How much fret can you take off before refretting?

[warlok]

Yeah, that's alot more involved jig than I'm planning on building but it has very good ideas.. Thanks.

Jazz - I'm glad you mentioned the "fallaway" cause now I may be confused about it. I thought it was to help with the notes choking on a cylindrical radius like a strat, the same all the way down the board. As in, you didn't need it on a compound radius.. No?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I don't put a lot, but from my experience, it helps. But, I've actually never heard that you shouldn't... So, I don't know. :dunno:

But according to Warmoth they do the compound radius by removing LESS wood (from the edges), not more (from the middle) so... It would seem like that's not correct.

Anyway... I had a 10-16 compound radius neck put together and set up and the action was low (1.6 mm at the 12th fret on the treble side) but not "super low." It would choke out on step-and-a-half bends if I went any lower. But it was "pretty good." Not as low as my USA Jacksons, but not like a Strat either.

Another compound radius neck I had, was delivered with one high fret (20th I think) and I leveled it and did a little fallaway. It set up with really low action (about 1.2 mm) - same as my USA Jacksons.

I never really believed that the tiny little bit of fallaway was helping all that much so I figured the first neck must be "out" a little, too.

I leveled the first neck and the frets were scratched all up and down the neck after the first light "let's see where we're at" pass across the tops... Huh, so, it was level. So I added some fallaway and put it back together and now it sets up with super low action, too...

I don't use much angle. I put one piece of masking tape on the 11th fret and one on my leveling beam and I just try to get it to hit the last 7 frets, mostly it affects the last 3 or 4.

[warlok]

Sweet. Thanks for all the info.. I'm looking at crowning files and I think I'm going to try this one, mainly for the cheaper price but still should do what I need well. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting...ctures#details I need the wide one right??

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Yeah, for Jackson fret wire you want the big one.

[straycat]

Level and recrown first before you tackle the re fret.Jackson frets are pretty damn huge so there is a lot of meat on them even if you have grooves present.

[warlok]

Definitely.. All I'm planning on doing is the level/crown/polish. I'm actually making out like a bandit so far. All the measuring/checking tools and the "beam", I already had or made. I have 1" abrasive rolls in 320 and 400. I'm going to use a 12" piece of hardwood for a shorter beam (I have a table planer and can make a perfect edge on the surface plate with some sandpaper). Should work fine for the fallaway. I just bought a new never used Stewmac offset diamond crowning file (300 grit, $96.39+shipping.. same one MAJNH has) for $59 shipped off ebay. And a set of micromesh pads (1500-12000) for the polishing. I'm basically ready to go once the file and the pads get here. And... As always, the kickass JCF MFers come through again.. Trem is hooking me up with a practice neck to learn with before I touch the good ones.. Thanks a ton man!!

[Trussrod]

IIRC the guy in the 22 part ytube series did not use fret files on the strat he re-fretted. He explained how to use a curved file to change the profile of the frets and said he did not use the Stewmac screwdriver-type file very often. Also, the frets on my DR3 have a flat crown. It is not possible to achieve this with the curved files guitar supply stores sell. IMO the characteristic "bite" associated w/the pick attack on a Jackson guitar comes from this flatter fret profile.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

You achieve flat fret tops when you level the frets.

Crowning them properly removes the flat tops (at least, all but the very thinnest of strips) for the best playability and intonation.

[Trussrod]

Crowning them properly removes the flat tops (at least, all but the very thinnest of strips) for the best playability and intonation.

Here's a pic of my DR3 fret board. The fret crowns look flat and wide to me. Even my other Jackson guitars don't have frets crowned like this and none of them sound as good either--i. e., have that "bite" associated w/the pick attack. Also, I don't recommend sloping the edges of the frets toward the end of the fret board.

[warlok]

I'm no expert at all but that goes against what I knew and found in my research. But if it works, it works.. I see what you're talking about in the pic but never saw that as a good thing before. Strange, but obviously it works for you.

[warlok]

BTW Trussrod - I was watching that same guys youtube series on the Warmoth Strat Build that has a compound radius. But of course, part 16 where he's leveling the frets, won't play..

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Here's a pic of my DR3 fret board. The fret crowns look flat and wide to me.

Yes, they are, just like frets that were leveled and not properly crowned. Isn't a DR3 like, 15 years old? :think:

I'm pretty sure someone did a level and skipped the crowning at some point during the last 15 years, that's not how any "Jackson fret job" really comes from the factory that I've ever seen.

I'm not sure what you're saying about sloping the ends toward the fretboard, but yeah, you don't want to round off the bevels, just the tops. The edges of the bevels get rounded in a fret end dress, which takes off very little material.

[Trussrod]

BTW Trussrod - I was watching that same guys youtube series on the Warmoth Strat Build that has a compound radius. But of course, part 16 where he's leveling the frets, won't play..

I appreciate this guy's attention to detail but an entire video dedicated to taping the finger board is too much--yikes!

[Trussrod]

Yes, they are, just like frets that were leveled and not properly crowned. Isn't a DR3 like, 15 years old? :think:

I'm pretty sure someone did a level and skipped the crowning at some point during the last 15 years, that's not how any "Jackson fret job" really comes from the factory that I've ever seen.

I'm not sure what you're saying about sloping the ends toward the fretboard, but yeah, you don't want to round off the bevels, just the tops. The edges of the bevels get rounded in a fret end dress, which takes off very little material.

This is the only guitar I own that is perfectly intonated. All of the open chords sound crisp. It's really a joy to play because of this. Not sure how the flat fret profile plays into this, but there are no intonation issues anywhere on the neck.

Fret ends should be dressed like the ones in your pics, jazz. The taper begins too far in from the end on my DR3 so sometimes my fingers fall off the sides of the neck on the low and high E strings.