Fret dressing a new Warmoth neck

[beltjones]

I've had four Warmoth necks, and they've all benefitted from fretwork. The ones without binding needed beveling / end dressing, and they all had a high fret or two.

 

[MikeW]

I've had quite a few Warmoth necks come through the shop and only one REQUIRED a fret job. All the others had fretwork that was in very good to excellent shape right out of the box. I've found that most customers just like to have the ends done to keep the sprout from being too bad and/or remove any sharp tangs or edges that may have occurred during installation.

Strangely enough, I can only recall one neck that had edges that were too sharp as well. Again, YMMV, but a quick roll on the edge of the fretboard with a file and high-grit sandpaper takes care of that as well.

 

[AirCap]

and they all had a high fret or two.

And yet you keep buying them?

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

and they all had a high fret or two.

And yet you keep buying them?

This is to be expected of frets that have simply been pressed in and no more.
The term "high frets" can be very subjective to the point to where it may not seem to be an issue to the person who does not have high exacting standards for their setup needs, but if you need very, very low action, a fret level/dress will often be in order.

Since these are parts, and not completed guitars, there is going to be some variance to those tolerances based on the wide varied needs in the market place.

A maple neck on a 25.5" Strat may have differing needs than a Mahogany neck on a 24.75" Gibby style guitar, each with differing string gauges & tensions, add to that, the varied humidity conditions of the end user's location when you ship worldwide, and voila, there you see the challenge.

 

[beltjones]

and they all had a high fret or two.

And yet you keep buying them?

I should have said high spot. The fretwork from warmoth (seating, gluing) is very good, but every guitar that has had frets pressed / hammered in - no matter how flat the fretboard - would benefit from a leveling/crowning/polishing.

 

[Bikertrash2001]

I feel like I need to add a note to my post. I got my first stainless fret neck from Warmoth last week. When I was doing a mock-up on it, I noticed the frets were a little "scritchy" when bending strings. This was first for me to actually take it back off and just do a polish job, still no leveling. Strung it back up, and oh yeah, now they are like glass. If I've ever had nickel frets like that before, just a few weeks of playing would smooth them out. Stainless will win the war with just about every time with all but the best tools.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

The more you play on stainless, the more they burnish, and get even smoother over time.