Fret leveling techniques

[RVA]

OK, so a wood 14" radius block and 80 and 120 grit adhesive paper. Sound correct?

FYI: Our apparent new sponsor, Amplified Parts, has double sided sanding blocks
- 2 for 1!

https://www.amplifiedparts.com/search/node/Two-Way Sanding Block

 

[donepearce]

Good value, but they look a little short for my taste - I wouldn't be confident of a straight end-to-end job. RoHS compliant though, so no lead - bonus of a kind, I suppose?

 

[ScottMarlowe]

Good value, but they look a little short for my taste - I wouldn't be confident of a straight end-to-end job. RoHS compliant though, so no lead - bonus of a kind, I suppose?

Yeah I like the longer 8" Stewmac wooden blocks.

 

[RVA]

Ok, so I ordered two 8" wood blocks, 12 and 14 inch radius. I do not think I will spring for the raduis beam since I would need more than 1 raduis size, so I am planning on a 19" long, 1" wide flat beam. I am confused on sandpaper grit. I see and hear everything from 80-120 or 200-400 grit.

 

[DrBGood]

Just measured my 2004 SG Vintage and it's definitively a 14".

I HAVE to post a picture to prove it

 

[ScottMarlowe]

Just measured my 2004 SG Vintage and it's definitively a 14".

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Is that Chinese made?

 

[donepearce]

Ok, so I ordered two 8" wood blocks, 12 and 14 inch radius. I do not think I will spring for the raduis beam since I would need more than 1 raduis size, so I am planning on a 19" long, 1" wide flat beam. I am confused on sandpaper grit. I see and hear everything from 80-120 or 200-400 grit.

The grit kind of matters. Necks, particularly SG necks, are a bit bendy and springy, so you want to level the frets with almost no pressure from the sanding block. For a major fret job such as I had, this means starting with 80 grit. I can just lay the beam on the neck, and use no pressure - just its own weight. Probably no more than 15 seconds back and forth does the job. The progressively finer grits then take out the scratches from the previous one, until you have frets that you can polish along their length with fine sandpaper, and with no danger of changing their height and messing up all the good work you did with the coarse grits.

 

[DrBGood]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Is that Chinese made?

Dunno, serial start with an I, so it's Indonesian ?

 

[Bettyboo]

I wanna do this, and Betty needs it, but I'm not prepared to buy all the tools to do one fret job. It looks like $250+ of tools...

 

[donepearce]

I wanna do this, and Betty needs it, but I'm not prepared to buy all the tools to do one fret job. It looks like $250+ of tools...

Not really. For a one-off job you can cut back loads on the tools, and just spend a little more time over it. I would recommend a Stewmac wooden radius block, but that is it apart from some sandpaper and maybe steel wool, masking tape and metal polish. $25 should cover it.

 

[jtcnj]

Don looks to have a lot more experience here; I'll just share how I did it and got god results.
80 grit is too aggressive for me, I have done this 3 times but am still cautious.
i found a cheap crowning file but it wore out quickly. I like the rounded crowning file as opposed to flat filing the crowns. I made my own fret end dress file from a small automotive file by grinding one edge smooth. I am going to round the edge over a bit more.

I think this is really the only specialty tool you really "need"

I am leaning towards either of these crowning files, not sure about size though:
set of 2
http://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/luthier-tools/files/fret-crowning-file-set-2-files/

or
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tool...ping_and_crowning/Three-in-one_Fret_File.html

 

[jtcnj]

Ok, so I ordered two 8" wood blocks, 12 and 14 inch radius. I do not think I will spring for the raduis beam since I would need more than 1 raduis size, so I am planning on a 19" long, 1" wide flat beam. I am confused on sandpaper grit. I see and hear everything from 80-120 or 200-400 grit.

I do 180 to level, crown, dress the ends / slightly round over the bevel edges by feel.
Then I use worn 320 and fingers on each fret lengthwise individually, rolling over the bevel edges just a little, by feel. I think I ran over them again with worn 400 and 800 briefly, no polishing.
Again, mostly the same as in the Ron Kirn tutorial.

Do you need to radius if you are just leveling an existing guitar radiused fretboard?
My aim is to level, recrown, dress the ends.

How does one measure the existing radius?

 

[smitty_p]

I am leaning towards either of these crowning files, not sure about size though:
set of 2
http://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/luthier-tools/files/fret-crowning-file-set-2-files/

or
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tool...ping_and_crowning/Three-in-one_Fret_File.html

I've used the StewMac crowning file in your second link. It's pretty good. I've only done one full refret (my SG). It turned out pretty good. I also used the wooden radius blocks from Stew Mac.

Honestly, I would have had a little easier time, I think, if I had gone with the longer, radiused aluminum beam, as Don suggested. I went slowly and had good results, but I had to massage the results a bit.

I think just settling in your mind to pop the nut loose and run the longer beam is more likely to provide more consistency. The next time I do this, I'm going to do that.

 

[RVA]

I do 180 to level, crown, dress the ends / slightly round over the bevel edges by feel.
Then I use worn 320 and fingers on each fret lengthwise individually, rolling over the bevel edges just a little, by feel. I think I ran over them again with worn 400 and 800 briefly, no polishing.
Again, mostly the same as in the Ron Kirn tutorial.

Do you need to radius if you are just leveling an existing guitar radiused fretboard?
My aim is to level, recrown, dress the ends.

How does one measure the existing radius?

Radius gauges help with the measuring.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BLQ0E4O?keywords=radius gauges&qid=1453237153&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3

 

[ScottMarlowe]

Another vote for the Stewmac 3 in 1 fret file. It's very comfortable to use, and works fast (be careful to leave a tiny flat line on top of your frets when using it).

Another indispensable tool is the fret end file from them, which is pretty affordable. It's makes short work of the ends of frets which tend to get little burrs when doing this kind of work, or just on new guitars where the ends are often sharp. But that is NOT needed for a simple crowning and polishing.

If you already own a dremel, then a nice fine polishing wheel is great for frets. You can use a file handle to shape a concave surface on the edge so it fits over the fret. Note that even fine polishing wheels are quite abrasive and can make a lot of heat / go right through painter's tape, so a soft touch and a quick movement across the fret is needed with one.

 

[ScottMarlowe]

Also highly recommend a magnifying light of some kind, especially if your eyes are old like mine. Even a fairly cheap one from Harbor Freight works great. It makes inspection of your work etc and seeing what you're doing on individual frets a lot easier. It'll also come in handy later on when you decide to start soldering on components etc.

 

[RVA]

Also highly recommend a magnifying light of some kind, especially if your eyes are old like mine. Even a fairly cheap one from Harbor Freight works great. It makes inspection of your work etc and seeing what you're doing on individual frets a lot easier. It'll also come in handy later on when you decide to start soldering on components etc.

Might as well get a head lamp too then!

http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Pro...=UTF8&qid=1453239943&sr=8-5&keywords=headlamp

 

[RVA]

I got this idea from an internet source, but is there any reason that this 18" beam level cannot be used as a flat fret leveler? It is the same width(1") and approximately the same length as most (Stew-Mac sells 16" or 24", this is 18"). I know it is not machined, but... Also, having a level helps!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083SGKW8...TF8&colid=2WXVMBD3ZS1LS&coliid=I1LA7L6WC2K693

 

[SG John]

I do pretty much the same as others. I have a large diamond sharpening stone that I use on new frets, the go with the long and short Stew Mac radiused sanding beam and block. I think that I use 320 grit. It's been on there for a while. Then, I use a crowning file, then a diamond crowning file to get rid chatter mark (and take advantage of cutting in both direction.

Then I start on dressing each fret. For that I have a couple of fine machinist's safety files. There is no cutting surface on the edges. This protects the finger board. I also have a few other files. two modified triangular files, and a cut down large fine mill file.

After all that is done, I use the Stew Mac version of a diamond emery board to polish up the frets.

This is the Junior's frets after dressing them up on Sunday.

 

[RVA]

I do pretty much the same as others. I have a large diamond sharpening stone that I use on new frets, the go with the long and short Stew Mac radiused sanding beam and block. I think that I use 320 grit. It's been on there for a while. Then, I use a crowning file, then a diamond crowning file to get rid chatter mark (and take advantage of cutting in both direction.

Then I start on dressing each fret. For that I have a couple of fine machinist's safety files. There is no cutting surface on the edges. This protects the finger board. I also have a few other files. two modified triangular files, and a cut down large fine mill file.

After all that is done, I use the Stew Mac version of a diamond emery board to polish up the frets.

This is the Junior's frets after dressing them up on Sunday.

Nice work John!