Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MadGomer on March 22, 2016 at 10:36am

I've cut a 2x4 to hold a flat file at an angle to the side of the neck to do most of the work, then run the file flat on the side to take off any burrs, then only hit it lightly with fine paper before finishing. I have my necks well sanded prior to filing. Many different approaches to consider.

Permalink Reply by gary sheldon on March 22, 2016 at 11:19am

Yes, as Mad Gomer said "Lots of approaches".  I have tried many.  What I am doing now is trying to do as much as possible before hammering the frets in.  I give Will King credit for showing me a lot of this stuff.  First, you can make a simple jig with which to cut your frets to length.  Make them just short of the fretboard width.  You may have to do some experimenting with this.  I cut the frets with nippers.  They are made for cutting nails.  Next, file the 35 degree or so bevel on both ends.  I also bevel the bottom of the fret ends some.  Then you want to file the corners just a couple of strokes so you don't have a sharp edge there.  Try to center the fret when installing.

With the frets being slightly shorter than the fretboard width, no one can accuse you of having sharp fret ends.  Believe me, I have had plenty of people complain in the beginning.

Also there is a little luthier secret about filing fret ends after they are installed.  You make yourself a "safe" file.  This is a smallish flat file.  You take the teeth off the edges with sandpaper or whatever you have.  With that file you can round the ends of the frets without scratching the wood.  It takes a little practice and a certain motion to make it smooth on all faces.  I believe you can have frets slightly proud of the fretboard without complaints if they are well smoothed, but the preference is to have them flush or short.   Hope this helps.  Let me know.  I also had much frustration with this process in the beginning.  Same problem as you are having .  Before the fret ends are filed to length, you start filing the wood and as you say, you start going around and around.  Eventually your neck is 1/2" wide.....: )  

Permalink Reply by Coventry Halfpenny guitars on March 22, 2016 at 10:15pm

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Permalink Reply by QGolden on March 23, 2016 at 2:49am

Gary hit the nail on the head!  (Pun intended)  Next build (next one always is better than the first one) cut and pre-dress your frets or nails first.  They are just fine if the neck is a little wider then the frets, and will only require a little touch up after and not shaping.  It is the shaping that gets you.

Permalink Reply by Robert Killen on March 23, 2016 at 4:38am

Thanks, everyone!

Lots of approaches. And very different. I imagine I'll gravitate toward shortening and pre-finishing. Except for my current build, which might require Wayfinder's essential items and an angled file.

Thanks again!

Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on March 23, 2016 at 5:52am

I fret more conventionally, nipping the frets flush after installation with modified cutters.

Then I use a large flat file to file in the lengthwise neck direction to get them fully flush. (Note that I am careful to file in a direction that avoids the cut pulling up on the fets as I file.) With proper nipping, this takes only a few light passes with a good clean file I keep dedicated to this job and this job only.

I then file at an angle with a tool similar to what is shown above. Finishing with a mild rounding of each fret end, one at a time, by hand with a little "safe" file made for the purpose. Tedious but worth the effort if you are "picky"

Then I do some checking and leveling, Finally, I do some polishing with fret guards (also shown above) with a few grades of fine paper as I feel is appropriate for the particular instrument. (Some people don't seem to care.)

Permalink Reply by Dan G. on March 24, 2016 at 3:08am

I have been pre-finishing, then setting. I cut them all to size with a fancy jig lol, I clamp a piece of wood 1.5" away from a table edge, slide the fret up to it, and cut at the table edge- repeat. Then I just hit both ends on a grinder (file or sandpaper would do) at an angle of course, to bevel the edge a bit. I do have those metal slotted fret filing doohickeys, so I can always touch one up, but that's rarely necessary.Ill take a fine sandpaper and run it along the edge, and done.

I think the 'dress in place' technique is more for a radiused, narrow neck/wide heel, traditional guitar fretboard where every fret is different. For a fretboard with consistent width, pre-dressed is the way to go imho.

Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on March 26, 2016 at 6:27pm

The guru Erlewine suggest taking a triangular file and smooth the tip and edges works for me.

 

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on April 10, 2016 at 3:46pm

Table top belt sander, 120 grit belt. Dress an entire neck in about a minute.

Permalink Reply by JL on April 26, 2016 at 12:23am

ditto!

My first fret job I spent an hour or two hand-filing the ends of the frets down flush with the edge of the fingerboard and rounding over of the ends. 

Then I found a youtube video (wish I could find it again and give credit) where they took their belt sander, put it upsidedown in a vice, and ran the sides of the fingerboard up and down a few times, with the last few passes tilted to round over the fret ends, and in 3 minutes did what  took me over an hour to do by hand. I tried that on my second fretted build and it worked great, fret ends flush and rounded and the fretboard sides smooth all at once.  It just took about 5 minutes to finish off the corners of the sanded frets.

I now use a benchtop sander that has a belt and a disk and love it.