Review: GrooveTech Acoustic Guitar Kit
This kit features every practical adjustment tool you’ll need to keep that acoustic motor running.
Recently, CruzTools (primarily known for their roadside tool kits for Harley-Davidson motorcycles, ATV’s, snowmobiles, etc.) sold their company stake of their Powersports tool business and rebranded as GrooveTech. Now, GrooveTech focuses on innovating and developing tools and tool kits for musicians. You may already own their Guitar Multi-Tool, which happens to cram in — Swiss Army-style — every applicable wrench and screwdriver to use on an electric guitar in a tool that you can tuck into your back pocket. But if you own an acoustic and play it often, you’ll certainly need to do some tweaking along the way, and a simple Guitar Multi-Tool may not apply. Which is why GrooveTech introduced the Acoustic Guitar Kit, a grab-and-go kit with every practical adjustment tool you’ll need to keep that acoustic motor running.
The GrooveTech Acoustic Guitar Kit features screwdriver bits, a thickness gauge, a ruler to measure neck relief, string winder, capo, string cutters and a telescopic mirror (in case that pick gets lost or stuck in the nether regions of your acoustic’s body). All of GrooveTech’s tools are professional quality and manufactured to precision tolerances.
One of the most common tweaks I make is truss-rod adjustment, because acoustic guitars are sensitive to temperature and environmental changes that can result in neck relief or back-bow. It’s a relatively easy adjustment to correct on an acoustic, but accessing the truss rod is sometimes a pain, especially if it’s through the soundhole. GrooveTech solves this problem by including a locking-bit driver that allows quick interchange of tool bits that come with the kit. So, for truss rods located at the soundhole, two custom bits were designed with extended L-shaped blades and a profile ball-end tip to help find and seat an unseen truss rod nut. This design allows you to easily rotate the locking-bit driver above the soundhole and make the adjustment without having to remove or slacken the strings. It’s one of those “How come no one ever thought of this!?” inventions. And don’t worry, GrooveTech also includes two custom socket bits for adjusting headstock truss rods. The GrooveTech Acoustic Guitar Kit comes so complete, I don’t leave home without it.
STREET PRICE: $59.95
MANUFACTURER: GrooveTech, groovetechtools.com
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Paul Riario has been the tech/gear editor and online video presence for Guitar World for over 25 years. Paul is one of the few gear editors who has actually played and owned nearly all the original gear that most guitarists wax poetically about, and has survived this long by knowing every useless musical tidbit of classic rock, new wave, hair metal, grunge, and alternative genres. When Paul is not riding his road bike at any given moment, he remains a working musician, playing in two bands called SuperTrans Am and Radio Nashville.