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My version of the StewMac nut and saddle sander.

StewMac charges about 180 bucks for one of these. After making one myself, I can understand why. It was a lot of work.

It works pretty well though, especially on saddles. Nuts can be a problem. There is no provision for doing a nut with a angled bottom, which many Martins have, and it can be difficult or impossible to hold onto a nut with a curved back.

nice machining work

Very nice.

Nice work! I had planned to make 1 of those also. Ended up buying it when the price went down. Have never regretted the outlay. I absolutely love it. If you make a lot of nuts and saddles, although the angled bottom kind is a problem, it is worth it's weight in gold. Especially good for making flat and square saddle bottoms and removing just a little of the saddle for pickup installations.

One could probably make a workable version of this thing out of a really dense hardwood, if one were so inclined, although as I said, given the amount of work involved the StewMac price seems pretty reasonable.

Here are some sketches of what I did. I think these cover the main details. The wheels are 1" in diameter and 1/'2" wide black acetal (Delrin).

Impressive machine.

I'm curious, other than getting a flat and true bottom for the saddle, what else does it do? Do you have a picture of it in action?

Check the StewMac website. They have the full sales pitch. :-)

I think the biggest value of it, aside from making the bottom flat and square to the sides, is that it makes it easy to take off a precise amount, possibly taking more off one end than the other. For instance. if you measure the string heights at the 12th fret and decide the treble side has to go down 1/32" and the bass side has to go down 5/'64", it's easy to set that up by using the top screws to adjust how much the saddle protrudes at each end; I used a 32 tpi thread on those screws. so one turn of a screw moves it down (or up) 1/32".

Everything you buy these days is actually just a kit and requires some ingenuity to get the best out of it. This tool is no different. By throwing out some retaining springs, and reversing some adjustment knobs, no machining required for that, I can make nuts and saddles flat on their bottom, as well as thickness wide nuts. Is is very fast and precise to use. I don't mean kind of flat like when you do it by hand, I mean absolutely flat! If you are just a hobbyist, no disrespect here, probably not worth buying. If you do many nut and saddle jobs, this tool is a dream. I have a box of hundreds of nuts and saddles that I made just a little too thin or short before having this tool. I have not made any new additions since having it this past year.

I was wondering about the springs. I initially didn't realize it had springs so I didn't include any. Then I watched the stewmac video and noticed them. From what you say, I infer that they aren't worth the effort.

I am "just" a hobbyist (no offense taken) and you're right, it wouldn't be worth it to me to pay $180 for one. Since I also happen to be a machine shop hobbyist as well, however, I don't mind spending three days making one.

while I do , do them by hand I have a series of flattening plates and after 20 years I can get them flat. The key is repeatability and anything that can help you is golden