$40 Fret leveling/recrown kit on Amazon

[David Schwab]

And some of the tools are coming from China which brings the price way down. As for the Stew-Mac Fret Bender I bet we could build something like that for a lot less than $125...

You can always build you own stuff, but how much is your time worth? Plus you have to gather up all the parts and materials. Sometimes it's cheaper just to buy something. If you have your own machine shop, than that's another story.

I have the old fret bender. Got it in the late 80s/early 90s. It's a very heavy and solid piece of gear. I think it was about $80 when I bought it. The new version looks a lot easier to adjust. I've bent a lot of frets on this thing! I'd rather use this than that thing in the video! I do quite a few refrets, so these tools pay for themselves in the time saved.



Speaking of China, I have a bench top drill press that cost me $36! It's not he best, but it's not bad either.

[Steve A.]

I got the Kaypro level today and it is thick enough that it doesn't bend. I may get another one ($6.00!) and notch it for Fender and Gibson fretboards.

I looked at 24" levels at Home Depot and they had one under $11 with I beam construction that had a very flat surface. I put it next to another level and could see no light through it. The surface I will be using for a fret sander is a hair short of 1". There was a 24" level from Stanley for $20 that was the box type- you could see how the surfaces had been milled but the edge was a little over 1" so I stuck with the $11 one.

I was reading how to bend pre-cut frets and one recommendation was to get a pair of pliers and put a groove for the tang in one of the faces and put a rounded indentation in the other face to keep from squishing the crown. Work your way back and forth until you have your desired radius.

The video on how to build a fret radiuser shows how to build one with parts from a hardware store in maybe an hour or two. I will deal with that later as I have a package of Dunlop 6130 pre-cut frets coming in. (Yes, I see how it is much better to buy the sticks and run them through a radiuser.)

Steve