Dressing, finishing and "fine tuning" frets

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MBliss on October 31, 2010 at 11:25am

Here is a video showing some basic fretboard trueing

Permalink Reply by MBliss on October 31, 2010 at 11:26am

This video has tips for a more involved fretboard tuning and set up

Permalink Reply by BenBob on November 4, 2010 at 12:15am

This second video is good and shows why a good fret dressing ain't cheap!

Permalink Reply by Craig Cox on December 21, 2010 at 10:12pm

One of my favorite 3 string guitars has developed a buzz on the middle string on several frets. Any advice about fixing this? Am I simply locating the high frets and filing them down some?

Permalink Reply by MBliss on February 5, 2011 at 11:48am

Sorry I missed this one at the time, I hope you have found a solution by now.

Diagnosing this based on the description you provided is difficult, I kind of really need to see and feel it you know.

But I suspect that it can be quickly found with a basic neck inspection. IE: is the neck straight, are the frets flat and so on.

You said middle strings, but didnt indicate whether this was open strumming, or when fretted at some point. This would provide clues where to look closer. But in general, going back over a proper neck check and fret prep should get you fixed up.

Hope that helped somehow!

Craig Cox said:

One of my favorite 3 string guitars has developed a buzz on the middle string on several frets. Any advice about fixing this? Am I simply locating the high frets and filing them down some?

Permalink Reply by MBliss on February 5, 2011 at 11:50am

Here are some more links to yet another set of tips on neck and fret inspection and preparation, though they might not pertain directly to CBG, they may contain some tips that help someone!

 

Basic setup 101:

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/String_action_and_setup/i-3910.html

Prepping a replacement neck for play:

http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0132.html

Prefered setups of some famous players:

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/String_action_and_setup/a-famousset...

Permalink Reply by MBliss on February 6, 2011 at 11:07pm

And heres some more links on the subject of fretwork. These are from Frank Ford, who specializes in the repair and restoration of acoustic guitars. Again, not all the tips apply here, but he provides some great insight into his experience and techniques. Mr Fords website (frests.com) is a treasure trove of information on tools and techniques, and he often shows how to make your own tools and simple ways to get great results. Hours of reading there.

Looking at frets/evaluating set up

buzz diagnosis

When frets go wrong

Permalink Reply by Craig Cox on February 7, 2011 at 4:34pm

cool. thanks Mark.

Permalink Reply by MBliss on February 7, 2011 at 4:49pm

your welcome Craig!

 

Correction to my last post, Mr Fords site is FRETS.com

 

Also, in some of his pages there is more detailed information there if you click on the thumbnails.

Permalink Reply by Kyle on October 9, 2011 at 6:05am

very helpful information. thanks mark

Permalink Reply by PapaSimone on November 2, 2011 at 7:42pm

This thread was super helpful in learning about dressing frets.  That's so much to all who contributed!

 

Permalink Reply by MBliss on November 2, 2011 at 11:46pm

Kyle and PapaSimone,

Glad you folks got something from this, thats why its here! I know others enjoy expanding their knowledge and learning this stuff like me.

Mark