kurosawa Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Good article to start thinking about DIY fret leveling. http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-technical/201556-fret-leveling-yer-tele-101-a.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) Bollocks! 180 grit for frets is well over the top. 240 at the most for bad frets. If you need any more than that you need new frets. Also crowning files make more mess than anything else. A file with the wrong size slot will f*** you right up. All you need for fret levelling is a 24" straight edge to make sure your neck is flat in the first place, a flat piece of something (this much is correct). I plane a 6-8 inch piece of scrap for this. Tape off the board inbetween frets, Mark the frets with permanent marker, scrub (sideways) with 320 grit on your flat thing until there is a shiny crest on each fret. All that is left is to 'polish' the frets which also recrowns them at the same time. Starting with the 320 polish down one side of each fret and then back up the board on the other side of each fret. Repeat this step through grades of wet and dry 400 up to 1000 or more (or indeed less) depending on fret material as some require a finer polish than others. Finish with fine wire wool and you're done. I used to buff with compound but I do find that it is totally unneccessary. Remove tape and lightly clean up the board with wire wool. Fret levelling is a coupla hours work at the most and really very simple to do well. Edited January 12, 2013 by lettsguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Couple of hours work? Man... you be slow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) At the most I've never timed myself and yes probably more like an hour. Taping up and working through all the grits certainly feels like a couple sometimes . If you want to get somewhere fast, go slow! That would include dressing frets too which is easily another 5 minutes Edited January 12, 2013 by lettsguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I do my own, using a similar process, except my fret levelling beam is a 500mm hardwood turning blank, planed true on one side with 240 grit abrasive stuck to it. After levelling, I do my crowning with a triangular file with the corners ground off (like this one; [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AxeMasters-LARGE-SIZE-FRET-CROWNING-FILE-3-Corner-Luthier-Guitar-/350667278683?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item51a566095b"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AxeMasters-LARGE-SIZE-FRET-CROWNING-FILE-3-Corner-Luthier-Guitar-/350667278683?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item51a566095b[/url]) and protect the fingerboard from the file with one of those flexible metal guards. For the crowning, I mark the top of the fret with a permanent marker. then round off each side with the file until I'm left with a very thin line in the centre. I then polish with various grades of abrasive as above. This takes me several hours, but then I haven't done it more than a handful of times as I just do my own instruments. I'm pretty sure it's one of these things that gets quicker with experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Interesting and well timed article for me, at least Jon, do you level in the direction of the frets or in the direction of the strings ? thanks in advance Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Frets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin_lindsay Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 [quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1358023845' post='1932116'] Frets. [/quote] Eh? You level along the width of the neck rather than along its length???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 [quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1357991494' post='1931429'] Bollocks! 180 grit for frets is well over the top. 240 at the most for bad frets. If you need any more than that you need new frets. Also crowning files make more mess than anything else. A file with the wrong size slot will f*** you right up. All you need for fret levelling is a 24" straight edge to make sure your neck is flat in the first place, a flat piece of something (this much is correct). I plane a 6-8 inch piece of scrap for this. Tape off the board inbetween frets, Mark the frets with permanent marker, scrub (sideways) with 320 grit on your flat thing until there is a shiny crest on each fret. All that is left is to 'polish' the frets which also recrowns them at the same time. Starting with the 320 polish down one side of each fret and then back up the board on the other side of each fret. Repeat this step through grades of wet and dry 400 up to 1000 or more (or indeed less) depending on fret material as some require a finer polish than others. Finish with fine wire wool and you're done. I used to buff with compound but I do find that it is totally unneccessary. Remove tape and lightly clean up the board with wire wool. Fret levelling is a coupla hours work at the most and really very simple to do well. [/quote] You need to have some emery sandpaper attached to the flat bit of something! Also, I did a polishing and recrowning on my strat in 30 mins with a fret file to crown the frets rather than sandpaper. It's worth investing in the right one, but you may need some specialist advice on what the right one is. I haven't really needed to use marker because the way the metal shines gives a pretty good indication of what bits have been abraded, but its a good idea. Like Beer of the Bass, I also use metal fret protectors when using the file and they seem to work fine. Taping up can be time consuming too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexbasscat Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Check flea bay for the advanced fret levelling system. Superb piece of kit Same supplier also sells a number of very handy tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) [quote name='kevin_lindsay' timestamp='1358024272' post='1932123'] Eh? You level along the width of the neck rather than along its length???? [/quote] Err... yeah, thats my thoughts also! No point in the exercise unless you are levelling along the length! Edited January 15, 2013 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) No you are wrong! The length of the leveler has all that under control. By rubbing up and down a fret board you are not keeping the frets level across their sideways plain (plane? whatever). You will end up with grooves in the frets. BAD NEWS!!! It is actually a mixture of the 2 which I cant be arsed to explain. Strings do not move up and down your board they can only move sideways therefore you want all marks (even very fine ones) to be along the same plain as string movement or you will hear those tiny scratches. Oh go on then. . . You stand next to the board and scrub back and forth while evenly moving up and down the board. This is the voice of experience not just some random thought process. The pen on top of the frets tells you when they are level. You do not need to level the whole board at the same time. DERR! Edited January 15, 2013 by lettsguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I use a raidused block for fretlevelling like this one. [url="http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Leveling/Aluminum_Radius-sanding_Beam.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=1884"]http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Leveling/Aluminum_Radius-sanding_Beam.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=1884[/url] I don't see what the problem is? Level the whole neck and then crown the frets. It may be the voice of experience but if the experience is wrong...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 You do not need to use a radius block for leveling. If the board is slightly different to your block you are gonna have flat spots all over the place.Not to mention compound radii. There is are massive problems with that method ebsfreak. See post above for details. Radius blocks are for putting radii into fretboards. Leveling bars are for leveling frets. Experience teaches, there is no such thing as wrong experience, only experience and learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) Of course you don't need a radius block for levelling - it just helps and gets the job done quicker. Use a radius block that matches the radius of your fretboard - I thought that would be common sense? A compound radius is a different kettle of fish - and a major headache. Your best bet is to send it to the plek machine because it makes no economic sense for a luthier to do it by hand. If you want to do it by hand, then you use different radiused blocks - starting at 12-14th fret. A fret rocker helps locate those high frets - but they will be pretty obvious if you string your instrument up with a low action. Why you'd want to have a compound radius on a bass makes no sense to me anyway. At the end of the day, there's different ways to do a job - best we agree to differ. Edited January 15, 2013 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I'm sorry but unless you only ever work on the same guitar with a radius that is bang on with your block this cannot work. A board can sometimes have a radius that has very slight changes over the whole board. A block gives you very little control and can only ever level frets that conform EXACTLY! Maybe it works for you but I would never even consider this method. Anyone who is buying stuff from stewmac is mental I do have a few bits (yes radius blocks, files etc) which I got when I was new to this and knew no better. I soon realised that they are a bunch of old gits who will relabel any old sh*t, create a job for it and sell it for 10 times its worth. This is all light hearted banter by the way. I am in no way dissing your methods. Whatever work s for you. I will jump out of this one now. I've said my piece and it's getting a bit silly. Fret leveling is a simple business and no matter how you go about it the end goal is the same. To remove any high spots without doing any needless damage to your frets. Laters. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monckyman Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Looks like you're just rubbing each other up the wrong way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 LOL Even using a radiussed block that is matched to the radius of your fingerboard is a bad idea. The radius will be out by the height of the frets. To achieve a consistently level frets, a radiussed block isn't going to deliver the results any better than a sanding beam and...I agree with letts, it potentially makes things a lot worse if uneven and inconsistent pressure is applied or the angle of the block changes slightly as its pushed up and down the neck. The longer the sanding beam, the better the results are going to be. I like the idea behind the Advanced Fret Levelling System too. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TECHNOFRET-Advanced-Fret-Leveling-System-/180677811948"]http://www.ebay.co.u...m-/180677811948[/url]? Having said all that, if someone likes medium to high action, they're not going to notice a lot of difference between a good and a bad fret job because the string height introduces a much greater degree of tolerance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassHertz Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 (edited) I found some aluminium Unistrut type stuff at work and on one side I stuck some 120Grit sandpaper and for 400Grit on the adjacent side (I know 120 is a bit rough but it was all I had available for free) to make a pretty handy fret levelling tool. I did the levelling with the strings removed and unscientifically used my eye to check that the neck was straight obviously with a tweak of the trussrod. I tried this on an cheap guitar, before letting loose on a bass, and the results were quite pleasing. I also created a fallaway with a few bits of masking tape over the 14th fret. A bit of fret crowning with a proper crowning file and a cheap and nasty guitar with like 6mm action felt like a £2000 boutique guitar (well almost) Edited March 12, 2013 by BassHertz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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