Guitar setup tips

[Steve A.]

Those were definitely the dawning days of the clone explosion!

Your legacy lives on... perhaps more of a firecracker than a big explosion but I figured out how to rewire the preamps of the discontinued Crate V18's and V33's preamps that of an SLO- the architecture was very similar so it was a matter of replacing some of the components. Without a carefully designed layout it couldn't handle the higher gain levels without howling back at you but these rewired amps got some really nice lower-gain sounds. (I used GT5751M's for the 2 preamp tubes- they reportedly have about 40% of the gain of a strong 12AX7.)

Here's a link to that thread over at TGP that has 846 posts (not all SLO mods.)

Crate V18: Mods and Conversions - The Gear Page

I came up with a "color-by-numbers" approach on the layout drawing, showing which parts to remove or replace, etc., which made it easy for n00bies to do the mods...



Steve Ahola

[Slobrain]

I have to say I like the M-E-F format T-boy made here but in translation something was lost when switched from Ampage to M-E-F. I can remember Ampage was constantly thriving in the late 90s with many good techs and many new folks always showing up and getting into the guitar-amp- mod game. Reading the post on Ampage was incredible. I would sit for hours at the PC reading and learning and enjoying the new stuff being put on Ampage every day. It was like an adventure at Ampage. During the late 90s I learned so much from the good folks from Ampage. But seems now, M-E-F isn't thriving like Ampage did. I guess its sort of like music from the 70s/80s, then the shift in the early 90s that seems to change the face of rock n roll. Some things are just classic... Just my thoughts for this morning.

Mitch aka Slobrain. That name Slobrain started out as a joke BTW...

[Steve A.]

I have to say I like the M-E-F format T-boy made here but in translation something was lost when switched from Ampage to M-E-F.

AFAIK tboy had written and was supporting the software that was running AMPAGE- back in the mid-90's there was NO canned software for BBS-style forums (at least nothing with the features of tboy's software.) My guess is that it became too much of a hassle (or too time-consuming) for tboy to keep improving and supporting his own software so he switched to canned software for MEF.

One issue that many old-timers objected to was having to a register to be able to post at MEF and we lost many of them for that reason. The darn libertarian desire to be completely anonymous if so desired. I know that a lot of members were logging on mainly from work (posts would drop off considerably on weekends) so perhaps that had something to do with not wanting to register.

I liked the idea of accountability. I remember Randall Aiken getting caught using a phony name to post very inane comments as a joke. (I think he signed his own name to one of them and the secret was out.) That was cool but it wasn't cool when someone made a very derogatory post ripping into Andy Fuchs using my name.

Mitch aka Slobrain. That name Slobrain started out as a joke BTW...

And I thought that you were awarded the name at a county fair, complete with a $5 prize and a blue ribbon...

Steve

[nickb]

Do what my friend Felix does- extend the fret channel right through the binding. He is blind but he has done at least 100 refret jobs- mainly on his own guitars, sanding down the fretboard for a wider radius and doing it all by touch. His girlfriend does help with hammering the frets in but he does the rest. His guitars have very low action- he doesn't care much for any guitar that he hasn't refretted himself. (His guitar playing is fucking incredible- think Eric Johnson but with a better grasp of blues...)

Steve

P.S. He might do some bound necks the right way- I was thinking of an Agile LP that he refretted...

Off topic: Steve, I'd really like to hear Felix play - do you have anything-time for new thread maybe?

[Steve A.]

Off topic: Steve, I'd really like to hear Felix play - do you have anything-time for new thread maybe?

I put this link to a YouTubeo back in Post #48 but here it is again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O617q5DLOfs

Here is a link to BluesJanet's channel which has many videos of Felix (he's my favorite guitarist in the world!)

https://www.youtube.com/user/Bluesjanet/videos

Steve

[Steve A.]

Hmmm... my PRS SE has a bound neck with ramped frets

I got in a pack of 6130 pre-cut frets and radiused them with the mini-pliers I modified so that they didn't damage the tang or the crown. I was taking measurements on the SE245 because I want the frets to be like that. Guess what- the PRS neck is bound! They don't use the plastic creme-colored binding- it appears to be wood. Which is how they get a glass-like finish on the neck going up to the fretboard. (For the PRS SE guitars my guess is that they start off with frets cut by CNC machinery to fit in the slot between the wood binding, with different lengths and heights and then they level and dress them once they have been pressed into the fret slots. PRS uses glue on their frets for their US models- I suspect that they do that with their SE models as well.)

In measuring the height of the SE245 frets they go from around .047 at the 1st fret down to around .037 at the 12th fret and .032 at the 22nd fret. So it looks like these frets are ramped, getting lower as they get closer to the bridge. In any case, I have put the PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow project on hold indefinitely until I feel comfortable dealing with a bound neck...

So what to do with the 6130 frets? As suggested here I can practice on one of my junkers with a bolt-on neck. I did have a question about what grit sandpaper to use for leveling the frets. What grits should I start with and what grits should I end with? I got a second Empire 540.24 level (~$11) which I am going to trim down. I've seen levelers listed going from 15" to 19". Any recommendations? I want to lower the XJ frets in one of my LTD EC-256 guitars...

Thanks!

Steve Ahola

[nickb]

I put this link to a YouTubeo back in Post #48 but here it is again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O617q5DLOfs

Here is a link to BluesJanet's channel which has many videos of Felix (he's my favorite guitarist in the world!)

https://www.youtube.com/user/Bluesjanet/videos

Steve

Thanks!

[Steve A.]

Thanks!

Here is one with Felix singing "Red House" playing some of the coolest blues guitar ever...

[David Schwab]

If you can buy frets already shaped to the correct radius, that's the way to go. when I re-fretted my Charvel I found that to be the most difficult part. I had thought that they would take the shape of the fret board when I tapped them in, WRONG! I didn't buy any special tools, so it was rather tedious, but it came out really good and it plays great.

If you are hammering them in, you need to bend them to a radius slightly smaller than the fingerboard. This keep the ends seated well. If you are pressing them in they can be closer to the actual radius, but I over radius them anyway.

I used to radius them by hand with a specially modified pair of pliers, but for about the past 25-30 years I have been using a Stew mac fret bender.

I believe the SE uses medium jumbo wire.

[David Schwab]

Guess what- the PRS neck is bound! They don't use the plastic creme-colored binding- it appears to be wood. Which is how they get a glass-like finish on the neck going up to the fretboard.

Is it bound, or did they cut the fret slots shy of the edge and notch the tangs back on the frets? Easy to do with CNC, and some fingerboard suppliers will make them like that for you.

http://www.birkonium.com/product-cat...om-fretboards/



Some companies also cut the tangs back and then fill the slots with either wood filler, or sawdust and glue.

You need one of these for bound necks.

STEWMAC.COM - Fret Tang Nipper

Or, you can use a flush cutter and small file to remove the tangs.

[Steve A.]

Is it bound, or did they cut the fret slots shy of the edge and notch the tangs back on the frets?
http://www.birkonium.com/product-cat...om-fretboards/

The second choice. What looked like wood binding is the fretboard with the frets not cut all of the way through.

You need one of these for bound necks.

STEWMAC.COM - Fret Tang Nipper

Or, you can use a flush cutter and small file to remove the tangs.

What size flush cutter (a bigger size than the fret puller?) As for the Stew-Mac cutters the wide one should work most of the time- right? 0.100" to 0.120" (I don't think that I'll be using the narrower frets .070-.095".)

Here's a link that shows a $3.97 alternative to the Stew-Mac tool with the needed modifications done with a Dremel tool. The nibblers at Radio Shack are long gone but Amazon has inexpensive ones for $12-25.

Fret tang nipper on the cheap

Another question: do you use a soldering iron to heat frets when you remove them? I read that it is necessary (or highly-recommended) if the frets have been glued in. If you do what wattage and tip do you use? I assume that you would have the tip perpendicular to the fret so it can't slide off and burn the fretboard.

Thanks!

Steve

[David Schwab]

-Don't undercut the tang on the outside ends (with the special cutters or manually) to accommodate a neck binding (yuck!) or to do slot refilling, as it makes the fret quite a bit less stable.

Seriously? People have been doing that for decades. It works perfectly fine. These frets have been on this bass, and guitar for 20 years. No problems at all.

Rosewood binding:



Plastic binding:



It's a much better solution than the way Gibson does it, ending the fret at the binding.

If your frets are that lose, that little bit of missing tang isn't going to help.

[David Schwab]

As a hired pro, of course you have to do what the customer wants, but for me bound fret boards are wasted effort and material like bound bodies.

It's a very classy detail. Has nothing to do with Gibson or Fender. Binding has been used for a very long time.

Look at the unbound cheaper Les Pauls. They look cheap. That was just a cost cutting move more than anything else, and it looks like it. It's very un-craftsman like.

Binding is just one of those extra visual details.

[Jim Darr]

Just found this thread. Very good info here!!!

[Rick Turner]

When I visted the Cort factory in Korea, they had an automatic machine cutting frets to exact length and notching back the tangs for installation on bound fretboards. They'd set it up for doing 500 1st frets, 500 2nd frets, etc. and the machine was running full time.

At Fender, however, in about 2006, they were wasting a good 1 1/2" of fret wire per fret with overhanging wire. Go figure...

The supplier for fret slot milling cutters designed for rosewood and ebony is "Precise Bits". Great stuff. We use the .025" bits. UltraBIT Fret Cutters The trick is figuring out speeds and feeds. Yes, you can do closed end slots with these. We also run a "V" cutter to slightly bevel the edges of the fret slots for easier fret insertion and to help prevent chip-outs when refretting in the future. Love that CNC machine...