Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill B on November 8, 2010 at 3:42am

Like matt said keep it flat,flat,flat, and the fret work will be minimal.
I almost forgot keep it flat.

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on November 8, 2010 at 3:45am

Bill B said:

Like matt said keep it flat,flat,flat, and the fret work will be minimal.
I almost forgot keep it flat.

That's the neck surface for the fretboard, i take it? Any suggestions on how to make sure that surface is totally flat?

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Permalink Reply by Bill B on November 8, 2010 at 5:04am

You need a flat surface like a table saw, square tube, a piece of granite or marble from your local home improvement store.
Then you glue some roll sand paper to your flat surface with spray adhesive.
now take your neck fretboard side color fretboard surface with pencil, place on sand paper,sand back and forth until pencil marks are gone.
Do the same on both sides of the fretboard and you should be good to go.

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on November 8, 2010 at 5:06am

cheers, mate!

Bill B said:

You need a flat surface like a table saw, square tube, a piece of granite or marble from your local home improvement store.
Then you glue some roll sand paper to your flat surface with spray adhesive.
now take your neck fretboard side color fretboard surface with pencil, place on sand paper,sand back and forth until pencil marks are gone.
Do the same on both sides of the fretboard and you should be good to go.

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on November 8, 2010 at 7:16am

Bill B said:

You need a flat surface like a table saw, square tube, a piece of granite or marble from your local home improvement store.

Something like this, maybe?
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xmi/R-202044685/h_d2/Product...

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Permalink Reply by c# merle on November 10, 2010 at 6:54am

totally agree about the flatness of the fretboard. if it's square should be straightforward
this is how i do frets


Matt Towe said:

Fretwork starts BEFORE you reach for the wire and clippers.
If using a fretboard or not, the face of the neck must be flat and square. Even more so ( almost perfect, if not better) if you are not using a fretboard.
The fretboard needs to be square and as perfectly flat as possible. AND a consistent thickness.
The slot has to be deep enough for the the tang on the fret to seat without bottoming out.
One thing I see myself doing, is a very slight (microscopic even) bend in the wire when tapping them in. The edges end up too high .... needs leveling and dressing.
The funny thing is, the better my builds get, the more I have to work at the frets. Just a plain oak stick neck ..... 9 times out of 10, no troubles. Laminated neck, fretboard, etc. .... more fretwork.


Matt

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on November 10, 2010 at 1:19pm

I'd like to thank everyone who chimed n with advice; based on what I've read here, I think I may have spotted the problem.

My second build needed the least amount of fret filing; the neck on this was a solid piece of maple from Home Depot, and the FB was red oak. Being store-bought, their gluing surfaces were fairly square-flat; upon looking at the glue line, it's mostly straight.

The third and fourth builds, however, were laminated necks; their fretboard glue lines are pretty wavy, which tells me I hadn't planed them as flat as I assumed I had.

The next purchase, I think, will be a slab of marble to sand the neck surface as flat as possible.

Thanks again, everyone!

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on November 11, 2010 at 1:03am

You know one thing you can do even if you glue the FB down wavy (try not to glue wavy tho ;-) ) is to take a 2' piece of laminate counter top / shelf board from Lowes/HD and glue a long piece of sandpaper to it. Run the neck FB side down on it to make it flat. You will take some of the thickness off but overall it will make it flat.

Now, when you get really good at fretting, you can try a radius and I even create a slight dip in the FB much like the natural dip in a standard acoustic/electric. That is much more tricky as you can't gauge the fret level over a longer distance, but if you use a 4"-6" strip of steel bar (sanded flat) you can usually get the frets pretty level. You can also use a short sanding block and run over the frets. This will level them out but you will have to crown them.

-WY



Scotty C. said:

I'd like to thank everyone who chimed n with advice; based on what I've read here, I think I may have spotted the problem.

My second build needed the least amount of fret filing; the neck on this was a solid piece of maple from Home Depot, and the FB was red oak. Being store-bought, their gluing surfaces were fairly square-flat; upon looking at the glue line, it's mostly straight.

The third and fourth builds, however, were laminated necks; their fretboard glue lines are pretty wavy, which tells me I hadn't planed them as flat as I assumed I had.

The next purchase, I think, will be a slab of marble to sand the neck surface as flat as possible.

Thanks again, everyone!

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on November 11, 2010 at 1:22am

Wes Yates said:

Now, when you get really good at fretting, you can try a radius and I even create a slight dip in the FB much like the natural dip in a standard acoustic/electric. That is much more tricky as you can't gauge the fret level over a longer distance, but if you use a 4"-6" strip of steel bar (sanded flat) you can usually get the frets pretty level. You can also use a short sanding block and run over the frets. This will level them out but you will have to crown them.
-WY

Thanks for the advice, Wes. I've actually been using a 12" radius block for sanding the FB the last 2 or 3 times... I haven't used it to level frets much, however, because I too find it hard to keep the block steady over long distance across the FB to make sure the sanding "shape" of the fret crowns is equal.
PS-- what natural dip are you referring to? That's a new one to me...

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on November 11, 2010 at 2:05am

On most guitars [read: as I understand], when you set the action of the guitar, you want to have a slight bow upwards from the 1st - 14th fret. Perhaps a few thousandths of an inch but an upward bow none the less.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenSetup/TrussRods/TrussRo... (down toward the bottom)

-WY


Scotty C. said:

Wes Yates said:

Now, when you get really good at fretting, you can try a radius and I even create a slight dip in the FB much like the natural dip in a standard acoustic/electric. That is much more tricky as you can't gauge the fret level over a longer distance, but if you use a 4"-6" strip of steel bar (sanded flat) you can usually get the frets pretty level. You can also use a short sanding block and run over the frets. This will level them out but you will have to crown them.
-WY

Thanks for the advice, Wes. I've actually been using a 12" radius block for sanding the FB the last 2 or 3 times... I haven't used it to level frets much, however, because I too find it hard to keep the block steady over long distance across the FB to make sure the sanding "shape" of the fret crowns is equal.
PS-- what natural dip are you referring to? That's a new one to me...

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Permalink Reply by carverman on November 11, 2010 at 10:17am

Setting frets is an art. When I first started, I used a fret hammer from Stew-Mac. Pounding on

a fret with a fret hammer is akin to metal shaping..the fret will go in but it's just not pretty and
you end up doing a lot of fret dressing, gluing the ends that stick up with crazy glue and clamps
and a lot of unecessary work.

I didn't buy the Stew-Mac fret press cauls but instead made my own out of 1/1 alumium plate,
cut it out with a hacksaw, and grooved it, so that the profile conforms to the 12" radius that I use and the fret fits in the groove.

I rounded off one part of the aluminum caul to fit into the jaws of a drill press and
used a bunch of wood underneath the drill press table to act as re-inforcement,
so that when you press down hard with the drill press, you dont crack the adjustable
table. That seems to work for me.

The other thing is that it helps to preform the fret wire for a slight radius before
putting it in the fret slot and bearing down with the drill press.

I use a stew-mac crowned sanding block that I stick sandpaper to and conforms exactly to the radius of the FB and a couple of passes, straight edge and magic marker across the top of the frets is what I use to adjust any high frets. I can include a pic of the homemade caul if anyone is interested. ..works for me.

Scotty C. said:

Does everyone tap the frets in? I use Josh Gayou's advice and press them into the slots with my Irwin Clamps...

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on November 11, 2010 at 10:20am

I certainly would like to see a couple pics, especially of the aluminum plate you used before and after!

carverman said:

I didn't buy the Stew-Mac fret press cauls but instead made my own out of 1/1 alumium plate, cut it
out with a hacksaw and grooved it so that the profile conforms to the 12" radius that I use.
I rounded off one part of the aluminum caul to fit into the jaws of a drill press and used a bunch
of wood underneath the drill press table to act as re-inforcement so that when you press down
with the drill press, you dont crack the adjustable table. That seems to work for me. I can include a pic of the homemade caul if anyone is interested...

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