First refret job

[jwendt2003]

I've done a couple levelings so far, this was my first attempt at a refret. The fret ends are not angled enough, I just did it by hand with a long file and eyeballed it. I used the fret pullers to radius (bend) the new frets; not easy to get it smooth. Some of the frets don't sit perfectly against the board, but that's why I tried it on a Squire first!

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...1&uid=12593288

[jrfrond]

No, fret jobs take practice to get right. DId you prep sand the fingerboard first. If you don't have nice, sharp corners where the radius meets the side of the fingerboard, the frets won't lay flat. AFTER the fret job is finished, you can then roll the fingerboard edges again. In addition, frets need to be over-radiused slightly. You can't tap a fret home if it is too flat. It will spring right back. There's also an acquired technique with tapping in the frets.

But hey, you got past your first one. Congratulations!

[David Schwab]

Three tools that I would not do fret jobs without are the fret bender

FretBender at Stewart-MacDonald

Fret Tang Nipper at Stewart-MacDonald

Fret Beveling File at Stewart-MacDonald

You can make your own, but these three things have saved me so much time that they paid for themselves in no time.

I have many more specialty fret tools too, like the 6" fret leveler ( Fret/Fingerboard Leveling Files at Stewart-MacDonald ) and lately I have been using an arbor press with these: Fret Press Caul at Stewart-MacDonald

[jrfrond]

Three tools that I would not do fret jobs without are the fret bender

FretBender at Stewart-MacDonald

Fret Tang Nipper at Stewart-MacDonald

Fret Beveling File at Stewart-MacDonald

You can make your own, but these three things have saved me so much time that they paid for themselves in no time.

I have many more specialty fret tools too, like the 6" fret leveler ( Fret/Fingerboard Leveling Files at Stewart-MacDonald ) and lately I have been using an arbor press with these: Fret Press Caul at Stewart-MacDonald

Yes Dave, you are right, and I have all three! The FretBender is a friggin' Godsend for radiusing fretwire, as are the Fret Bending Pliers and the Tang Nipper to overlay frets over binding.

Sure, I did it by hand in the old days, but we have TOOLS now!

BTW- I bought the Fret Press a LONG time ago. Once you press frets in, a hammer seems barbaric!

[jwendt2003]

Thanks for the input! Yes, I over-radiused the frets with just the clippers before hammering. I didn't even think about sanding to keep a sharp edge on the fret board first, and then later rounding off the edge between each fret. I'll check into those other tools; gotta save up a little though ...Jim

[Soapbarstrat]

I don't like "bevel files" such as the Stewmac one with the file fixed at 35 degrees. On tall frets that can often be too much of a bevel. Prefer to do it free hand with a file, so I can start the bevel half way up the crown height and have any degree of bevel I see fit.

The StewMac fret-bender has the best adjustment method of any of the benders on the market, as far as I know. You'll find other similar looking benders for sale from other sources, but they all seem to just have a elongated hole for the adjustable roller, which is a PITA to fine tune. The Stewmac bender has a more complex mechanism for the adjustable roller, and it's much easier to fine tune.
But even so, $90, or whatever they're going for these days, is quite a chunk of change if you don't care that much how easy the tool is to adjust.

Although I haven't had my hands on any currently made stewmac bender. Mine was made in the late 80's. Brass roller with two grooves. Maybe it's a classic !

[Bruce Johnson]

I have one of the old Waverly/Stew-Mac fretwire rollers from the early '90's. It's a great tool that has paid for itself in time savings many times over.

I work with a lot of different fingerboard radiuses, from flat down to under 4". Although my machine has the eccentric roller adjustment, it's still a little bit of a pain to get it dialed in to any particular radius. Also, it won't adjust to tighter than about 6".

What I did was machine up a series of aluminum sleeves on the lathe, which slip over the idler roller. These sleeves have different outside diameters, which result in different rolling radiuses. That way, I can leave the adjustment locked, and swap sleeves in a second to change rolling radiuses.

[David Schwab]

That's a good idea Bruce!

I also have the old fretbender unit, back when they made it out of steel... with the brass rollers. I usually try and set it for slightly more radius than the neck, but it is a try-a-piece-and-see method. It would be nice to have presets.

I got the arbor press and stuff back in the 90's, but it was in storage for a long while. So I had been using a hammer again.

[Soapbarstrat]

When I said the stew bender adjusts easier, I meant when you loosen the roller to adjust it, it stays in position until you move it, whereas the slot version just slides right out of your adjustment.

I made a straightening machine for several reason, one for when I accidentally over-radius the wire.

I was considering approaching stewmac with my wire straightening design, but found out their policy with other people's designs is :

" The person gets their name mentioned in our catalog and a clean working version of their design".

Seems a little unbalanced, considering Stewmac makes a steady income from the persons design.

I thought about putting marks on the bender to show me where to adjust for specific radii, but then when you factor in different crown sizes, changing the adjustment amount, you'd end up with marks similar to 1/64" increments on a ruler. Not easy on the eyes.

[jwendt2003]

Does anyone file the 'fall away' area (above the 17th fret)? Is that the norm?

[David Schwab]

Does anyone file the 'fall away' area (above the 17th fret)? Is that the norm?

I usually do. I take it on a case by case basis, but generally I put some "fall away" up there. Especially with bolt on necks.

[Bruce Johnson]

Like David, I did the arbor press thing for a while in the '90's. I made up a nice head assembly that mounted to one of my arbor presses, with machined Delrin radiused foot blocks that snapped in and out. I used it for a year or two, but I found that it was significantly slower than a good 'ol hammer, and I couldn't see any real advantages. I still have the whole rig, and I use it once in a while for special applications. It's one of those tools that looks appealing when you're starting out at fretwork, but once you've worked out your own hammer technique, it isn't really necessary.

I mostly use an 8 oz ball peen hammer and a plastic block. My plastic block is a piece of UHMW polyurethane about 3/8" thick x 1" tall x 6" long. The edges are slightly rounded off so it won't mark the fingerboard if it touches. I've probably driven a thousand frets with that same plastic block.

[jwendt2003]

I had to rework a few things;a couple high spots and the fall away area, but it's playing ok now. I can never get close to 1/4" clearance for the higher strings without buzzing, I seem to end up around 5/64" - 6/64". And is it me, or does a refret improve the overall tone? I thought it would just play better and reduce the buzz spots, but the ceramic PUs sound pretty good now. The Affinity Squires are listed as having Alder bodys, which I didn't know, so what's the diff between those and a MIM? Anyways, I finally got some wire in, so I'm off to winding some replacement PUs for the fun of it. If only I could see it...

[Soapbarstrat]

Most of the replacement fret-wire you buy is better quality than the factory wire on cheap guitars. This can probably improve tone. I think of most factory fret-wire as just something there to keep dust out of the fret slots until I do my thing with new frets.

Gluing in the frets might improve tone. Depends on the glue. In my early days, I used 5 minute epoxy for a short period. When I saw it was like a hard rubber when dry, I quit using it. Switched to long dry. Now it's only super-glue with the wood already treated with accelerator. I like a very hard brittle glue for tone.

[guitician]

I like a very hard brittle glue for tone.

That's ok for wood to wood gluing, but for metal to wood, hard/brittle wouldn't move with the expansion/contraction differences.