I discovered Fret Guru, a luthier tools manufacturer, when we first started our company. For our post-production work, we needed quality guitar setup tools. I stumbled across the owner’s videos on YouTube and realized that they were just like us – guitar enthusiasts who wanted to make their own guitar tools for other guitar lovers. I exchanged a few emails with the the owner, who was a super nice guy, and decided to go with Fret Guru for many important tools because we wanted to support what they were doing.
My first purchases were a Fret Guru leveling bar (I’ll review in a separate post) and a set up tool that I didn’t think I would use all that much – the Fret Guru 2 Precision Setup and Evaluation Gauge.
Turns out, the Fret Guru 2 has been my “go-to” set up tool on every single guitar that has gone out the door. What does it do? Just about everything:
- Dead on accurate action height and relief – very easy to read. Put your feeler gauges away!
- Fret height and fret wear gauge down to the .005”.
- Fret rocker – each side is dead on straight, so you can even use it to check if frets are level.
- Nut slot height – An incredibly fine corner lets you check your nut slot height while filing. You don’t have to put the string back in, tune it up, re-check, de-tune, etc.
- Precise measuring – need to check a nut width or anything else? Built in mm and inches…
My primary use for this tool is for setting relief and action height. It’s a very quick and easy to read reference point. I do own a set of feeler gauges, but don’t pull them out much anymore as the Fret Guru 2 does just about everything I need. From time to time, we use the nut slot addition, which is handy and, genius in my opinion.
As you can see, mine has some wear over the years – but only surface scratches. It has held up to thousands of guitars. The overall build is razor accurate and extremely durable. No question there.
Everything on my workbench has a spot, except for this tool. It goes in the middle of my workspace because I use it almost the entire time I’m prepping a guitar!
See how many 5 star reviews this tool has!
