Fret Dressing?

[Tom]

I recently bought a Warmoth neck (it's my first time buying from Warmoth). Still waiting to receive it, so thought I'd reach out to those who have some experience with Warmoth and ask about fret dressing (crowning etc).

Is there typically a bunch of prep-work required on new Warmoth necks? Do you suggest that I start looking at Stew Mac for some tools, so I'm prepared for the arrival of this neck?

Thanks!

 

[Cagey]

If this is your first Warmoth neck, I think you're going to be very pleasantly surprised at the out-of-box quality of the thing. Some guys install them as delivered and are happy.

But, they don't level or dress the frets, set the truss rod or optimize the nut slots. Since it's a new part, levelling generally isn't a big issue - the fretboard is freshly machined and sanded so the frets go in pretty level to begin with. They don't optimize the nut slots because they don't know what strings you're going to use, and they don't dress the frets because some people want more or less round-over. Without those details, they can't really set the truss rod, either. But, it's all reasonably close, which is why some can simply use it as is.

I do neck setups here because I demand better, and there are others who do as well. I want the thing to be as near to perfect as possible to start with. As good as their necks are, I still usually manage to find 3 to 5 frets that are a bit tall, so they need to be lowered and re-crowned. I don't care for undressed frets, so that's gotta be done. Then, they all need polishing. If it's a raw neck, it should be burnished. Truss rod's gotta be set. Nut slots filed. Tuners installed. Threaded inserts in the heel to allow for machine screws to hold the thing on.

The list of tools I use to do all that is sorta long, and not one I'd look at buying into unless you're going to do a number of necks. It's difficult to justify otherwise. But, just to list it out...

Leveling file
General purpose flat/triangular files
Crowning file
Dressing file
Nut file set
18" Machinist's straightedge
Fret rocker
Feeler gauges
Polishing papers

All those things can be had from Stewart-MacDonald, although I would encourage you to shop around for some of the less specialized stuff. Their feeler gauges, for instance, are ridiculously over-priced.

 

[rolloman]

Can ya direct me to where, what, and size of threaded inserts you use? That sounds like a great idea.

 

[Cagey]

The inserts I've settled on are McMaster-Carr's p/n 90016A009, which require a 1/4" hole and have an 8-32 internal thread.

The screws I use for those are two, depending on whether the body's neck pocket is contoured or not. For shorter lengths, I use McMaster-Carr's p/n 91802A203, which is a 1 1/2" x 8-32 oval philips head head stainless steel machine screw, the other is the more typical 1 3/4" part, which is their p/n 91802A204.

You're going to want a drill press and an X/Y vise to hold the neck. You're also going to want to thread the holes you drill, and for the parts called out above I use a 5/16-16 tap. There are some pictures of the sequence here.