101 Guitar Fret Care: How to Level, Crown & Dress Frets on Your Guitar | DIY
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
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In this do-it-yourself instructional video, Nashville luthier and repair tech Dave Johnson from Scale Model Guitars demonstrates how to fret level your guitar.
Johnson goes to work on a Squier Stratocaster, with frets that haven’t been glued down-a common feature on models that have been manufactured overseas. As a result, some of them have wiggled around in their slot, so there’s no uniform fret height down the neck. This affects not just playability, but sound, too, since loose frets result in weaker vibrations across the guitar.
The first step Johnson takes is to make sure that the neck is straight by making tiny adjustments to the truss rod. Next, he slaps some paste wax down on the fretboard, which acts as a guard of sorts from the heavy-duty cyanoacrylate super glue that’s wicked down the edges of the fret slots with a whip tip to cement the fret wire in place.
Once the frets are solid, Johnson sets to work with a StewMac fret leveling bar (stewmac.sjv.io/Jr5By7) to bring the frets to a uniform height up and down the neck. The higher frets, however, will still be a little different, which Johnson explains with the concept of fall-away.
Next up is a once-over with a fine fret edge tool that smooths out any tough angles on the ends of the fret wires, then a diamond file to round them out again after the leveling. Johnson rakes the frets-a sanding and polishing process with 400, 800, and 1000 grit sandpaper. Then it’s time to scrape the board back. With a razor blade, he scrapes away the wax and glue to get back to the soft Indian laurel wood underneath, then dusts off the gritty leftovers with steel wool. (Careful, though. Johnson says if your guitar has particularly large or precious inlays, it’s a good idea to take some extra precautions at the board-scraping stage.)
A few drops of fretboard oil later, and the guitar is ready to rip. Thanks, Dave!
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00:00 - Intro
00:17 - Assessing the Squier Strat
00:34 - Checking the Frets
01:13 - What is Causing the Fret Problems?
01:45 - Why You Should Glue in Frets
02:13 - Cross Section of a Fret
02:45 - Checking Guitar's Neck
03:16 - Wicking the Frets with Paste Wax
03:57 - Gluing in Frets
04:42 - Fret Leveling Beams
06:01 - Leveling the Frets
07:34 - What is Fall Away
08:36 - File Sharp Fret Ends
09:17 - Cross Section of Fret Crown
09:38 - Fret Crowning Tools
10:09 - Crowning the Frets
11:08 - Raking the Frets
12:40 - Cleaning the Frets
13:11 - Cleaning the Fretboard
14:21 - Steel Wool on Fretboard
14:40 - Conditioning & Oiling Fretboard
15:04 - Outro
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I worked with Dave in a repair shop in Nashvegas and you will not find a better fret job anywhere. He sets the bar for me when I’m doing fretwork. Paste wax and the thin CA is some straight method. Best technique hands down.
This made me a bit confident to start doing my frets on my guitar. All I have to do now is to get the right equipment and practice on some beaters to get some experience
First time i’ve someone explain the importance of glueing the frets👍🎸🤘
Glad you liked it!
You should be using a notched straight edge to check neck straightness otherwise your just checking it with unlevel frets!
Crazy, that may have been the first time I have heard someone discuss fallout at the heal and how to deal with it when leveling frets. Would have never known and would have just leveled everything as is.
Good to know anyone can do these repairs. Anyone who happens to have professional tools.
Great no frills and fast instruction. Good job Dave
8:10 i have been doing frets for 20+ years.. and this is something that i just learned from this guy.. that is why my fret dressing was 'defective'.. i 'm happy to have found your video ... thanks
That's awesome!
Excellent video, thank you!
Beautiful... two thumbs up
👍👍
Thanx!
Thanks for explaining fret bar tool. I got one in a kit of tools to set up my Les Paul copy Firefly fflp Classic. I found this guitar has a 14 inch radius. I bought it second hand and found it a bit hard to play after changing from overwrap on the stop to through the stop. I do recommend the notched level for testing truss rod, as it is a way to know exactly what relief you prefer and of course action height. Great video!
This is a good video, packed with useful information. I've done many levelling jobs, and agree with Dave's methods. I refretted my Telecaster last year, and foolishly didn't pay sufficient attention to seating the frets. Luckily, I realised this just as I was starting to level them, so I got some CA glue in there, locking them solid. That did a great job, and the guitar plays really well now.
this video is awesome! thank you so much!
You're so welcome!
This is an amazing video. Thanks to David Johnson and Premier Guitar for posting this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great Video I mean AWESOME Thanks
Looks frightening to do this myself.
Great information sir!!
My telecaster Squier has a weird D chord sound sounds like it’s out of tune even after I tuned it, and I think this might help
What grit do you use on the bar? Do you start with a lower grit and work your way up to a finer grit?
Or do use the different grades of grit when crowning and polishing?
Very informative thanks. Just a question though.. What is the sanding grit of the fret level? Is it a 400?
Hi..Great video.....one?? .....when using the sandpaper u didn't hang the head off the table like with the sanding beam..any reason? Thanks Dave
Very detailed and professional approach. However, we find that when looking for high frets by putting a straight edge across three at a time, it’s not uncommon that only part of a fret is high. We have a brass piece with a cut-out. Placing it on the high section of a fret and tapping it with a small mallet usually reseats the fret. Our preference is to do that before we resort to filing down the offending fret.
@Macmarr - Dave actually pointed out using a segmented straight edge that sits on the fretboard at 3:00 min.
Great video.
Tools have developed a lot in recent years - I never knew.
It's been a long while since Ive dressed frets. I didnt know that many of the overseas Fenders didnt have their frets glued in.
The truss rod adjustment always concerns me as its down to experience and feel. Less is more in my world.
Next time my System 1 strat needs strings, Ill do the frets too. ✌️👍💜😊
No one has ever mentioned glueing the frets down. Very interesting. I’m practicing in a $20 Kirk Hammett practice guitar I got before moving onto my MIM strat.
Did I just miss it, or was there no mention of what grit sandpaper should be used for the initial leveling? Not to mention the differences in working with nickel vs stainless frets? A lot of good information, but just enough information for a stone cold beginner to completely ruin their guitar 😬 Details matter, especially with fretwork.
There are so many videos out there and they all succeeded in putting me off working on my own guitars! Lol
4 months late, but he did mention the grit of sandpaper. He said he uses “400, next 600(or 800), and then 1000. Wouldn’t go lower than 400 cause it’ll be too aggressive against the frets.”
He didn’t really touch on much of the nickel v stainless steel frets though
@@wayynneethat’s the sanding After the leveling. He does not mention grit for the beam level.
At 11:16
Where’s the notched straight edge to straighten the neck? No taping up the fretboard? Where’s the radius block in his method after the fret level with the bar? WHAT A WANKER!
thanks. Do you have experience with Warmoth necks? Do frets often need leveling?
You know this man is a true craftsman when he busts out a Stewart Mcdonald straight edge before they made the name change to Stewmac. bad ass! hahaha
Outstanding! So when doing this on a set neck, basically I would support the neck along its length, headstock hanging off?? I understand I dont use muscle, rather I use finesse, yes??
Very Educational. Fun watching a Real Pro work.
What grit sandpaper are you using on the understring leveler?
What grit sandpaper would you recommend to use with a fret leveling beam?
I LOVE these videos. As a guitar repairman, these are like money in the bank. LOL
Why? What’s he doing wrong?
I saw a YT video the other week where the guy had a bit for his drill press that would crown and bevel fret ends perfectly and consistently. I wish I knew where it came from. Looking down a neck at fret level separates the boys from the men when it comes to crowning and beveling ends. I think you have to do about 30 necks before you can really be satisfied with the results. This is especially tricky when dealing with existing binding. Not for the faint of heart:)
Thanks for the video. But I don't mess around with Fall Away and I've never had a problem. Just my experience.
Should I release or tighten truss rod to make neck straight before levelling?
Word of warning...if you are doing this on a set neck or neck through guitar, either do not do the steel wool bit at the end, or mask off your pickups first, because you will get tiny steel fillings all over your pickup magnets and potentially down inside the pickups, which will be impossible to remove
But how do you know if the frets are not already glued in? I have a 2000 Telecaster with the truss rod adjustment on the head stock. I think I paid around $850 for it at the time. The frets have always been buzzy and made me quit playing several times in frustration. Same story with just about every guitar that I ever purchased. Finally picked some pro tools to take care of all the issues myself as this looks fairly straight forward to do now that I know what fall away and crowning is. Are the tops of the frets still a little flat after you are finished or are they perfectly crowned?
Nice! I just got a job as a starting tech and so I’m learning on the job. This is pretty helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Painters tape would be great for saving time on messing up the wood also....
Been doing fretwork for quite a bit and for novices, I would say use a notched straight edge. Using just the normal straight edge on top of frets you know are not straight to start with may make a bad job worse without all the proper experience.
I am about to refret my 93 maple neck Stratocaster as the wear is getting to be a problem. I have a set of Fender frets, precut and pre bent as I don't have all the fancy luthier tools and don't want to buy them just for this job. I have ordered a notched fretboard level as I want to start from a flat fretboard. I am undecided about the wear on the fretboard varnish - a lot of it has gone under 30 years of finger wear - it would look better revarnished, but if I sand it and revarnish , then I feel I am erasing a part of the guitar's history
I have a question about levelling - at manufacture the fret slots are all machine cut to the same depth and the frets pressed in. On a home refret, if one fret is higher than the other. then could it be that it is not properly seated and a tap with a mallet might bring it back into line? - after all, the frets are all made from the same wire profile.
I read an article that even the American made fenders do not have glued in frets? Is thus true and why not?
"A lot of overseas makers"...
Really?
I'm sorry, but I've had 2 Gibsons - "proudly made in the USA yeehaw!!!" - over the years, and they were absolutely terrible, including the frets. Especially considering the prices they went for. Couldn't fix the issues, and I did try. Both were sold cheap, because we, in Europe, don't trust Gibson anymore to deliver up to its (largely self proclaimed) reputation.
So, you're very welcome to keep American overpriced stuff - I'm only *ever* playing Asian made instruments, because they play and sound great - mainly 90s and current Epiphone models (Korean and Indonesia) and mostly my early 80s Aria Pro-II (Japanese). Unbeatable 🤘😎🤘
Stewmac of course
hello my question is if can take out the frets out why we dont put smaller thinner frets so we wont bother sanding it later ? anyone
Gluing frets in also makes it harder to refret the neck if and when the time comes to do so. And with that soft Indian Laurel, pulling the glued frets will almost certainly pull out some of the wood as well, possibly beyond repair.
Players will beat a path to your door if you have these skills & tools or a plek machine.
See you. It seems like a long time to me from 1985 to now. I realize that there are many mistakes, especially from myself, in dealing with various electric and acoustic guitar problems. Until now I have not witnessed changes that result in accurate installation. Leveling seems to be the mainstay and the pressradius tool is the main pressure. There are many other factors beyond that that must be considered. Until now I have concluded that many people lack enthusiasm for guitar problems. So I feel this is the best. Even though there is a lot that has been missed. Hopefully this can be my reflection. Have a good fight. My greetings from Indonesia. If you need help, I'm ready to do it as long as it's not part of my confidentiality in handling especially freting.
You should remark the frets before you crown them. Makes it easy to see when you get there. Tape the fret board before all of the sanding and then no scratches in the wood.
That were my thoughts as well.. .but then I watch movie till the end and understood his approach :P He just have enough exp to know when he can take shortcuts :D Good job! :)
When you level, don't you need to use the radius blocks? Don't the frets themselves follow the radius of the fretboard? If so wouldn't the levelling process with a flat block mess up the radius?
No, here’s why. The leveling beam is 1” wide. The frets are curved in a radius, so only part of the arc is touching the leveling beam. So the straight beam allows you to follow the radius if you move it side to side as you are moving it up and down. The biggest benefit of the straight leveling beam is that it allows you to even follow a compound radius, which is not uncommon. (That, plus you don’t need to buy a bunch of different radius blocks to match every radius.)
The benefit of the radius block is you can move a bit faster because it levels the entire width of the frets at once, as you move it back and forth. But then you cannot do compound radius necks so you need a straight type anyway. If you’re doing diy work, the straight leveling beam can do everything well. Maybe a high volume shop would also stock up on a bunch of radius blocks, but I see plenty just using a flat beam.
on a beater squier huh
Those usually need the most work.
Great video, that work cost more than the guitar
Probably
Glueing frets in is a no no...If you use the proper frets with the correct woods the never need glue!
Where’s the notched straight edge to straighten the neck? No taping up the fretboard? Where’s the radius block in your method after the fret level with the bar? I’m glad you’re not massacring my guitar lol,,, WHAT A WANKER LEARN TO DO THE JOB RIGHT!
I call BS on "gluing frets increases sustain" or whatever nonsense you spouted. It helps hold the fret in, that's all. It's not required.
Wait till you have a fret come up from the fretboard, cause it wasn’t glued from the factory. That rattling sound will do wonders for your sustain.
You couldn’t be anymore wrong chuck. Glueing frets absolutely increases sustain. That’s a fact.
Bad take alert
“It merely keeps the frets from falling out of the fretboard” seems like a decent bonus even if it didn’t increase sustain.
My dillema is can I trust myself to do this to my favorite guitar (she needs it)?!
remove the end video suggestions, cant see shit bcoz of it lol