Stewmac Fret Levelers
Source: Fret Repair
Fret Leveling – How to Redress Frets:
One of the most important steps in a fret leveling job is determining if the frets possess enough material to allow for a leveling process. This is why, when I complete a new fret job, I select frets that are slightly higher to permit at least one and perhaps two redressings before a fret replacement is in order.
Most often, someone will bring you their guitar because the strings have started to buzz, or they are getting buzzing at one or more locations along the fingerboard, indicating a low fret.
The first things that should be checked are:
Make sure that the neck relief is properly set. If not set the Neck Relief by reading this article and adjust the neck truss rod.
Make sure the action is set properly at both the nut and the saddle ends of the strings. If it is not, that should be your first adjustment.
Tools and Materials Required:
12″ Mill Bastard File
Fret Rounding Files
Needle Files
Neck Support Cradle
Sturdy Work Bench
Guitar Protection Pad
Plastic Tipped Hammer
Silicone Carbide Sandpaper
#0000 Steel Wool
Begin By Proper Setup:
Make sure your guitar is firmly in place on the work bench, is on a clean padded surface and securely placed in the Neck Cradle.
Start by completely removing the strings, or at least slacking the strings, removing them from the bridge and wind them up and secure them behind the guitar headpiece if you intend to keep them. If you don’t intend to keep the strings, simply cut them with a nippers and remove them.
Take a small block of wood (about 20 mm x 20 mm x 50 mm long), and place it against the nut. Give it a firm wrap with the Plastic Tipped Hammer to loosen it from the end of the fingerboard. If the nut is captured too deeply you will have to proceed with much more caution.
Begin the Leveling Process:
With the 12″ Mill Bastard File in hand, carefully run it up and down the frets. Do not use much more force than the weight of the file itself because the frets are very soft and you don’t want to take any more fret material off than necessary.
If this is your first time with this. Just make a few passes and check your progress very often. What we are after here is to finish up with the frets all at a consistent elevation, without taking any more material than necessary, and at the same time remove the divets from the worn frets.
The appearance of the damaged frets is where you should focus most of your attention. When finished the worn areas should be completely gone and you will see flat tops on the frets from filing. All of the frets on the fretboard should have at least a tiny bit of material removed from the entire width of each fret.
Ultimate Guitar Repair Tips #1: An easy way to tell if you have touched each fret with the filing process is to sight down the fretboard. The frets that have been filed will have a shiny flat top along the entire length of the fret. It is extremely important that each fret has been completely touched by this process and this will assure your success in this repair.
Rounding The Frets:
You can’t believe that some repair shops stop at this point and consider the fret redressing process complete. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The object here is to have a consistent, completely rounded fret that is polished for each fret on the fretboard.
Since this is such an important operation, you should have a quality Fret File on hand to do this job for you. This file has special rounded concave teeth that round the tops of the frets consistently and evenly.
Take the file and hold it level across the fret and make several light passes. Check your progress. You should see the shiny top of the fret start to shrink. The key here is to make this shiny band completely disappear – but just barely disappear. This will mean carefully gaging your progress so you don’t “take down” a fret too far.
Do this with all of the frets. Double check your work and make sure you have everything files possibly.
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: fret job, fret leveling, how to redress frets. fret repair, how to repair frets
