Buying gauges from stewmac - English or metric?
 

Im looking at getting a gauge, specifically this one. Not sure if it even makes a difference since units can be converted, but I wondered if there's an advantage one way or the other. I'll be using them to set up fender and fender-style basses. Normally I'd just go metric, but I've seen a decent amount of documentation with suggested measurements in fractions of an inch, so I thought I'd check before buying. I'd rather not buy both since they're a bit pricey and I won't use it that often.

i wouldn't know what to do with the metric one. (my USA bias i guess, if i were a tech in japan or germany it might be the opposite situation.)

Same here. I'd buy whatever set was in the format I was most familiar with, then convert if needed. If you're getting info from TB, about everything here is in SAE measurement, not metric.

I have one of those. I believe it's SAE. The important thing is on the back it has a conversion table of inches into decimal places and into metric. IE 1/4" = .250 inches = 2cm. Those numbers I plucked from the air. Math gurus, please ignore.

I've got one in SAE as well, but if I were living in a place that used the metric system as a standard I'd go with that one.

Whatever you're comfortable working in and whatever you're getting recommended measurements in. I tend to use metric but the Fender setup guides, for example, give both imperial and metric.

Thanks for the suggestions!

That's the thing - In my mind I am very comfortable with centimeters and milimeters, but I've gotten a lot of info in SAE units.

Still, I think I'll go with metric. Even though I'm in the US, for small distances I can "see" mm and cm without thinking about it, but I've really no idea about fractions of an inch without a ruler.

I know what you mean. In the UK we operate with a strangr mixture of the two measurements. For long distances I think in miles, for weight it's usually pounds, for height it's feet and inches but for precise distances I think in cm and mm as they seem better suited to small measures than tiny fractions of an inch. That's just my brain though. YBMV.

I'm right there with you. I think of miles per hour, my weight in pounds, and if you ask my height, i'll say 5'10". But mm make a lot more sense to me for distances at that scale.

+1 I picked up the one with inches. Most of the specs I have
seen are in inches.