Erlewine Neck Jig

Very well constructed. Makes guitar set ups a breeze!

I found this Jig to be a great "Luxury" item in the shop. If you really want to get accurate with fretwork, this rocks! It does take a bit of getting used to for sure. There is a bit of a learning curve in getting a guitar to sit level and straight on the board, and getting the neck to be straight/level on the beam and at the right height. I would imagine that with a bit of usage and experience, adjusting the dial indicator heights and guitar leveling will become easier. Those offset dial indicator bolts are a pain to adjust. The guitar alignment moves out a bit as you are tightening down the ratchet straps so you need to always check the neck/guitar position as you secure the guitar. Once the guitar is positioned and secured, it works great. Two main complaints: 1. It would be nice if the offset dial indicator bolts were made easier to adjust (some sort of threaded inserts). 2. Would be nice if the jig had a coating of varnish on it just to make it look a little more finished and improve durability though! Cheers!

Very accurate results can be achieved with this tool. I'm actually bending this neck convex for awhile to reverse some bad warping before inlays and frets. We should have had these years ago! Only problem was one of my dial indicators froze up. but they replaced it no charge. Stew Mac treats their customers right.

3 and a half stars. The jig does work nicely, and all the parts on mine are solid and required no fiddling. There are however a few things that I would change (and will do so with mine when time and money is available). First, the strap that pulls down on the nut area does not lock securely by any means. You need a small C clamp on the strap to keep it from slipping. Second, the bent lag bolts that support the dial indicators are a bit of a pain. You need vise grips to adjust the height and squareness of the indicators, and the machine thread portion isn't long enough. Eventually I'll replace these by adding blocks to the side of the board and installing threaded rod with T nuts to allow the offset required for the indicators. Third, there should be about ten additional threaded inserts provided for custom placement, or at the very least they should be available through stewmac. Fourth, the leveler feet and neck supports need a larger flat area for safer and more positive support. Despite these faults, the neck jig is easy to use once you've done it a few times.

I got this jig several months ago, finally got to using it after having moderately poor results without simulating string tension. I have now done fret leveling of an electric fingerboard and redone an steel string acoustic one with a hump at the join. Boy, does it ever get the fingerboard flat. Yay. However, regarding QC, I have had trouble with the neck supports not fitting their bushings, the pads falling off the body support jacks. The straps being hard as heck to get to release. The finish sanding could be better. The wood used is good. The dial indicators seem high quality. BUT, barring all this, this jig is just the ticket. I have been told "aw you don't need that" Well, I disagree. If you have the $$$ get it. I can now level a fingerboard repeatedly and consistently with the same exact procedure and effort. Yay again. Stew mac will support you if you have any problems with it.

A well made and finished tool. I read the reviews and was pleased to see the complaints addressed and fixed in this current issue. I am a master machinist with four decades of building everything from NASA Spacecraft to Nuclear Submarines so I know something about quality. This a worth every bit of the price.

Great for fret leveling, and to straighten twisted necks. Thanks a lot

This along with Dan's Dvd's illustrating its use will open up all kinds of new possibilities in neck alignment and fretting

I've just done my first fret levelling job with this tool.... Really easy to use...i don't know how i could have done without for years!! I think STEWART MACDONALD'S should just improve the way the dialers are fixed...The DVD given with is really fine but please for the foreign customers put subtitles on Dan DVD,(in english at least, cause it's easy to understand by reading explainations, but also french and german for example) Everyone should buy this tool!

This thing works as advertised but the build quality of the jig itself is pretty bad. Holes pre-drilled on mine were not complete and the holes that were there had blowouts. The amount of work that it takes to make this not harmful to guitar finishes is ridiculous. The included video even shows you how to soften the edges on the neck rods and Dan himself uses leather (not included...)on some parts. I think for the amount of money this costs, perhaps Stew-Mac could make it a little nicer AND ready to go. I used a version of this at the Galloup School of Lutherie that worked much better than this and would have cost much less to build. It's only saving grace is that after much tweaking it does work as advertised and customers seem to be impressed by it. My fret dresses and fret jobs are rocking but I expect more for a tool at this price point. Come on Stew-Mac! Step it up!