Members WRGKMC Posted January 16, 2012 Members Share Posted January 16, 2012 Got my straight straight edge the other day and speced out all my guitar necks and leveled up their fretboards.http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-M-I-notche...-/260826764963 I had several fretboards that way too much relief. I had been leveling them by the frets and they were having intonation issues. After leveling the fretboard I was able to then properly level the frets to match. It made a big difference in tone and playability with several of them. I had made one from an alluminum ruler years ago for gibson scale and my Les Paul was fine as its always been. Some of the strat necks were awful. I been spending time getting rid of high spots on frets after the fretboard leveling and still need to recrown several. I have many crowning files but I brroke down and bought one of these today. http://www.firstqualitymusic.com/c_7/p_GU-FQR.aspx They let you work frets in from the sides crowning and you dont have to worry about marring the fretboard. You work into the center leaving the center level. I'm used to using a traditional file but I use super jumbo frets and some of them really need the sides taken down some. I still want to get some diamond files. They can make short work in comparison to a steel file but one tool at a time. The half round are good for rounding the ends too. I may try the triangle at some point too. Its a more traditional method that is more time consuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Wood Wizard Posted January 16, 2012 Members Share Posted January 16, 2012 I just made one of those a few weeks ago! THe stewmac one is like 70 bucks so i made one out of a nice aluminum ruler for 7 bucks instead. Those curved files are pretty sweet, I have the stewmac full circle one (couldn't make it myself lol) and its great.I also use these and they are really helpful. http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200...ng-Sticks.aspxHeres some fretwork I did recently, It came in a horrific mess and just had enough meat left for a solid leveling. Ignore the crappy ends, there wasnt much to work with, someone went too happy with the file before I got my hands on it. You dont even wanna see the before pic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 17, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 17, 2012 Nice job. I can get frets to look that good, but its really hard work without the right tools for the right job. I'm really hard on frets with all the string bending I do, so maintaining them with the lest amount of fret material removal is the key.I too used a notched ruler and its worked fairly good. I like this leveler allot better though. It was only $12 so it was a good deal. Its thick and stiff unlike an alluminum ruller that can flex. The bottoms flat as well so it seems to a better job for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted January 18, 2012 Members Share Posted January 18, 2012 That's a killer price. I may have to grab one of those. Thanks for the heads up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Canadian Jeff Posted January 18, 2012 Members Share Posted January 18, 2012 I got one off ebay for $17 the other day. It's sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grunge782 Posted January 18, 2012 Members Share Posted January 18, 2012 Originally Posted by The Wood Wizard I just made one of those a few weeks ago! THe stewmac one is like 70 bucks so i made one out of a nice aluminum ruler for 7 bucks instead. Those curved files are pretty sweet, I have the stewmac full circle one (couldn't make it myself lol) and its great. I was one of those fools to buy them . Overpriced as hell, wish I had known about the GMI ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 18, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 18, 2012 They didnt have places that sold them that cheap until recently, or at least I was never able to find them so dont feel bad. One fret job pays the cost you would have paid for having it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Canadian Jeff Posted January 18, 2012 Members Share Posted January 18, 2012 I've noticed pretty much everything Stu-Mac sells can be found on ebay for dirt cheap from other sellers now. While we're going on about notched levelers, how about fret leveling beams themselves? I paid $15 for a 24" bit of 1x2" 11 ga. box steel with one of the 1" sides ground flat. What's that worth from Stu? $70 or so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 18, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 18, 2012 There are more and more items poping up more and more now. When you compare that to when I first started doing repairs i had to buy everything through a music shop and many wouldnt sell them to you. They wanted the service business. Stu Macs beams are a ripoff $36 for 8" $46 for 16" and $73 for 24" I can use the same notched straight edge for fret leveling so I dont need a beam. I may want to get some new radiused blocks. One of mine is pretty beat up. The metal ones are nice but I'm not spending $132 for one. The $15 wood blocks are good enough for radiusing. I only use the 9"and 12" radiuses. I dont see enough 7.5" to bother getting one. Anything flatter than 12" I can wing it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 18, 2012 Members Share Posted January 18, 2012 The more I look around eBay in recent months the more Stewart Mac inspired items are popping up for a 5th the price. I've purchased a fret bender for 40 dollars less than S/M, a notched ruler (like the one linked in the OP) for $15, radius gauges for under $10, spring loaded and grounded nippers for under $20, fret end bevel tool for under $20, set of radiused sanding blocks for at least half price, etc. I also saved huge on my nut files and fret files by buying on eBay.Moral of the story: {censored} Stew-Mac.Unfortunately for me I can't buy the skill to use this stuff well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Canadian Jeff Posted January 19, 2012 Members Share Posted January 19, 2012 How necessary is a fret bender? I've got a wicked Squier here I wanna refret as the only thing I don't like about it are the silly little vintage frets it has. I'm sure I've seen people just roughly bend them and then let them take up the proper radius as they're banging them home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted January 19, 2012 Members Share Posted January 19, 2012 Originally Posted by Canadian Jeff How necessary is a fret bender? I've got a wicked Squier here I wanna refret as the only thing I don't like about it are the silly little vintage frets it has. I'm sure I've seen people just roughly bend them and then let them take up the proper radius as they're banging them home. Having the frets bent to a radius near (or just under) the radius of the board is pretty important. The thicker the fret wire, the more important it is. Fret ends will likely spring up if they aren't radiused properly. That said, just order your wire from Lmii. It comes pre radiused and is usually close enough for a good fret job. Actually it come's over radius'd, about 7 or 8", for most boards. Using wire that's slightly over radiused can help keep the fret ends down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Canadian Jeff Posted January 19, 2012 Members Share Posted January 19, 2012 I've got some on the way from Stu-Mac. I know, we just started hating on them, but I was picking up one of their fret crowning files. The good crowning files on ebay are almost as expensive and don't look quite as nicely made. Anyway, I'm sure I'll stumble onto some good home-brew way of radiusing frets before I actually need to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted January 19, 2012 Members Share Posted January 19, 2012 Originally Posted by Canadian Jeff I've got some on the way from Stu-Mac. I know, we just started hating on them, but I was picking up one of their fret crowning files. The good crowning files on ebay are almost as expensive and don't look quite as nicely made.Anyway, I'm sure I'll stumble onto some good home-brew way of radiusing frets before I actually need to do it. There are some things stewmac is great at and even though their prices are sometimes way too high for tools, the quality is usually really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 19, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2012 If you've ever radiused fretwire trying to bend it by hand to match the radius of the fretboard, you'll quickly learn to value a bender. I go with a slightly higher arch in the center of the fret so when its pressed down the ends wont pop up. Ends poping up is a nightmare if the frets too flat. I manually bend a 3" piece of fretwire standing on its tang around a 6" piece of PCV pipe then straighten it slightly so its a little more archec than the fretboard, then cut pieces a bit wider then the fretboard. I may use some fret bender plyers I made to tweak them to fit the fretboard. Fret bender plyers are trickey though cause you can wind up getting a sharp bend in the fret which can cause a high spot on the fretboard. Hammering or pressing frets in wont flaten a kink in a fret. Thats why its so important to get a nice smooth arch to the fret. You wont have to remove so much material after seating them to remove high spots. Stu Macs prices have always been for someone in the repair business who earns that money back. They supply good quality tools and supplies. They probibly have manufactures make the stuff for them to sell exclusively. Since the internet has made purchasing so easy for DIYers, theres going to be people cashing in on items that can be sold directly to them instead of vendor who adds his markup of 100% or more over cost. That exclusivity Stu Mac has enjoyed is quickly being erroded by copycats and direct sellers on EBay who make their profit through smaller margins and volume and if they dont keep competitive prices or have occasional sales, they may be in trouble in a Nitche market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 20, 2012 Members Share Posted January 20, 2012 Originally Posted by mrbrown49 Having the frets bent to a radius near (or just under) the radius of the board is pretty important. The thicker the fret wire, the more important it is. Fret ends will likely spring up if they aren't radiused properly. That said, just order your wire from Lmii. It comes pre radiused and is usually close enough for a good fret job. Actually it come's over radius'd, about 7 or 8", for most boards. Using wire that's slightly over radiused can help keep the fret ends down. The funny thing is Stewart-Mac is one of the uncommon places that sells you the wire straight. You can buy the exact same fret wire for the same price from Warmoth and it comes pre-bent to around 8" or so, like you mentioned. Of course Warmoth doesn't sell benders. See the pattern?Oh, for anyone interested, there's a seller on eBay who sells $15 manual fret benders. It's just a notched piece of brass that allows you to grip the pre-cut fret pieces to a more deep angle before slapping them into the fret board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 24, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 ^^^ Its usually unradiused when you buy it by the pound. If you buy precut its usually radiused. Got that 1/4 round file yesterday and set about trying it out on a few fretboards. What I liked about it is I could ride it on the fretboard when working the frets and get the fret shaped to the fretboard radius. With a normal crowning file I'm always worried about taking one area of the fret down more than another. After several fret dressings you start having issues where the frets are no longer level in comparison to the fretboard nor parallel in height to the fretboard. Leveling the fretboard with the notched straight edge, then leveling the frets is one option and surely used with new fret installs. With this fret file I can ride it along the fretboard next to the fret and level the fret to the fretboard if the frets are off. It doesnt eliminate fret rocking or normal leveling chores but working the file this way across the frets does detect high spots and helps to take them down an even height off the fretboard if you work it at a consistant angle. I may need to try a few more fretboards to verify how well it works, but the two I did last night especially the one with super jumbo frets worked very well. The only place I see where it wouldnt work is with a worn fretboard, but my Steinberger was pretty worn between frets, but the edge closest to the fret was still well radiused so the file edge did follow that. The other I did was a maple tele neck. I did tape it off because I had to smooth and polish afterwards but it seemed to work well on that one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nothingstock Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Please see my "Silvertone Archtop" post. It's a mid-60's in need of a bridge and tailpiece, but it was given to me. There's a small warp at the body joint that I need to address to make it playable. I am not sure how far I need to go to do that. Please check out the complete post and any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks, guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nothingstock Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Make that "Straightening a Silvertone neck" post.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members charvelstrat81 Posted December 1, 2012 Members Share Posted December 1, 2012 I just ordered the one from ebay by GMI http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-M-I-notche...item3cba7c96a3cant beat it considering stew-mac is charging $70 plus shipping for the same damn thing!I am going to start to level/dress/crown my own frets where i the cheapest place to get the files,levels i will need?stew-mac is really high with their prices on most of those things too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members timallums Posted December 1, 2012 Members Share Posted December 1, 2012 Originally Posted by charvelstrat81 I just ordered the one from ebay by GMI http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-M-I-notche...item3cba7c96a3cant beat it considering stew-mac is charging $70 plus shipping for the same damn thing!I am going to start to level/dress/crown my own frets where i the cheapest place to get the files,levels i will need?stew-mac is exuburant with their prices on most of those things too Some would say exorbitant... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted December 1, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2012 Stuart has allot of stuff you cant get anywhere else. Their tool quality is excelent and I still buy select items from them. Luckily they arent the only game in town any more for other things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Canadian Jeff Posted December 2, 2012 Members Share Posted December 2, 2012 a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sillypeoples Posted December 2, 2012 Members Share Posted December 2, 2012 I am just about ready to take on a level and crown....just can't believe a set of concave crowing files is $100. It's more the principle then the price....you just know if Harbour Freight had them they would be like $7. Curious...since you guys got the notched leveler...do you put any value in putting stress on the neck for a level and crown? You have probably seen those jigs where they pull the neck down simulating string tension...THEN start working on the frets. Seems the tried and true method of getting the neck flat makes sense.. Curious how Suhr or some of the big boys do it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jamesrad Posted December 2, 2012 Members Share Posted December 2, 2012 IN ON you can buy manual fret benders for 10$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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