as needed to open and taper the hole.

And remember that a set of 6 pins provides for six grits - from coarse to fine as needed.

[Bob Hammond]

If you want get sophisticated, then chuck up a stick of wood on the lathe and center-drill it to make a handy handle.

[Michael Lewis]

How much is your time worth when you do this? I bought a bridge pin reamer for about $20, and have been using it for years. Just pick it up and use it, then put it back in the proper drawer for next time.

Your solution for this process is commendable in that you got the job done and in a fairly neat manner, so KUDOS to you for that. I really recommend the reamer.

[Stephen Neal Saqui]

Cute for the short term...but Luthiers Merc. have a pair that work perfectly forever...and fast!

[Bob Hammond]

How much is the time worth? Well, it depends upon what you're doing and thinking about. For me, making up one of these things doesn't take more than 5 minutes.

There's looking around online and catalogs, and getting distracted with unneeded things.
There's going to a store and shopping, with the time and money involved (again, looking and buying unneeded items).
There's waiting for the item to come, versus just getting the job done.

>> One well-known purveyor of reamers asks $65+ for a reamer. Another one asks $48+ before shipping costs.<<

This works for me, and if it works for you too only once, then it's probably worth your time too.

If nothing else, maybe the most useful thing in the post, is about how to apply glues with a toothpick to restricted spaces.

[Mark Fogleman]

Great idea Bob! I used to have some wooden golf tees customised similarly.

I just had to plug, re-drill and ream all 6 bridge pin holes on a 00 restoration someone had butchered a while ago. The owner wrapped the pins in some kind of tape in the 60's and never bothered to fix it. If the butcher had only used something like this...

[Alan Carruth]

It's not too hard to make a single-fluted (D section) reamer for any custom taper out of metal. Even aluminum will work for a few cuts in wood, and, of course, if you make it out of drill rod it's good forever.

[Clay Schaeffer]

nice idea Bob,
I use a reground tang of a file to ream bridge pin holes, but your tool might be just the ticket to refine and perfect the taper. also I can see where the method may have applications for making reamers for end pins, cello pegs, and other "occasional " uses that don't warrant the amateur buying a specialized tool. For the people who only want to build one guitar (yes they really do exist!) this may be the perfect solution.

[Bryan Bear]

nice idea Bob,
I use a reground tang of a file to ream bridge pin holes, but your tool might be just the ticket to refine and perfect the taper. also I can see where the method may have applications for making reamers for end pins, cello pegs, and other "occasional " uses that don't warrant the amateur buying a specialized tool. For the people who only want to build one guitar (yes they really do exist!) this may be the perfect solution.

There are plenty of people who only want to build one guitar; they are otherwise known as people who haven't yet made a guitar. After stringing up that one guitar (often well before) they usually find themselves in with the rest of us -- planning the next project.

[Joel Nowland]

For years I used a taper point drill bit till I found a reamer I liked. Works great and much lower cost than a good quality reamer.

The one I used is a long length, 3/16" diameter, high speed steel, Fuller brand taper point drill bit.

I used two. one to drill the hole with a 3/16" drill depth stop collar to keep from going too deep and a second with a T-handle on it, twisting it backwards to fine tune the depth.

[Michael Lewis]

Here is the real thing for a very reasonable price. Made of HSS (High Speed Steel) and TiN (Titanium Nitride) coated for longer wear.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-Bridg ... amer/H5808
The single flute (cutting edge) reamer keeps the hole round and burnishes the walls of the holes as it works. This is a very useful tool. Multi flute reamers often make the holes irregular.

One thing to remember about reamers, and most cutting tools, is they cut in one direction only. My point is that if you turn a reamer backwards (and I know that some people do) you not only risk breaking the cutting edge you PROBABLY will do so.

[Bob Hammond]

As a matter of fact, I was just admiring the Grizzly item last night. I've forgotten which brands use 3 degree pins vs 5 degree pins.

There are also repairman's reamers from wttool.com at about $6. I think that they have a 5 degree taper, but since there's a location not too far away from me then I'll go and have a look when I'm in the neighborhood. They probably have a taper gauge on hand for checking the reamer, if I ask nicely.

http://www.wttool.com/index/page/catego ... amer+(WT)/

[Joel Nowland]

I very respectfully disagree though I would never reverse one in metal.

I have been using reamers, 30+ years now, of various styles ( in wood ) for furniture, violins, guitars, knife making, etc... and have never had a problem or damaged the reamers/drill bits turning them backwards.

You only turn them backwards, usually one full turn for the last little bit of final fitting for fine tuning control and burnishes the hole giving it a smooth polished more stable surface for the bridge pin to seat against.

Some grizzly tools are great and I use lot of them, however I bought that Grizzly reamer and only used it for one hole. I don't recommend it.

The reamer on the top is the Stew Mac reamer I use now with a depth stop I added. The two taper point drill bits are what I had used and worked fine. Used the drill bits on 50 or more guitars.

[Alan Carruth]

A 'D' section reamer is single fluted, and cut in both directions.

[Bob Hammond]

Respectfully, I say that I never thought that posting this idea would be controversial. I was just thinking of that 'creaking' sound, that happens when a string is pulled up tight and then tighter towards a pitch, and then another 'creak' happens. I was just trying to suggest a way to fit strings, pins, and holes to each other. I didn't mean to make it all so hard.

That said, I know that 'Experts' have mastered the techniques and tools that work for them, but for beginners and intermediate builders, I know that there is a confusing plethora of tools that vendors offer. The tools range from something as basic as a hardware store reamer and up to complicated CNC machines. No matter what tool is at hand, it takes a study of the purpose of a tool, and then learning of the skill, to make any of them work.