My first fret level was a success! (Long post, lots of pics)

[Mind Riot]

Some of you may remember seeing some threads of mine asking some fret work questions recently. I've been gathering my tools and supplies slowly over the last few months to get into doing my own fret work, and with the arrival of my crowning file from Stew Mac yesterday I could finally try applying everything I've learned.

 

Now, there are numerous methods for doing this, and I'm not for one second touting mine as the best or only way. This is just how I decided to go about things after learning about various methods, and the way I did it is relatively idiot proof and involves some tools that are perhaps more expensive than some folks would prefer. As I go along, I'll step out of the descriptions periodically to describe some of the known alternatives for doing a particular job.

 

The guitar I decided to try this out on is an inexpensive guitar I've had for about a year, my Squier '51. You guys might have seen pics I've posted of it before, it's the black one with the GFS Dream 90's in it. It always played pretty good, but I knew it could be better. In addition to the fret leveling I did today, I also installed a preslotted Graphtech nut from Stew Mac on this one.

 

So, without further ado, here's how I went about things. I apologize if some of you reading this already know these things, but I'm going to explain some of them anyway for those that don't.

 

I start out by removing the old nut and strings the night before, and I also adjust the neck straight at that time as well. (Removing the nut is not strictly necessary, but it does make the job easier since it's out of the way.) I then take it out to my father's shop this morning, where I went about taping off the fretboard, clamping the guitar in position, and supporting the neck. I use a 1/8" sheet of 60 duro neoprene rubber to hold the guitar in place as well as protect it from the work table and clamps. I support the neck with a stack of copy paper, which works very well as it's easy to build it up to just the right height; you just slide more paper under there until it's just right.

 

After doing the job, I no longer think that clamping the guitar in place is really necessary; there just isn't all that much force involved in leveling frets. You do want to make sure the guitar is protected from the work surface though. I used the neoprene because I had it and it helped keep the guitar in place, but a soft old towel will do the job just fine.

 

Alternatives to the paper stack for neck support: A book, a block of wood, a block of cork, a sack of buckshot or sand, or a premade neck support from somewhere like Stew Mac. Some are more expensive and convenient than others, but they'll all do the job.

 

Of course the travel, time and temperature changes can mess with a neck, so I recheck the neck straightness with my straightedge, using both a backlight and a .0015" feeler gauge. You try to slide the feeler gauge under the straightedge on the frets. If you can slide it under all the frets in the middle of the neck, it's still got some relief that you need to get rid of. If you can slide it under the frets at either end but not in the middle, you've got a hump in the middle. Over the course of adjusting things the night before I came to realize that the 7th fret was high to the point of messing with checking the straightness on the whole neck, so I checked the straightness on both sides of the 7th fret; 1-6 and then 8-21. There was JUST enough distance to where I could fit the straightedge in between the D and G string saddles on the bridge to do this. I couldn't get the feeler guage under any GROUP of frets checking this way; of course I could get it under a few of them or else they'd already all be level.

 

 

Alternatives to my straightedge:The straightedge I'm using is from Stew Mac, and is fairly expensive (about $45). It may not be necessary to pay that much, and some people have found that even cheaper hardware store levels or metal yardsticks are perfectly flat, which obviously saved them money. But the key to that equation is that they had something perfectly flat to check them against. It is entirely possible that I could take my straightedge into a hardware store and check it against some of their stuff and find something that's perfectly flat and buy it. But I would still need that point of reference. So whether you buy an expensive straightedge like I did or not, you will at least need to have access to something flat enough to use as a reference. The Stew Mac straightedges claim to be accurate to within .0015" per foot, so if you're looking for one, perhaps use that as a criteria.

 

I then color the frets with a Sharpie marker. This is an old trick that gives you instant visual confirmation of how much material is being removed from each fret during the leveling process.

 

 

I use radius blocks for leveling frets. A radius block is a block of wood or aluminum that can come in a variety of lengths that has one surface precision milled to a curve to match the radius of the fretboard of a guitar. This allows you to level all the frets at once, all over the neck, without worrying about messing up the radius. I have five of them in 9.5", 10", 12", 14" and 16" radii.

 

Alternatives to the radius blocks: Almost too many to mention: straight, flat smooth mill bastard files with handles superglued to them have been use for years, square steel pipe with at least one side ground flat with sandpaper attached, flat wood block with sandpaper attached, there are a lot of possibilities. But all of those other methods require a bit more control, as they are flat abrasives being used on a curved surface. So several strokes are needed with some precision to cover the entire surface without messing up the radius of the frets. Many of these would obviously be cheaper than my radius blocks, but I considered the blocks to be a worthwhile investment considering how easy they make things and all five of them only cost me about $60.

 

A NOTE ABOUT CYLINDRICAL VS. COMPUND RADIUS FRETBOARDS: A cylindrical board has the same about of radius curve along it's whole length. A compound radius board has more curve at the nut than at the end of the neck, with makes chording more comfortable in the lower register but allows lower action and more bending without note choking in the higher register.

 

If one were to go about leveling a cylindrical board with a file or flat block of wood or steel and wanted to keep the frets a cylinder, remember to use strokes that stay parallel to the center of the neck. Meaning if your file or block is in full contact at the body end of the neck, as you stroke you will eventually be 'filing on air' as you get closer to the nut and the neck tapers. You're following the center line of the neck, not the taper of the neck.

 

If you were to level a compound radius fretboard with a file or flat block, you would follow the paths of the strings with your strokes. Meaning your strokes in the center of the neck would be perfectly straight and parallel to the neck's center line, but as you move out toward the sides your stroke would follow where the strings would be if they were on the guitar.

 

You can also put a slight compound radius into a cylindrical board's frets by using this method on them.

 

Using radius blocks such as mine on a compound radius board requires using more than one block, to match the changing radii of the board.

 

Flat files or blocks with sandpaper are certainly cheaper than my radius blocks, but they require a more controlled, elegant and precise method. Back to the project...

 

 

I very carefully place double stick tape on one of the radius blocks so that there is no gap between the tape to mess up the surface. I then cut a piece of 320 grit sandpaper with about 1/8" extra on all sides to attach to it. You have to make sure you use a sandpaper that can cut metal, either the gold like I'm using or the black wet-or-dry will usually do it. Finishing paper (blue green) can break down too quickly on metal.

 

 

Once it's attached, I bend the edges upward so the sandpaper doesn't catch on the frets. You can see the curve of the radius block nicely in this pic. This guitar has a 9.5" radius, so that's the block I use.

 

 

Tune in next post, I have too many pics for just one...

[360]

This is great so far - thanks!

[Mind Riot]

I then start to level the frets, using light, even pressure at first, being careful to keep the block straight with the center of the neck. I say at first because this particular guitar needed more aggressive leveling than I thought it would, so I used a bit more pressure once I realized there would need to be more metal removed to do the job.

 

When doing this, it's very clear the kind of advantage the marker trick gives you in watching what's being removed. I took this pic midway through leveling, so you can see where there's still some marker left on the tops of some of the frets, indicating the need for more leveling.

 

 

After some time (more than I expected, I have to be honest, it took more than I thought it would), there is a fresh contact point on all frets. Although it's not pictured, I then put four layers of tape on the 12th fret and did a few more strokes on frets 13-21 to add a bit of fallaway. This makes the higher frets a tad lower than the rest to facilitate very low action. We're talking about only a few thousandths of an inch, not much at all.

 

 

I recolored the fret tops with the Sharpie, and then it was time to bust out my brand new recrowning file I got from Stew Mac. I decided to get the diamond file just in case I keep persuing guitar repair and end up refretting one of my guitars with SS fret wire. I'm fascinated by the concept of SS wire, and I didn't want to use a regular toothed file only to have to pay again for a diamond file later.

 

Remarking the frets like this again allows you to instantly see where material is being removed by looking at where the marker is left. You want a thin, clean line of marker left on the top of the fret after recrowning so the string has an accurate contact point with the fret and everything will intonate properly and play cleanly.

 

Alternatives to my crowning file: This is another subject where there are almost too many methods to mention. The old school craftsman way is to use a small, fine cut triangle file to shape the fret, doing one side at a time. This is certainly the most elegant solution, as it allows you to shape whatever kind of crown you like on the fret after leveling, whereas a crowning file like mine only cuts one shape. The triangle file is also almost certainly the least expensive method, as you can use a fine file from the hardware store, or a small jewelers file, or what's known as a cant saw file, or others. None of these files are terribly expensive, anywhere from $4 to $26 depending on where you get them and what type you choose.

 

The downside to that method is that it requires more finesse and experience than a simple crowning file that does the whole job for you at once.

 

There are also numerous types of crowning files out there other than mine. Mine is expensive ($80), and is absolutely NOT required to do the job well. I got it because I may end up trying out some Stainless Steel fret wire in the future and a diamond file IS required to work with that stuff. It also cuts a little cleaner and doesn't leave marks on frets as much as regular toothed files do.

 

But there are many different files out there that will do the job just fine, though many of them will require more scratch removal than my diamond one. Regular toothed crowning files come in a variety of shapes as well as widths for different fret wire, and can be found at www.stewmac.com, www.warmoth.com, www.lmii.com, and other places. They'll run anywhere from $25 to $45.

 

 

Back to the project...

 

Recrowning is some delicate stuff, and I don't mind admitting that I overdid it the first couple frets, removing all the marker from some spots, and had to run the radius block over the board again a couple times and start over. But the second time I was more careful, and was able to get a pretty neat, clean contact point on the tops of the frets. I'm sure I'll get better at this the more I do it, this time it still looked a tad rough.

 

 

After the recrowning was done, I used the 'hand swipe' method up and down the neck with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper wrapped around my hand to remove filing marks. This involves wrapping a piece of sandpaper around your fingers and swiping up and down the neck with it; the idea is that your fingers will bump the frets and then skip over the top, thus removing lengthwise marks from the sides of the frets without messing up the contact point. I now think that this was unnecessary, for two reasons: One, the 300 grit diamond file doesn't leave much in the way of marks on the frets (though if you use a different file, you may have more marks that are harder to remove), and two, I use Micro Mesh for polishing the frets and it removes marks just as well from the sides of frets as the sandpaper does. As for the tops of the frets, I'll explain more on that later.

 

 

Be right back with more...

[Mind Riot]

I used the Micro Mesh pads from Stew Mac to polish the frets and remove some marks, going up through the grits all the way to 12000. Micro Mesh is some cool stuff, and leaves a polish that is really something to see. If you're curious, just do a google search on it, it's rather fascinating.

 

Alternatives to Micro Mesh: Once again, a bunch of different ways to polish. Some folks use progressively finer sandpaper, some use 0000 steel wool, some use a Dremel with a polishing wheel, some use metal polish. All of these will work and leave a good shine on frets. BUT it must be remembered that scratch removal and polishing are two different things. On my project, the Micro Mesh was enough to remove marks AND polish (or so I thought, heh), which is why I like the stuff so much. But steel wool, metal polish, or a felt Dremel wheel might not be enough and you may have to remember to use some sandpaper to remove scratches left by the leveling and crowning process. Also remember not to hit your contact point with anything too abrasive that will remove too much material, otherwise you'll lower the fret height and all the leveling and crowning work will be for nothing. AFTER marks have been removed, then you can polish. My particular method does both, because it's the Micro Mesh, but if you're using something different remember the difference between scratch removal and polishing.

 

 

 

Now, here's my only real mistake that I made that I can find here, and it is a bit of a big one, in my opinion. I went about polishing the frets, and they looked very nice, but it wasn't until I knelt down and looked very closely and from different angles that I noticed that there were still marks from the 320 grit paper on the contact points on the frets that the Micro Mesh did not remove. So the frets were highly polished, but the contact point was a highly polished rough spot, if you can dig that. I could feel the roughness when I ran my fingernail over it perpendicular to the neck, just barely.

 

The hand swipe hit the sides of the frets only, because I didn't want to mess up my contact point. I could have hit the fret tops with 400 and 600 and then 800, but I was afraid that would mess up the levelness of the contact points.

 

I thought about it for a bit, and decided to leave it and see what happened. (I can tell you that aside from being able to see it if you look really close, it turned out fine. You can't feel it when you play.)

 

What I learned from this was that on my next fret job I'm going to do my primary leveling with 320 grit paper, but after the flats are all exposed I'm going to attach progressively finer grits to the radius block, up to 800, and use the radius block to remove the marks. That way, the levelness of the contact points will be preserved, and I'll only have to worry about removing marks from the sides of the frets which isn't a problem at all. So, no biggie, but I was frustrated with myself for a bit there.

 

Alternatives to this: If you're using a file, it will probably cut more roughly than sandpaper, especially if it's a new file. It may behoove you to wrap some sandpaper around a flat block and do some strokes along the neck after you've done your major leveling to remove some of the file marks without messing up the levelness. Sometimes those file marks can be a pain to get rid of.

 

There are a few things that are not pictured here, because of redundancy and the fact that I was alone and only have two hands. For one thing, I checked and rechecked the straightness of the neck every five minutes or so out of paranoia that something would go wrong while I prepped everything. Another thing is that in the middle of leveling I checked the straightness and found, to my dismay, that the neck had developed a hump in the middle. Thankfully I caught it before it really screwed things up, made a minor truss rod adjustment, and was back in business. And finally, instead of bringing all five of my radius blocks like I should have I just grabbed the one that I had left out of the box I keep them in, thinking that I had been using it for something on my '51. In fact, I had been using it on my scrap neck, and so I grabbed the wrong block, the 10 inch radius instead of the 9.5. So, I had to drop everything after prep and drive ten miles round trip back home to get the right block.

 

After all this crazyness was done, I went about installing the Graphtech nut. This was a preslotted, preshaped jobby as I don't yet have nut files at my disposal, the best I got is a few needle files in a few different shapes. I had already cleaned the slot the night before to remove glue residue, so it was all ready. I could tell just by looking at it that the new nut was way too tall, but I was afraid to go about messing with it before I knew how the frets had turned out. So I installed it with just a bit of cyanoacrylate (superglue) and let her dry for a few minutes.

 

 

Here you can actually see what the whole guitar looks like.

 

After all this, I packed everything up and went home to a cleaner environment where I could put on a fresh set of strings and do some setup work. I didn't take any pics of the setup stuff, but here's a synopsis.

 

I first installed the strings and, curious as to how it turned out, played it a bit. I was less than impressed, there was buzzing all over the place and I was certain I had screwed something up along the way. But then I remembered reading in Dan Erlewine's book (the Guitar Player Repair Guide) that sometimes it can take a little while to settle in after all that work and to be patient. So I passed some time by lowering the string slots in the nut. They were WAY too high, as I expected, so I brought out my feeler guages, measured the first fret with my digital caliper, added 15 thousandths to that height, stacked the feeler guages under the strings to the correct height, tuned down the strings enough to move them out of the way one at a time, and started filing the slots down.

 

This method is a great, idiot proof way to file nut slots to the correct height. Just file down until your file hits the feeler guage, thus ensuring you don't go too low. This worked splendidly, even though I don't have actual nut files. My high E, B, and G string slots are too wide because I simply don't have a file that narrow, but they still work just fine. The slots are buried into the nut quite a bit now though, I'll take some off the top of the nut at a later time so it doesn't look like the strings are slicing black cheese.

 

Alternatives to my nut making: I'm using just about the cheapest stuff you can use, some $1 needle files and a set of feeler gauges from the hardware store. Feeler gauges are very handy for a lot of things in guitar work, so they're really a good investment in general aside from being indispensable for cutting nut slots. You can buy ready made nut files that are precision made for different widths to cut nut slots, but they can get expensive quickly. An alternative that actually works great is to go to a welding supply place and buy an inexpensive set of welding torch tip cleaners. These can usually be had for around $5 and they are an assortment of tiny round files that work splendidly for working on nuts. They won't last as long as professional files, but for DIYer's like myself who only work on nuts every now and then and perhaps only need to modify a nut that's already cut, they are a wonderful tool.

 

One more post to go...

[lowbrow]

Cool. Congrats! First one I did was my blonde Squier 51. Been playing it this week and noticed the action was pretty low, so I measured it. 1.5mm at the 21st fret! And it doesn't buzz at all acousticaly unless you play pretty hard. Blows my mind.

[Mind Riot]

I then started setting things up a bit more, which took some time. I was curious about some of the stories I'd heard about the super low action some people get just after a fret leveling, so I lowered the action to about a 32nd of an inch all over and tried it out. Didn't work, buzzing and note choking, but hey, I had to see. I messed with it some more, compromising a bit on the action here, adjusting the truss rod just a hair, playing it a bit, making mental notes. It seemed to get better the more I played it, and after a little while I got it dialed in pretty good. I'm sure I'll still mess with it a bit as I have a pretty aggressive pick attack and that will require higher action no matter how good the fretwork is. But as it stands now, I have the action set at just a hair over 1/16" at the twelfth fret on the low E, and it's lower on the high E. The relief, at the moment, is about .004", measured with a feeler guage at the seventh fret with the first and seventeenth frets fretted. No real buzzing to speak of unless I hit it hard, so I know I'll have to raise things a bit more.

 

 

 

All in all, I'm pleased as punch. This thing is now arguably the best player of all my guitars, and I'm still dialing it in. Most folks I know would be ecstatic over having 1/16" action with no buzzing, and not only am I not that demanding but I have no problem with setting it a little higher to deal with my playing style. I've never had a guitar professionally leveled and dressed, and now I know what all the fuss is about. It's such a nice feeling to have the guitar HELP you play better instead of fighting you. This guitar was already a decent player stock, but nothing like this. It's just effortless.

 

The simple fact is that I can't afford expensive guitars. And even if I could, I'd probably still do this myself just because I like doing things like this on my own. But being able to do this opens all kinds of doors. We all know that one of the biggest differences between expensive guitars and cheap ones is the fret work. Now I can get a cheap guitar online without fear that there will be horrible buzzing and the thing will be unplayable, because even if it is like that I can fix it. And not only fix it and make it playable, make it play really, REALLY nicely. Not to mention being able to keep my guitars in tip top shape, and maybe even helping out some of my friends. I'm stoked, as this is a very useful new skill that will save me money and make playing music even more enjoyable, and my fret work should just get better each time I do it.

 

Next up: My other, brand new blonde Squier '51!

 

[chevette]

awesome thread

[atrox]

Good job! I do about 5 or 6 of these a week and you did everything really good. As you do a bit more and gain some confidence, you can skip a bunch of those steps like clamping the guitar down and visually checking for straightness as opposed to using the feeler gauge. It's always good to do those things though. Plus I always remove the neck first on a bolt-on. I also try to get a touch more off frets past the 12th fret... Good job with that.

 

One step I still do whether I feel I need to or not (I honestly feel I don't need to anymore) is tape up the board. Leveling is something I have done so many times that I'm almost on AutoPilot when i do it. I rarely slip, but I still tape up a board becuase you just never know when it will happen.

 

Enough of my ranting... great job. those frets look great.

[peavey_impact]

Awesome

 

My 7-string could really benefit from this.

[dwrecker]

That's an excellent step by step description of the process.

I thought I'd mention the DIY channel (I have Directv.. not sure if this is on regular Cable) has been airing a weekly show called "Handmade Music and the last few episodes have been featuring the repair & restoration shop at Gruhn Guitars of Nashville. They covered the restoration of a old Martin acoustic including a neck reset & refret. Amazing work.

[jackamo]

Great thread...

 

Do you care to say how much all the tools used cost you?

 

I am interested in doing this, but I have zero tools

[prauny]

could this be made sticky? This would be great to refer back too.

 

Nice job dude

[atrox]

Just a couple more comments.

 

To create a compound radius on a single radius board with frets already installed. Lets say a 9" - 12/13" compound radius... simply start out with the 9" block on all the frets, then go back with a 16" and flatten out the middle slightly above teh 12th fret. You don't want to take off too much of the middle of the frets, so do not go the whole 16".

 

The proper way to do a compound radius board is remove the frets, then compound radius the board itself, then re-fret. The leveling with the 2 different block or a straight block and compensate.

 

 

The diamond crowning file is great for many application. For a normal corwing I usually just use a 3 sided file to crown the frets. If I get some seriously worn and flatten frets, the I go to the crowinig file then finish up with teh 3 sided. You can do all croning jobs with the diamond file, but I learned with a 3 sided file so it's easier for me to control. As the original posted stated, there are many many diferent ways and most of them are right.

[IdaCrue]

Looks like you did a great job of leveling and crowning the frets and did an outstanding job of documenting it. Thanks for sharing the experience with us.

[Mind Riot]

Originally posted by atrox Good job! I do about 5 or 6 of these a week and you did everything really good. As you do a bit more and gain some confidence, you can skip a bunch of those steps like clamping the guitar down and visually checking for straightness as opposed to using the feeler gauge. It's always good to do those things though. Plus I always remove the neck first on a bolt-on. I also try to get a touch more off frets past the 12th fret... Good job with that. One step I still do whether I feel I need to or not (I honestly feel I don't need to anymore) is tape up the board. Leveling is something I have done so many times that I'm almost on AutoPilot when i do it. I rarely slip, but I still tape up a board becuase you just never know when it will happen. Enough of my ranting... great job. those frets look great.

 

Thank you, I was hoping you'd pop in and see this.

 

I wrote up a cheat sheet beforehand outlining all the steps to make sure I didn't forget anything, and I was pretty sure there were some things I didn't need to do, but this was my test run so I wanted to try everything. My next job will be much more streamlined.

 

I agree that clamping the guitar wasn't necessary; there just isn't enough force being used to really worry about things. Especially using the neoprene rubber I had, it's grippy enough to keep things in place.

 

I think I'll probably always tape off the board as well. Using the marker, there's always a chance I could slip. It also makes the polishing easier, being able to use the micro mesh or steel wool or what have you without having to worry about the board.

 

I considered removing the neck, as it probably would have made things easier, but I had already removed it twice when I put some steel shims in to raise it a bit, and I guess they used a cheaper piece of maple for this neck because two of the screws started to strip when I reinstalled. I used toothpicks and superglue to help it grab and it worked fine, but I didn't want to take it off again on this particular guitar.

[Mind Riot]

Originally posted by jackamo Great thread... Do you care to say how much all the tools used cost you? I am interested in doing this, but I have zero tools

 

Well, I got some of the more idiot proof tools that cost a bit more, and the diamond file in particular is quite spendy. I'd say I spent about three hundred dollars with everything including odds and ends.

 

The diamond file, straightedge, sandpaper, nut, and Micro Mesh pads came from here: www.stewmac.com

 

They also sell radius blocks like I used, but I got mine made for me by a forum member on the projectguitar.com forums.

 

Although you don't see me using it in the pics, I also have a digital caliper from Stew Mac for precision measurements.

 

Other stuff, like tape, shop towels, superglue, that sort of thing can be found locally.

 

Check back on my original posts in a minute, I'm going to edit them with some more information on alternatives to the tools I used. I don't want people thinking they have to spend what I spent to do the job right.

[atrox]

Originally posted by Mind Riot Well, I got some of the more idiot proof tools that cost a bit more, and the diamond file in particular is quite spendy. I'd say I spent about three hundred dollars with everything including odds and ends. The diamond file, straightedge, sandpaper, nut, and Micro Mesh pads came from here: www.stewmac.com They also sell radius blocks like I used, but I got mine made for me by a forum member on the projectguitar.com forums. Although you don't see me using it in the pics, I also have a digital caliper from Stew Mac for precision measurements. Other stuff, like tape, shop towels, superglue, that sort of thing can be found locally. Check back on my original posts in a minute, I'm going to edit them with some more information on alternatives to the tools I used. I don't want people thinking they have to spend what I spent to do the job right.

 

Yeah, that diamond file is pricey as hell, but its sooooooo much better than the old school crowning files that chatter. $70'ish if I remember correctly. It's probabaly the most expensive tool i own, but it's great for those super worn frets and they are idiot proof.

 

Highly recommended for beginners.

 

I have Danny Lilker's (Old Anthrax, Brutal Truth, SOD, Nuclear Assult, etc Bass player) old BC Rich Bass in. The frets were green with muck and completely flat. I used the shit out of that Diamond crowning file on that bass and the frets look brand new now.

[jackamo]

Originally posted by Mind Riot Well, I got some of the more idiot proof tools that cost a bit more, and the diamond file in particular is quite spendy. I'd say I spent about three hundred dollars with everything including odds and ends. The diamond file, straightedge, sandpaper, nut, and Micro Mesh pads came from here: www.stewmac.com They also sell radius blocks like I used, but I got mine made for me by a forum member on the projectguitar.com forums. Although you don't see me using it in the pics, I also have a digital caliper from Stew Mac for precision measurements. Other stuff, like tape, shop towels, superglue, that sort of thing can be found locally. Check back on my original posts in a minute, I'm going to edit them with some more information on alternatives to the tools I used. I don't want people thinking they have to spend what I spent to do the job right.

Thanks dude - I will check back, I just wanted to get a general idea in my head - again, nice work.

[paulintheuk]

Great post Kudos on the good job!

[allthumz]

Thanks MR.

 

I'm getting a cheap guitar any day now. I'll be surprised if the frets are even close to being level.

 

- Robert

[Mind Riot]

Originally posted by atrox Yeah, that diamond file is pricey as hell, but its sooooooo much better than the old school crowning files that chatter. $70'ish if I remember correctly. It's probabaly the most expensive tool i own, but it's great for those super worn frets and they are idiot proof. Highly recommended for beginners. I have Danny Lilker's (Old Anthrax, Brutal Truth, SOD, Nuclear Assult, etc Bass player) old BC Rich Bass in. The frets were green with muck and completely flat. I used the shit out of that Diamond crowning file on that bass and the frets look brand new now.

 

She's certainly a nice tool, I don't regret getting it at all. I ordered one of the standard toothed files and tried it out and it worked fine, but then I started thinking about possibly using SS wire in the future and the fact that it would work faster and easier anyway, and the $40 difference didn't seem so bad.

 

A really good, quality tool is always worth a bit more.

 

I edited my posts with one more pic (I don't why it wasn't there before, I put it in but it didn't show up, it's of the frets polished with the tape still on) and a bunch more information on alternatives to the tools I used.

[deva_da_man]

great thread man!

 

very impressive. it's things like this that give others (and maybe even me) to do all their own guitar work.... until i get famous and have a full time guitar tech.

[Guitslinger]

In the interest of anyone that attempts the fret leveling method outlined in this thread, I'm going to point out what I consider major issues that probably resulted in the frets not being level.

 

The first time I tried leveling frets with a radiused sanding block, I used a similar approach as that used by Mind Riot, conceived from reading Dan Erlewine's book on guitar repair. Not coincidentally, I experienced the same results he did based on the photos, and the reason why I know the frets on his guitar are probably not level.

 

As evidenced by the ninth photo, the upper frets exhibit a much flatter radius that the previous frets; virtually all fingerboards with a single radius will behave the same way unless an effort was made to install the frets perfectly level, which is tedious and time consuming. As I ground away at the frets in an effort to make all of the frets the same radius, I ended up grinding the ends of the first frets all the way down to the fingerboard in order to finally kiss the center portion of the upper frets with the sanding block. I wrote off the failure due to what I considered a poor fret installation by Warmoth (bull{censored}), and proceeded to refret the guitar. The attempt at leveling the new frets resulted in the same exact results, thus ruining a second set of frets.

 

My mistake was the same as Mind Riot's: I failed to spot level the frets, which is the process that results in the frets being level. The idea of using a radiused sanding block to grind all of the frets to the same shape/radius sounds so simple and appealing, but it will not work unless the frets are level to begin with. In the case of a factory guitar that had primo fretwork, but has developed some valleys in the frets from bending notes, applying the radiused sanding block will work fine for taking some of the metal off and smoothing out the valleys--but that's the only exception.

 

Erlewine mentions spot-leveling, but neglects emphasizing just how important it is. In reality, the process of grinding the frets down with a radiused block can be skipped entirely. Once the frets are spot-leveled the guitar will play fine once the frets are dressed properly. The fact that the upper frets are a slightly flatter radius that the rest of the frets is actually a good thing--it means notes are less likely to fret out during bends.

 

Grinding down the frets without spot leveling means the frets will more or less be the same shape, but will do nothing to guarantee the frets are all the same height since an equal amount of metal is being removed from all of the frets.

 

Spot leveling is time-consuming, tedious, frustrating work, and the reason why level frets are generally uncommon on most guitars. After Mind Riot straightened the neck up, he should have started the spot leveling process. This is accomplished by taking a two or three inch straight edge and rocking it back and forth across groups of three frets to see if any one fret is higher than the fret on each side of it. If the fret is too high then it has to be ground down individually to the height of the frets on either side of it. The only problem is that lowering the center fret in a group of three will likely cause the frets on either side of it to rock under the straight edge when checked afterwards, which means those frets have to be lowered, which can result in the original fret needing to be lowered some more. As the process evolves, the frets will need less material removed from them each pass until the frets are finally level under the straight edges.

 

The process of filing individual frets down during the spot leveling process is tricky, as it requires a tool that will grind one fret without grinding material off the frets on either side of it. I developed two methods for doing it. One requires the use of short narrow wooden blocks with sandpaper attached to them. The ends of the blocks rest on the outer frets in the group of three so that only the center fret will be touch by the sandpaper, which is attached as a narrow strip in the center of the block.

 

The other method requires using a short radiused sanding block and sanding the first three frets to the same shape. Before doing that I check to make sure the straightedge does not rock on the second fret; if it does, then the second fret has to be sanded down to the height of the first and third frets. Once I know the first three frets are the same radius/shape, I tape off 3/4 of the sanding surface of the radiused block so that only that last fourth of one end can be used to sand with. By placing the taped off portion of the block on the first three frets, the block can be used to sand the fourth fret down to the same shape and height as the first three. Once the fourth fret is shaped correctly, the next one is attacked, BUT, at each step the short straightedges have to be used to test the frets for levelness, and requires the same tedious process of going back over frets that have already been sanded once or more.

 

Once the frets are properly spot leveled, then a long radiused sanding block can be used to kiss the frets and shape them somewhat, but anything more than three or four light passes is overkill, and does nothing but grind away precious material.

[ajcoholic]

GReat post!

 

Takes some of the "mystery" out of what is in essence a pretty simple procedure, something I have been preaching for a while.

 

I myself dont use a radiused block for levelling, I used to use a flat bastard file and now I use a very flat, medium grit diamond bench hone. Its a little more $$ but it does an excellent job and is very flat, and lasts a long time.

 

With each dressing you do you get faster, better and wonder why more guys dont do it for themselves!

 

AJC

[Splendor]

Thank you for the great post! Looks like you did a great job!