Cheap Ebay Nut Files Review

hobbio

Nut files are expensive, and those of us who only need them occasionally are always on the lookout for a cheaper alternative. I'd really like the Crimson multi tool, but as I don't have £90 to spend I took a punt on a cheap kit from ebay.

@Megii gave me a heads up on these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pack-of-Guitar-Tools-Kit-for-Luthier-inc-Nut-Files-Stainless-Steel-Ruler-Winder-/370788956632?hash=item5654be79d8

Firstly, there are lots of sellers flogging the same kit from about £12 to about £20. I paid just under £14 inc delivery, but the price varies almost daily. Delivery times were quoted as being between 1st-16th September when I ordered on 14th August but they actually arrived a few days ago. 5 days from ordering to deliver direct from China isn't bad in my book. This particular seller kept me updated with a despatch email too. Musn't grumble.

Secondly, my first impressions are that it seems like decent kit for the money. It arrived boxed with the usual badly translated Chinglish blurb, but the pouch itself is fair quality and doesn't feel flimsy. It contains 3 double sided files, each one colour coded and each side numbered from 1-6. There's also a string winder, a steel rule for string spacing and a card string action gauge that I'll be replacing in the pouch with my steel one. A couple of pics below:

The colour coding is unnecessary imo, and it makes the files look even cheaper than they are. Saying that, they have a decent weight behind them and the plastic handles feel sturdy and well-attached. They also arrived with a coating of protective oil in a plastic sheath, which I wasn't expecting. I bought this kit exclusively for the files, but actually the steel rule will come in handy too. It's marked for lots of different spacings and it's designed to sit next to the nut as a guard to protect the fretboard when you're filing.

I'm planning on using them today to sort the plastic nut on my tele kit guitar, and once that's done I'll probably go ahead and cut new bone nuts for it and a Squier strat I have. I'll update this review once I've used them.

axisus

Bookmarked in case I forget. I'm keen to get some cheap nut files.

Sarge

I do hope these turn out ok, but I've a pal who bought a set, he reckons they're too fat, I trust him entirely but have not seen the results as yet.
If these are workable I'm in for a set.

hobbio

Funny you should mention that...

They're ok, but a little bit thick. They cut well enough in the plastic nut I tried them on and they're comfortable to use, but the number 1 file is really more suitable for the number 3 string. I think that this set PLUS an .010 is really what you'd want. I'm about to order one from Stew Mac or somewhere, but once I have that finer file I think I'll be fine.

Still cheaper to do it this way than to have to shell out £90 all at once though, so all in all the eBay set's probably worth the money.  

Sarge

OK good to know, thanks.

I had a suspicion that Mr M.D. Philips the serial guitar butcher was using these

paulnb57

I've got the same set although the action card is metal .........the files are massive, I managed to use the top e file for the bottom E and A slots.....probably OK for a Bass......

Moss

Sarge said:

OK good to know, thanks.

I had a suspicion that Mr M.D. Philips the serial guitar butcher was using these

He uses one of these

http://www.forestandarb.com/res/Stihl MS201T Chainsaw.gif

nutbox

The files are way to big to use and as said the number 1 file just about right for the low e,and they don't really file tha well either. I have tried a few times with them and a exact o saw but both attempts failed,so waiting for more money to by a few files ,you could most probably get away with 3 decent files and just rock the files for the imbetween slots.

hobbio

Yeah, I'm going to get a .010 and .016 asap so I can finish this guitar but after that every time I need to do a nut I'll buy a different gauge. I'll have a full set in no time.

Gagaryn

So to summarise - shite files, nice wallet. I could do with some nut files too, won't be these though, my fears have been confirmed.

Sarge

Could they be used for saddle notches?