Ok, so I’ve been reading the manual so I can make a start once my crippling self doubt abides. First of all I plan to address the fret leveling job. I expected the manual to tell me the neck must be straight before I level the frets, but the manual doesn’t actually state this. Can someone confirm the next should be straight, not convex or concurved?
You are correct. ideally you should do this with a notched straight edge - as you can assume the fingerboard was once flat, even if the frets aren't, You can buy them fairly cheaply, or a bit of straight solid aluminium strip and a file will see you with your own home made one in 30-60 minutes. Just mark off the fret positions on the strip, then file a suitable sized notch in each position so that it will sit over the fret without touching it. Always useful in setting up your own guitars. You can do exactly the same thing for a bass (though you obviously need a longer metal strip).
Thank you Simon.
Two quarter turns of the truss rod anti-clockwise and the neck is just about straight. I’ve identified about five frets I’d like to give a tap to ensure they are correctly seated before I run a sanding bar over them. I’ll leave the neck to settle over night and see how it looks tomorrow before I go any further.
Visited the big green shed today and made myself a notched flat edge. A couple more quarter turns of the truss rod and I think I’ve got the neck as straight as I’m going to get it. Tried to make myself a 12” radius sanding block (what a clown!), soon gave up and ordered one online. I wasn’t looking forward to this stage of the build, but the more involved I become the more I’m getting enthusiastic about getting the neck set up as well as I can. I’m sure the effort put in here will be well worth it in the end.
Yes, it’s daunting to start but there’s a satisfying almost meditative aspect to the process. The better you get the job done, the better it will play.Originally Posted by DarkMark
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
Today I fixed the paving.
Rubber mallet in hand... took it as a sign... I’m going to give those frets a tap! Once I attacked the half dozen frets sitting high, I decided all of them would benefit from a little gentle persuasion. Looking at the neck I’m happy I did it. Frets appear to be sitting better and got some practical use out of those old text books. Looking forward to the arrival of my sanding block.
Sanding block arrived this morning. Set up tonight to level and crown the frets. Definitely a job I want to wait until daylight to perform.
Started sanding at 400 grit but after a while I moved down to 240 grit. Back to 400 grit and up through some finer grades. Had I known what I was doing I would of stopped at 400 grit. Eventually got metal shining through my marker pen lines along the high points of all the frets - frets are level, time to crown. Mark the frets with my marker pen again and file the edges over to leave a thin black line down the centre of the fret. Put down the special crowning file pretty quickly, using a flat edge triangular file was working for me...and quite enjoying myself at this stage, not as hard or technical as I had imagined. Started on some frets high up the neck until I worked out some kind of technique, then did the entire neck. When I was happy I gave the frets a light sand with 240, 400, 800, 1200 grit sandpaper and finally 0000 steel wool. WOW! Did I just do this? So low, smooth and shiny! Nobody told me the frets would look and feel so good! Feeling pretty happy with myself at the moment. Also feeling like I’ve accomplished something today. Pat myself on my back. Time will tell if the job is any good. Fingers crossed.
It is now beer o’clock for you sir, job well done!
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
Congrats, those frets look nice and shiny! I think it was really smart of you to do this first.
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