Fret Leveling, Crowning, Polishing - Dos and Donts

[alexreinhold]

Gonna have my first fret leveling, crowning and polishing attempt on the weekend and I am scared af! I am not asking how it's done (already watched dozens of Youtube videos) or whether it should be done on Warmoth necks (see the other 100 threads on this forum).

I just wanna avoid obvious mistakes and would like to ask for some dos and donts from your own personal trial/error experience.

PS: For what it's worth - all my Warmoth necks are 6115 (i.e. the peaked ones).
PPS: got all the tools, no low-quality stuff. 

 

[stratamania]

What tools do you have?

Are you doing stainless steel or nickel?

 

[alexreinhold]

What tools do you have?

Are you doing stainless steel or nickel?

Stainless steel. I have a notched straight edge, the Baroque fret file (heard only good things about it, a constructed straight wood block to which I can double-tape sandpaper, a dremel polishing kit and polishing compound.

 

[stratamania]

I think you need a greater selection of tools Alex, to do the job justice.

From what I can see of the file you mention it looks okay possibly for dressing fret ends but it is not one I would want to use for crowning. It also is mentioned to be a quite aggressive file which might mean for a first job it may take off more material than you intended. For example if you have already leveled frets you need to avoid taking away the centre land of the fret with a crowning file, the baroque file looks as though it would be easy to ruin the level and take away the land inadvertently. (I would recommend a traditional 3 corner file or a Stew Mac Z file for crowning)

How certain are you that the wooden block is straight?

From my experience with Stainless steel frets in particular. Less aggressive grits or files will get you there quicker in the end. They chatter less and you don't spend more time than needed taking out avoidable scratches that you will get from coarser files.

Bevel and do an initial fret end dress first so that if a file slips on to the rest of the fret that way you don't ruin the level and crown.

Then level and crown, then you are onto moving through grits and onto polishing.

With SS in particular do not skip grits. If there any scratches with SS you will feel them and the frets will be scratchy which playing will not get rid of.

Like finishes there are no real shortcuts to getting a good result with frets especially SS. So patience and time etc are needed.

Lastly the aim should be to remove a minimum of material to do the job and avoid grinding away when it is not needed.

 

[alexreinhold]

From what I can see of the file you mention it looks okay possibly for dressing fret ends but it is not one I would want to use for crowning.

The reason I got this one is a) the reviews online and b) the Guitars and Guns Youtube guy vouching for this one like crazy as the best file for crowning, insisting that the file keeps the frets level. My thought was to get into fret work first and then upgrade to more tools later.

How certain are you that the wooden block is straight?

I got it at a home depot. It's a wooden block that looks totally straight. Again, I saw a lot of Youtube guys saying that a wooden block with attached sand paper is just as good as professional tools.

From my experience with Stainless steel frets in particular. Less aggressive grits or files will get you there quicker in the end. They chatter less and you don't spend more time than needed taking out avoidable scratches that you will get from coarser files.

hmm... how do I know the degree of coarseness for a file?

Bevel and do an initial fret end dress

Could you explain what you mean by fret end dress? Sorry, very new to all of this.

With SS in particular do not skip grits. If there any scratches with SS you will feel them and the frets will be scratchy which playing will not get rid of.

at which grit size would you start and finish?

Lastly the aim should be to remove a minimum of material to do the job and avoid grinding away when it is not needed.

I will do my first fret dress on a 20 year old strat that URGENTLY needs a fret job. So I have a good practice piece where I can't really make things much worse

As always, Stratamania, you are awesome!!!

 

[electric__steve]

I got it at a home depot. It's a wooden block that looks totally straight. Again, I saw a lot of Youtube guys saying that a wooden block with attached sand paper is just as good as professional tools.

I wouldn't assume the block is straight without checking it.  Slide your straight edge along it and check.  If you've got a large known-flat surface you could sand it flat. 

Could you explain what you mean by fret end dress? Sorry, very new to all of this.

That's rounding off the ends of the frets so they aren't sharp, as you're running your hand up and down the neck when you play. 

I will do my first fret dress on a 20 year old strat that URGENTLY needs a fret job. So I have a good practice piece where I can't really make things much worse

I just did the same thing, '94 or 95' Strat that was my first guitar.  I still need to do a final bit of polishing. 

 

[stratamania]

I had not even heard of the Baroque file till this thread. I have not found that many positive reviews and even on an Amazon page selling the thing it mentions that it is an aggressive file. I still prefer the Z file.

The last post answered some of the questions regarding straightness etc.

A couple of definitions may also help.

Often the term "fret dress" is used by some to mean overall fret work, this is not the same as fret dressing.

Fretwork consists of the following...

Leveling to make the tops of the frets relative to one another level along the length of the neck.
Crowning follows leveling to reshape the fret profile.
A narrow land needs to be left so the crowning does not take away the previously leveled top land of the fret.
Land the part of the fret the string will make contact with when fretting. If too wide or not central to the fret it will cause bad intonation
Beveling , the angle at the end of the frets - done with an angled beveling file.
Dressing smoothing off the fret ends after beveling for example.

Refret Tutorial from Freddy Gabrsek (freddysfrets) includes leveling etc.

Recommended books and videos etc would be those by Dan Erlewine via Stewmac

Fret Work Step-By-Step - StewMac

New tools, techniques, and color photos! The updated 2nd edition of the world's most popular fretting instruction manual.

www.stewmac.com

Dan Erlewine's Fretting Series - StewMac

Complete instruction from fret basics like installation and dressing, through complex refrets and fretting for the production shop.

www.stewmac.com

Various StewMac free online resources related to fretting.

https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-i...-guitar-and-instrument-fretting-and-fretwork/

edit: 29 Feb 2024 to correct Youtube link to work with new forum software.

 

[alexreinhold]

Thanks for the further insights and the resources - very helpful! Will go and study.

The Baroque file was promoted here and I have seen a bunch of people on this forum calling him out as legit:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpeCq_1AvwU[/youtube]

 

[ValeBliz]

I did my first fret level a few days ago on a warmoth neck with SS frets. Used a harley benton notched straight edge, a stewmac rod, adhesive sandpaper and a Z file. I was pretty nervous but found it in the end really easy. I removed the neck from the guitar, set it dead flat with the straight edge, market the top on the frets and the sanded with the rod and 320 grit adhesive paper, than did a few passes with 400. I didn't have finer grits but if I'd do it again i would use 600 and maybe even 800-1000 for the final pass. After crowned the frets that needed it with the z files working in little bursts of 10 passes each side till the crown was the desired width. Then polished the frets with 3m "cloth like" sandpaper using 600-1000-2000-4000 and than did a final pass with a dremel with a cloth pad and 1 micron polishing paste.

The whole work took about 70-80 minutes but i was more than taking my time and doing changes little by little not to screw up anything. Someone used to it could do it in 30-40 minutes imo. With SS frets it's important to get a good polished surface or the fret will feel gritty in the end.

 

[stratamania]

@ValeBliz when you mention using a rod for leveling, I assume that was one of the leveling beams Stewmac sells?

 

[ValeBliz]

@ValeBliz when you mention using a rod for leveling, I assume that was one of the leveling beams Stewmac sells?

Yep leveling beam, I couldn’t come up with the correct name yesterday.

 

[alexreinhold]

Leveling to make the tops of the frets relative to one another level along the length of the neck.
Crowning follows leveling to reshape the fret profile.
A narrow land needs to be left so the crowning does not take away the previously leveled top land of the fret.
Land the part of the fret the string will make contact with when fretting. If too wide or not central to the fret it will cause bad intonation
Beveling , the angle at the end of the frets - done with an angled beveling file.
Dressing smoothing off the fret ends after beveling for example.

Quick update. I just did my first fret dressing, crowning and leveling on a 20 year old strat with very worn our frets and from what I can tell it went very well.

- Leveling: just fine (used a wood block with double-sided tape to which I attached 220 sand paper). I double checked that it's straight with the straight edge.
- Crowning: I used the sharpie method and can confirm that the Baroque left a very thin line at the top land
- Land: very thin and 100% central
- Beveling: done with the Baroque and sandpaper - very smooth.
- Dressing: see above
- Polishing: this one i didn't do with enough care. went up from 400-1000 grit, vertically and horizontally (as suggested by Stratamania's video) and then used a Dremel with polishing compound. However, the frets are still a bit scratchy - so I guess I will re-do this step soon.

I will now do all my old guitars. @ Stratamania, I confirmed that both my Warmoth necks are level - would you still do leveling (and all other steps)?

 

[stratamania]

If a neck and its frets are already level, I would not level it again. If it does not need to be done don't do it.

If the frets are still scratchy it is probably that you may have moved onto finer grits before getting the coarser scratches out.  If you went from 220 to 400 that is probably the issue. There are skipped grits for example P240, P280, P320 or P360, which you ideally would want perhaps 280 then 320 0r 360 before the 400.

 

[alexreinhold]

If a neck and its frets are already level, I would not level it again. If it does not need to be done don't do it.

If the frets are still scratchy it is probably that you may have moved onto finer grits before getting the coarser scratches out.  If you went from 220 to 400 that is probably the issue. There are skipped grits for example P240, P280, P320 or P360, which you ideally would want perhaps 280 then 320 0r 360 before the 400.

That must be it - thanks a lot! BTW - I am extremely happy with the result, the neck feels like it's been reborn. I'm a total newbie to fret leveling and crowning but to me the results after my first try are simply phenomenal. Maybe some of the pros here would slap me in the face for my sloppiness or missing some details. But from where I stand, the Baroque / self-built leveling block makes me happy

 

[ARCnet78]

Within the past year I have purchased 2 Warmoth necks with SS frets. 

When it came time to address the frets (no leveling/re-crowning required by the way), I picked up a set of fret erasers from Stewmac.  They did an exceptional job, especially for an rank amateur like myself.   

After polishing the frets on both necks, the erasers show negligible wear. I expect that they should stand-up to polishing a significant number of guitars.

IMHO, these two necks are the best that I have ever played.  Made possible by Warmoth, the folks who graciously provide their assistance, suggestions and recommendations on this forum, and a little bit by me.  :guitaristgif:

 

[ValeBliz]

If you went from 220 to 400 that is probably the issue. There are skipped grits for example P240, P280, P320 or P360, which you ideally would want perhaps 280 then 320 0r 360 before the 400.

Personally i wouldn't even use 220 to begin with. 320 or 400 are plenty fast enough even with SS frets, even on a pretty botched fret job you actually have to remove very little material.

 

[stratamania]

If you went from 220 to 400 that is probably the issue. There are skipped grits for example P240, P280, P320 or P360, which you ideally would want perhaps 280 then 320 0r 360 before the 400.

Personally i wouldn't even use 220 to begin with. 320 or 400 are plenty fast enough even with SS frets, even on a pretty botched fret job you actually have to remove very little material.

I fully agree. I would not use it either. Most of the diamond files etc I have are fine enough not to have to use any abrasives coarser than 400.

However given that Alex has used it he still needs to get the scratches out from the 220. Which is likely to mean going directly to 400 after is less likely to get the scratches out with SS.

 

[alexreinhold]

If you went from 220 to 400 that is probably the issue. There are skipped grits for example P240, P280, P320 or P360, which you ideally would want perhaps 280 then 320 0r 360 before the 400.

Personally i wouldn't even use 220 to begin with. 320 or 400 are plenty fast enough even with SS frets, even on a pretty botched fret job you actually have to remove very little material.

Yeah, I got the 220 recommendation from the most watched video on fret leveling on Youtube. Next time, I will start at 320 - I don't regret it this time though because those frets needed A LOT of work.

 

[alexreinhold]

That said, is there any technique you follow when sanding the frets?

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

That said, is there any technique you follow when sanding the frets?

Mild to moderate even pressure, from the nut end away from you towards the bridge end.  The ever so slightly added pressure as you get further from the nut will provide an ever so slight amount of fall away.

Buy a bunch of GFS necks, and practice on these.  This is a skill that develops over time, from job to job.  Learn to suck on a piece of junk before you get to the point where you make that $300 Epiphone play like a $3,000 Gibson custom shop.  Don't get in a hurry, don't take shortcuts.