Did my first real fret level & polish!

[zeegler]

I bought one of those super cheapo SX GG2s from Rondo music. The guitar is Unbelievable value for the money at $159. It is solid mahogany, set neck, and is a very well made instrument. The only shortcomings worth mentioning, are the poor quality inlays, and lack of fretwork. Actually, the only inlay that sucked was the 12th fret inlay that is made up of 2 MOP blocks with a abalone block between them. The piece of abalone they used has pinholes in it, and looks like shit. The black binding looks great. On the website, it says the fretwork is done by machine, but to be honest, the frets were horrible. So since the guitar was so cheap, I figured I would try to level and polish the frets. After about 20 minutes of levelling, and 2 hours of dressing and polishing, it plays awesome!! I think I must have a knack for it. The action is super low, and almost no fret buzz whatsoever.

I should also mention that the stock pickups were not very good, and the pots and machine heads are kinda crappy too. I've already changed out the pickups with a Dimebucker and a Mighty Mite neck pickup, and the other crap will be gone soon too.

[Rhmsc8]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

Details, details... What did you use to do it? Did you watch any videos's read any books? Buy, special tools from Stewmac. Or was it simply a leap due to a late night vision after a couple 6 packs? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I would love to here about this in more detail... I am thinking of giving this a shot as well.

Thanks and congrats on your first fret level & polish.

[Shotgun]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

So, to review, other than the inlays, the frets, the pickups, the pots and the tuners, it was very well made and a great value? [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Keith

EDIT: Oh, and like Ron said, deets? Pics, maybe?

[zeegler]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

Here's a couple of pics before I set the guitar up. In other words, the action is way high, but you can at least see how shiny and smooth the frets are.



Here is the 12th fret inlay. You can clearly see the shitty piece of abalone in the middle.



As for my method, I bought a nice new bastard mill file, making sure I got a nice straight one. Apparently, if you're not careful, some of them have a slight curve to them.

I first colored the crown of each fret with a black marker. This allows you to see more clearly where the file is taking material off, so you know when you're done. Before I started levelling, I made sure the neck was dead straight. Since the strings aren't on, the reduced tension might produce a bow to the neck, and you might have to loosen the truss rod to get it straight.

Now the fun part. With the guitar held firmly on a flat surface, I slowly ran the file up and down the frets holding it with both hands. I let the weight of the file do the work. Too much pressure would take too much material off too fast. I immediately could see which frets were highest, as the black marker began to disappear. I continued, until the marker on the lowest frets began to wear away.

As it turned out, there wasn't a huge degree of difference in height between the low and high frets, so the higher frets (the ones that more material had to be taken off) did not need major recrowning work. Good thing too, because I couldn't find my small files, and I haven't gotten around to spending $60 for a crowning file from Stewmac.

Next, I used masking tape, and covered the fretboard between all the frets.

At this point, the frets are quite rough because of the filing marks. To get rid of them, and to recrown the frets that lost the most metal, I used various grades of sandpaper (can't remember which ones right now)glued to a popsicle stick (yeah, you heard me), and wrapped around my fingertip.

Once the frets were nice and smooth, I polished them using a metal polisher called Brasso. I figure any metal polish will work just as well.

As you can see, the frets are super smooth, and shiny. I am very pleased with how it turned out, I just wish I had cleaned the gunge from the fretboard better before I put the strings on. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[kinglou]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

I have a couple of necks I've been thinking about leveling. I just haven't had the balls to try. I saw stewmac has a fret leveler that uses self-adhesive sandpaper for sixty bucks. Afraid when I'm done it would be worse or would need re crowning, which would be a first time try. Yours came out pretty nice. I might have to give it a shot.

[Rhmsc8]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

Thanks for the walk through. Man that came out beautiful!! Great pictures too. Good job!

Thanks

[Emthrax]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

Hey now, great job there Zeeg!
You've got yourself some mighty shiny frets there now. Good idea with the popsicle stick and polishing with brasso! I appreciate your detailed instructions too, good to know. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Em

[mm2002]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

WoW! nice work Zeeg! After seeing the results of using a file and polish I guess I'm gonna have to toss the 'ol belt sander! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[iron_monkey]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

Your frets look great.

When I read that Bob Benedetto (famous archtop jazz guitar maker) uses regular files that you can get at any home center, I didn't worry so much about having to buy the expensive stuff from Stewmac. I'm sure the Stewmac stuff is nice, but a lot of their tools seem like you really need to be a professional guitar repair tech to need them. Anyway, your success makes me think of giving it a try.

[tseegert]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

One could almost spend as much time learning about how to do his own guitar work as learning how to play the dang thing... I wish I had time for both. Nice fret job [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[zeegler]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

[ QUOTE ]
So, to review, other than the inlays, the frets, the pickups, the pots and the tuners, it was very well made and a great value? [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, first off, I'm being picky, but if I was a beginner, or someone on a tight budget, I couldn't go wrong paying $159 for a solid, cool looking, playable instrument. All of the things I mentioned would normally be acceptable for a guitar double the price.

[Deneb]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

You sure for that inlay that they didn't use swiss cheese?

[zeegler]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

By the way, thanks for the comments guys. I'm so happy it worked out well. I will probably be doing a couple more in the near future.

[sully]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

fretwork can be fun, for sure.... another thing you can use as a crowning tool is a stack of business cards, about 1/4" thick.

take the stack and wrap it tightly in electrical tape so the cards can't move, and when it's crowning time, put some 320 or 400 grit paper around it, and run up and down the fretboard. you can grip that a little easier than a popsicle stick, and it'll finally give you something to do with that huge box of business cards that you got when you started with your company and never passed out.

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

sully

[Kyle G]

Re: Did my first real fret level & polish!

Looks really good. I think the first time I did a level and dress I probably spent 3 hours cause I was so worried about messing something up!