Fret Finishing for the Bound Fretboards
Source: Fret Repair
Fret Finishing – Bound Fretboards:
This article finishes up the discussion of fret installation of frets on bound fretboards. You should be sure to read the first article in this series – Fret Installation for Bound Fretboards. That link in the the article listing below.
Articles You Should Review:
Fret Installation – Bound Fretboards
Fret Assessment
Essential Fret Repair Tools
Optional Fret Repair Tools
Specialty Fret Repair Tools
Fret Problems
Anatomy of a Fret
How to Remove Frets
Tools and Materials Required:
Sturdy Workbench
Protection Pad
Top Protection Template
Neck Cradle
Roll of Fretwire
Plastic Tipped Hammer
Fine Dovetail Saw
Bag of Lead Shot
24″ Stainless Steel Straightedge
Reworks End Nippers
Fret End Dressing Tool
12″ Bastard File
Fretboard Leveling Tool
Fret Files
Needle Files
Silicone Carbide Sandpaper
Garnet Sandpaper Assortment
#0000 Steel Wool
Trim the Fret Ends:
Since the frets were installed slightly longer than the actual width, there should be a slight overhang on each end of the fret. Simply take your Reworked End Nippers and trim each fret end as close to flush with the edge of the binding as you can. I would recommend that you cut the fret from top to bottom to avoid pinching the metal and deforming it.
Level The Frets:
Take the 12″ Bastard File and set it flat on the fret surface. Using light pressure, move the file up and down the entire length fretboard, touching all of the frets, across their entire width. Check your work often as the fretwire is very soft and files very easily.
Your objective here is that all of the frets have at least a very thin shiny spot along their entire length, indicating that the frets are all at the same height. If you did your fretboard leveling correctly, all of the frets should have a rather uniform shiny flat spot on top of them. If not, you could have a fret that was not pounded in properly and you may have to replace that fret.
Ultimate Guitar Repair Tip #1: Make extra sure that the shiny flat spot extends for the Entire Length of the fret. If it does not this could cause some buzzing of the strings.
File Frets With The Fret Files:
Take your the Fret Rounding Files and carefully file the full width of each fret crown. Make sure that you don’t over-file, which is easy to do with the soft silver fret material. As you file, you will start to take down and minimize the shiny flat spot on the top of each fret. You will replace this shiny spot with file marks, which are dull so it is easy to tell when your are finished filing.
Progressively work down the fretboard until all of the fret are finished and all of the shiny areas are completely gone.
Check With Straight Edge:
Next Iike to check the frets with a Fret Rocker. This will tell you if there are any high frets to contend with. You should not have this condition as you leveled the fretboard completely before you started your fret installation, but after installation of frets there are certain reactions that you will see in the guitar neck, as a result of your work.
First: If you hammered your frets in with a lot of force, it is very likely that you introduced some backward bow into the guitar neck.
Think of it this way: Each fret tang acts like a mini-wedge you are pounding into the fretboard. As you drive each of these wedges into the wood the neck reacts by bending upward. You can use this to your advantage in some repair jobs. If you have a neck that is impossible to get all of the bow out of the neck with the trussrod, you can use this little trick to bow the neck to help you out.
Just about all necks will have some sort of bowing reaction to fret installation and you should not be surprised by it. Usually the string tension will take care of it or reverse it. If the guitar has an adjustable truss rod you may need to do a bit of adjustment to take out the bow.
If you have a condition where you do not wish to introduce any forward bow at all (or can’t) you may be better off installing the the frets by the method I call Fret Installation – Gluing the Frets. Using this method, you basically just set the frets into place, into an epoxy glue and let them dry. This way, you do not introduce any forces into the fretboard and neck.
Finishing the Fret Ends:
Now take the Fret End Dressing Tool and run it gently down the entire length of the fretboard while applying side pressure against the fret ends. The file will do its job and you will have perfectly angled fret for the entire length of the fretboard. File the fret ends until the Dresser Tool cuts a tiny chamfer on the edge of the binding for the entire length of the fretboard.
Sanding The Frets:
The next step is to smoothen the frets with Silicone Carbide Sandpaper. Cut a quarter sheet out and fold in half twice. This will give you a pad of sandpaper about 1 1/2″ square or there about. Next run this down the length of each fret and take all of the file marks off each fret. You can tell when your are down because you will not see any scratches and the fret will look completely dull. While you are at it, sand the fret board too.
Once you are done sanding with the frets, take a new pad of sandpaper and sand the entire fretboard , frets and all to smoothen everything up.
Polishing The Frets:
One more step. To make this a professional job we want to make the fretboard and frets as smooth and clean as possible to allow for fast action. After all your hand slides much better on a highly polished finish than a dull one doesn’t it?
Take a wad of #0000 Steel Wool and polish the frets along their lengths and then along the length of the fretboard. Make several trips up and down the fretboard and check your progress. Check with your hands and see how smooth it is becoming. You will know when you are done.
Install the Nut:
Now put a drop of Titebond III Glue on the back of the nut and stick it back in position and let it dry. When dry you can put the old strings or string it up with brand new ones and check out your work.
Tags: bound fretboard fret installation, fret dressing, fret installation, fret job, how to install frets
