I have a fairly logical aversion to fretwork, just barely out-powered by my aversion to paying somebody to do something I can probably do better myself. And with the obvious advantages of stainless steel frets, the joy of fretwork has even gotten... mmm, 24 frets = 48 fret ends = 96 stainless steel fret corners! Oh goody...
So I saw this credit card-sized DMT diamond sharpener in the hardware store for $10, why not? And, I have owned one of those little spring-powered "sanding sticks" for a long time, but only used it for touching up drop-filled finish repairs. Stewie's actually sells them cheap, but you can get them from a number of woodcrafty joints too. At some point, the StewMac mention of putting a groove into the tip of the sanding stick penetrated. A bit earlier I pix'd this, which is simply one of Stew's "fingerboard guards" stuck into a handle so it would stop squirming and stay where I wanted it, which is right up against the fret -
if the tool can't get to the fretboard, it can't hurt it. :headbang:
And there's the DMT card too! And as soon as it hit the SS 6100, I KNEW I was onto something - so I picked up the butterfly-knife inspired, double-sided DMT coarse/extra coarse pocket sharpener thing. Oooh! There's one now!
And that vaguely anteatery thing is a sanding stick w/groove:
And the heavens lit up, the celestial voices bega... oh no, that was something else. But using these few things has completely overtaken any time "lost" on the stainless frets. Jam the guard up against the corner, lean on the diamond thing a bit, repeat 23 times, flip 'er around, repeat 24 times, change direction, 24 mo' -> other side...done. In like an hour, maybe. Then the sanding stick once through with 240 grit, once more around with 400g's. Anything after that you want something softer to round stuff up, like thin mousepad on a stick, 400-> 1500...
This pix is just where the neck needs to BE:
It's the sacred fretwork 2X4 on some rubber sheeting to hold steady, more rubber between board & neck, and RIGHT up against the edge of the desk so I can get AT the frets all the way from vertical to horizontal.
Tool notes: the groove in the sanding stick isn't so much for "sanding it round" - no, you still have to pay attention to the corners. But the groove kind of catches on the fret when you're bearing down at an angle, effectively "safeing" the tool and keeping it away from the fretboard. You could still screw up, but you'd almost have to be trying. Also, these plastic sticks feel kind of flimsy, groove or no. I can definitely see my way towards using the 1/4" sandpaper but with a sturdier tool, something like a 3/8" chisel, narrowed to 5/16" and rounded with a groove, ooh it's coming to me...
Based on some post-coital 10X examination of the DMT butterfly sander, I'd say that it's only going to be good for 2 - 3 stainless-steel armed guitars. But $25 to save at least a couple of hours per guitar? Priceless! Well, no, of course not, but this is the nasty part of fretwork. Leveling is the EASY part, but I prefer to wait till a neck has settled in through at least one seasonal change if possible, and Warmoth had sunk these frets to a very tolerable consistency. "Plek'ing" a brand new neck seems like a cart-before-the-horse concept - it's going to age and settle back OUT of it's divine plek'dness in a year, for sure. Training a machine to do a $300 fret job and turning it loose on a neck that's never even been strung? :icon_scratch:
Regarding crowning after leveling, I can really see using these sanding strips on maybe, a #9 1/4" straight gouge? Or a #11 with a thin rubber lining, or just some... demihemispherical THING, you know. It's out there... waiting for me.... the dumb part is, this knife sharpener has enough diamond dust left on 90% of it to happily sharpen knives and chisels for a real long time - all I wanted is the 3/32" part around the edges. They're smart enough not to put any warranty on the buggers - stainless steel isn't all THAT soft. Maybe I could send it back for a new one -
"Hey! The edges wore right off!"
That would probably only work once. :icon_tongue:
So I saw this credit card-sized DMT diamond sharpener in the hardware store for $10, why not? And, I have owned one of those little spring-powered "sanding sticks" for a long time, but only used it for touching up drop-filled finish repairs. Stewie's actually sells them cheap, but you can get them from a number of woodcrafty joints too. At some point, the StewMac mention of putting a groove into the tip of the sanding stick penetrated. A bit earlier I pix'd this, which is simply one of Stew's "fingerboard guards" stuck into a handle so it would stop squirming and stay where I wanted it, which is right up against the fret -
if the tool can't get to the fretboard, it can't hurt it. :headbang:
And there's the DMT card too! And as soon as it hit the SS 6100, I KNEW I was onto something - so I picked up the butterfly-knife inspired, double-sided DMT coarse/extra coarse pocket sharpener thing. Oooh! There's one now!
And that vaguely anteatery thing is a sanding stick w/groove:
And the heavens lit up, the celestial voices bega... oh no, that was something else. But using these few things has completely overtaken any time "lost" on the stainless frets. Jam the guard up against the corner, lean on the diamond thing a bit, repeat 23 times, flip 'er around, repeat 24 times, change direction, 24 mo' -> other side...done. In like an hour, maybe. Then the sanding stick once through with 240 grit, once more around with 400g's. Anything after that you want something softer to round stuff up, like thin mousepad on a stick, 400-> 1500...
This pix is just where the neck needs to BE:
It's the sacred fretwork 2X4 on some rubber sheeting to hold steady, more rubber between board & neck, and RIGHT up against the edge of the desk so I can get AT the frets all the way from vertical to horizontal.
Tool notes: the groove in the sanding stick isn't so much for "sanding it round" - no, you still have to pay attention to the corners. But the groove kind of catches on the fret when you're bearing down at an angle, effectively "safeing" the tool and keeping it away from the fretboard. You could still screw up, but you'd almost have to be trying. Also, these plastic sticks feel kind of flimsy, groove or no. I can definitely see my way towards using the 1/4" sandpaper but with a sturdier tool, something like a 3/8" chisel, narrowed to 5/16" and rounded with a groove, ooh it's coming to me...
Based on some post-coital 10X examination of the DMT butterfly sander, I'd say that it's only going to be good for 2 - 3 stainless-steel armed guitars. But $25 to save at least a couple of hours per guitar? Priceless! Well, no, of course not, but this is the nasty part of fretwork. Leveling is the EASY part, but I prefer to wait till a neck has settled in through at least one seasonal change if possible, and Warmoth had sunk these frets to a very tolerable consistency. "Plek'ing" a brand new neck seems like a cart-before-the-horse concept - it's going to age and settle back OUT of it's divine plek'dness in a year, for sure. Training a machine to do a $300 fret job and turning it loose on a neck that's never even been strung? :icon_scratch:
Regarding crowning after leveling, I can really see using these sanding strips on maybe, a #9 1/4" straight gouge? Or a #11 with a thin rubber lining, or just some... demihemispherical THING, you know. It's out there... waiting for me.... the dumb part is, this knife sharpener has enough diamond dust left on 90% of it to happily sharpen knives and chisels for a real long time - all I wanted is the 3/32" part around the edges. They're smart enough not to put any warranty on the buggers - stainless steel isn't all THAT soft. Maybe I could send it back for a new one -
"Hey! The edges wore right off!"
That would probably only work once. :icon_tongue:
ccasion14:
