Fret Levellng Tutorials

Before attempting any fret levelling read the information on the forum before starting out.
It's always well advised to spend time and effort either talking to forum members. Checking out
Tutorial videos etc so you are well armed with information. My nephew built a guitar recently
And wasn't sure how to deal with fret levelling. He sent me these tutorials that really helped him
get to grips with what needed to be done. Before you start you'll need some tools and to have
Strings removed and fretboard needs to be flat. Follow all the procedures in the videos. I'm
Pretty sure you'll have a neck with good fret work. Have fun

Part One http://youtu.be/PDy7cF255dY
Part Two http://youtu.be/K_EGXE0bGgs

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kimball492

Before attempting any fret levelling read the information on the forum before starting out.
It's always well advised to spend time and effort either talking to forum members. Checking out
Tutorial videos etc so you are well armed with information. My nephew built a guitar recently
And wasn't sure how to deal with fret levelling. He sent me these tutorials that really helped him
get to grips with what needed to be done. Before you start you'll need some tools and to have
Strings removed and fretboard needs to be flat. Follow all the procedures in the videos. I'm
Pretty sure you'll have a neck with good fret work. Have fun

Part One http://youtu.be/PDy7cF255dY
Part Two http://youtu.be/K_EGXE0bGgs

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G'day,
Just a thought that might make life easier:-

I more or less finished my build of a LP-1M, finessing the intonation and action, and found a high fret - about fret 8 on the A and D strings in particular.
I've read about fret dressing and Plek machines and such, but thought, maybe the fret is not seated correctly?

I loosened off the strings enough to get at the culprit fret, and tapped it with a piece of dowel (against a firm object)
retuned, now the 9th fret was high. Did same procedure (gingerly) again, retuned-

problem solved!!

I figure the only reason the frets should be uneven is they're not all seated the same. So check that before getting out your files.
Cheers

hey Wolfred, yes step one of a fret level is to make sure all the frets are seated. You were lucky knocking in fret 8 and 9 and it working out for you. Well done

Stay tuned, I will be shooting a video tute on my method of fret levelling tomorrow.
Just finished one on glueing set necks today so whilst I have the gopro out I may as well do a fret one next..

Hey DB,
Look forward to both. My last 2 set necks were a matter of luck and good workmanship from the factory. I'm really happy with both results, but I can imagine how easily it could be unplayable.
Cheers

nice timing DB, I'm about to do my first set neck

Alrighty then.
Have shot the vid but stupid youtube seems to be having a hissy fit and not uploading... spent hours sitting on 85%... FML.
Might try splitting it into two vids and have another go later today...

good one DB, I've had that happen the upload freezes. Try closing and reopening the browser and the upload sometimes resumes when you attach the video file again.
I hope Clarry was helping out in the video !

Are you still using that Thomas & Ginex system DB? I ordered a set last night.

Thanks Woks, but I gave up in disgust... will either try again later or get the FBSH out and do some minor adjustments to the Imac...

Sure do Pabs, love it. I start off by levelling with the Katana then re crown with the Thomas. Then polish with Dremel hard felt wheel.

Good to hear. Crowning is always the longest and most tedious step for me, hoping it will speed it up significantly.

To be honest, the method I use is the easiest I have seen.

You need to be organised for this to work.

Step 1.
When ordering your kit, pay DB to do it.

Step 2.
Build Guitar

Step 3.
Wonder why you didn't do it that way on your first kit.

Bwahahahahaha!
Too funny, Rabz :D

Hi DB, did you ever upload your own fret levelling videos ?
Thanks
Laz

Hey Laz, tried to but poo toobe was being un helpful at the time..
Will try again when I get a spare five hours.....

Hey DB how big is the file you are trying to upload to YT ? Might be easier if you split it into 2 parts.
When I upload gopro vids above 400MB in size I just upload it and leave the PC running and check the progress every hour or so

Any updates on the fret levelling videos Dingo Bass Cheers

Hi all you cleva guitar builders.

Hope you can advise me on the Leveling beam I ordered from PitBull guitars with my kits. It's 15 cm long so not as long as the ones in the video's in this thread.

Q1. Is leveling with this short leveling beam effective to get good level frets.

Should a manufacture my own longer one from a aluminum spirit level with 400 grit sandpaper stuck to it with the masking tape and supa glue trick?

Q2. I started with this PBG leveling beam with the 600 grit side. After maybe 2 dozen passes, the sand paper was smooth and no longer removing any material.

I then moved to the 1000grit side and the occurred.

Is this normal for this product?
Should I have used a lubricant like oil on the beam?
Can I "refresh" the sandpaper on this leveling beam? Maybe using the same masking tape and supa glue trick?

Looking forward to your answers and suggestions.

Thanx
Christo

Attachment 40911

Sent from my SM-A315F using Tapatalk

christoboucher, I'm not sure on question 1, but regarding question 2: I use a simple pink eraser I bought from the dollar store and it removes the sanding dust from/refreshes the paper pretty well. Granted, I haven't tried it with metal sanding, but works when sanding wood, lacquer or CA glue!

Looking on Amazon for a similar product, it would appear as I thought, that the metal block isn't designed to sand directly, but you are supposed to use double sided tape (or masking tape and CA) to stick sandpaper to it. Probably why it wasn't very effective.

I started out with a 15cm diamond fret levelling file, but now I tend to use an appropriate radius block with sandpaper stuck to it if doing a whole neck.

I was levelling frets today and was thinking that you really want either a very long beam, so that you do all the frets at once, or else quite a short beam and run it all the way up and down the neck in a single go. I was tending to keep my radius block in one place, which meant that as I moved it backwards and forwards by a couple of inches (I was working on removing string-worn dents in the frets near the nut), the frets at the ends of the block got about half the number of rubs as the frets beneath the main part of the block.

I only use one grit, P240, when working along the neck. No point in using anything finer as once the frets are level, you'll be attacking the frets with a profiling file (either radiused or a flat blade file and filing to profile the fret as you wish). So there is no point getting the tops of the frets smooth to 1200 grit when you are going to make them rough again.

More black marker, file away until there's just a very thin black line down the middle of each fret, and then swap to sandpaper (I do sandpaper P240 to P800 and then MicroMesh). I do equal rubs of each grit of sandpaper to try and keep the wear (and so fret height) even. 50 rubs with P240, then 20 with P320, then 10 rubs per fret up to 12000 MicroMesh. Then I do a final rub with metal polish.

Do mask off the fretboard first when working on the frets. I now use rolls of modellers masking tape which come in a pack with different widths, which makes it easy to use one or two pieces per fret segment. A lot easier than trying to cut down a standard roll of masking tape.

I use a 2 foot long (~60 cm) spirit aluminum spirit level to do mine. I have done them all with 320 grit double sticky taped to the bottom. Would probably take me less time if I used the grit Simon does.

Here in the US at 2 foot spirit level is a standard size so it's readily available, and I like the length. long enough to keep things really flat, but short enough that I can get some decent strokes in without smacking into the nut. (I don't have Simon's finesse ;-)

Everything else just like Simon said. The one thing I'd add is not to bear down on the beam as you sand. Just the weight of the level is enough and helps keep it completely flat.

I made a fret leveling beam from a 12" speed square.
https://i.imgur.com/BMXPElL.jpg

Used 2x sided tape to attach the 220 grit sandpaper.

After I got the frets leveled, I used the Fret Guru fret crowning tool which made crowing the frets a breeze.
https://www.amazon.com/FretGuru-Crow...54802320&psc=1