Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on November 5, 2011 at 7:33pm

In order to give you a playable fretboard the frets all need to be set in as consistently as possible. The fretwire is very accurately engineered to be hammered or pressed into the fretboard to an accuracy of a few thou, so leaving it standing proud raises the question of whether you can put them in all to the same accuracy. Even when properly pressed or hammered in, the top of the frets usually need leveling and dressing to ensure proper playability.

 

If you don't put them in right, a few things can happen. You'll have high and low frets which will cause buzzes and rattles, unless you have an enormously high (and unplayable ) action. The frets can spring up and down in the slot under playing or as part of the leveling process, and it'll never play right.  If the frets aren't properly seated they can come loose in the future, by playing or due to thermal and humididity changes. It's very common for fret ends to protrude from the sides of the fretboard as the weather changes, so having them not fully seated could be an even bigger problem in future.

 

Heres a few things to check.

 

Is the slot deep enough all the way across? Its quite easy to "rock" the saw and leave a high spot in the bottom of the slot which will prevent the tang from going all the way in.

 

Is the slot too wide to grip the tang of the wire? Your saw needs to be cutting a slot around 023": any wider and the wood won't grip the fretwire. It requires considerable force to seat the fretwire in a properly cut slot, either by mechanical pressing or hammering with a soft faced hammer (especially in really hard timbers).

 

Are you applying enough force to seat the fretwire? I use a soft faced hammer, with the back of the neck or fretboard fully supported on a hard surface.  I use several blows across the full width of the board and after all the frets are in, I place a piece of hard wood (a scrap of ebony or merbau) over several frets and hammer over that to tap down any potential high spots. 

 

Pre-straightening the wire may help a little, but if the slots are the proper width then the slot should hold the fretwire straight anyway. Practice on some scrap beforehand. If you are able to press the fretwire in with your fingers, then the slot is too wide. What wood are you using for a fretboard? If it's really hard the frets can really need some force to get them seated, and you need to be careful to seat the wire steadily across the board and not to bend it as it goes into the slot. If the fretboard is soft timber, it may not have enough resilience to properly grip the fretwire tang.

 

It's not an easy job learning to install frets, and correcting a bad fretjob can be a beast of a task - this is not what you want to be doing for your first time. I'd advise you to get this as right as you can first time. 

Permalink Reply by alectron on November 6, 2011 at 4:09pm

The ends of the frets are only slightly lower than the middle, and on a scrap piece of fretboard (which is mahogany) the frets were pretty tight in there.

the problem was I don't have a good mitre box, so the cuts were a little sloppy but consistent, meaning slightly tapered and a tad bit deeper at the ends (I'm also using a hacksaw so i think the blade may be bending a little but I can't tighten it)

Also, the middle of the frets were all the way down to the top of the fretboard, the ends just looked lower

 

Permalink Reply by c# merle on November 6, 2011 at 8:45pm

Permalink Reply by alectron on November 8, 2011 at 2:00pm

thanks for the advice guys, also good idea with the clamps C#Merle.

I just need to get the cuts at a right angle, and I think I'll be good.

 do you know of a good method for reshaping the frets after they've been leveled?