Did my first fret leveling/crowning job - need opinions

[Spacetrucker]

My LP Studio had some pretty bad fret wear so I bought the Thomas Ginex Fret Refinishing method kit on Ebay. It took quite a lot longer than I thought, mainly because I should have addressed this problem sooner( had my LP over 10 years). I think I did a pretty good job, the buzzing the fret wear caused has gone and it plays nicely. The only thing I'm worried about, is that I maybe didn't spend long enough rounding them, as they're pretty flat. Like I said though, they feel good so I don't know whether I should do it some more. I've got some pics, maybe some of you more knowledgeable guys can tell me if you think they look OK

 

[Townshend]

That looks about how Gibsons come stock

[Spacetrucker]

That looks about how Gibsons come stock

 

I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult

[caffeine]

I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult

 

Heh. Yeah, from the pictures, they look a lot like how they came on my V (sort of a trapezoidal cross-section). If it's playing well now, then I'd say you did a good job.

[Spacetrucker]

Heh. Yeah, from the pictures, they look a lot like how they came on my V (sort of a trapezoidal cross-section). If it's playing well now, then I'd say you did a good job.

 

Yeah, when I compare it to my other electrics it feels just as nice, if not better in terms of the frets

[sxyryan]

Thats how the 2 older gibsons I have played looked stock. Its seems they used very flat fretwire back then (a 74 and 75). I don't know if they had had fret levels done. They had been bought new by a friend's father new, and from what he said he didn't play them all that much (2 or 3 years, then put away for 25 or so)

 

If it plays good I don't think it matters all that much. And if they look uniform, that should be a goal too.

[Loudog99]

The 2 fret levels I did on my SX Strat and XV-650- not with that Kit- ended up looking similar. I did the crowning by hand using folded sandpaper as a file to take away the sharp corners. Both guitars played fine and intonation was not an issue. Although, my frets had a bit narrower flat on top than what yours look like.

 

Being anal retentive- I wanted nicer crowns but did not want to spend the money on a fret crowning file. I ended up ordering the wide burr (File) for the 3-in-1 Stew Mac fret file with interchangeable wide, medium, and narrow burrs and used that to crown the frets. It dawned on me that I could just hold the little file in my hands and carefully use it without the handle portion. Worked great and the crowns look awesome now with a nice rounded top. I may fashion some kind of handle for the file in the future.

 

Yours should play fine as is, but you could end up with intonation issues down the road as the frets start to wear. The fret burrs for the 3-in-1 file only cost $10 each, much better than spending $40 plus shipping. I just started to re-crown the frets on my SX Strat last night since the XV-650 turned out so well.

 

HTH,

 

Lou

[veil]

Did you do the fret ends as well? How tough was it as a beginner?

[tumbleweeed]

check intonation

[mdintx]

The first time I used the kit, it came out like that. I was a little more forceful the second time. Plus, I followed up with sandpaper, micro mesh, and some steel wool to polish. Much more nicely crowned.