Fret Friend Luthiery and Gear Reviews was born out of Fret Friend Guitar Workshop which was a guitar repair and customisation workshop which itself was created in 2019 out of Christian Guitars UK owned and managed by Victor Croll. Initially offering all kinds of guitar modification, setup and repair, the workshop is now branching out into gear reviews and recommendations...
We are now just waiting for the go ahead to move to Canada. Paperwork is all submitted, medical passed and checks completed. Thanks for asking :) Victor...
Still a bit confused on what you do differently with a compound radius. You said you follow the line of the strings but I dont see what you are doing different. Looks like you are just taking the leveling beam and going straight down. When you go off closer to the sides of the fretboard, are you tilting the beam at all or is it staying flat the entire time?
Oh I see. Looks like tape. Hah. Made me very confused at first. I have a question, why do you start with the shorter leveling beam and go on to the long one?
My favourite noiseless singlecoil pickup is the EMG SA together with a SPC.Turns a strat into a very good hardrock guitar.I wire mine with only a vol and SPC.I want to try the sax pickup.Have you tried any of the x series pickups?
No I haven't tried the X series! I tend to stick with what I know nowadays that's why I use the active Zakk set or regular EMG 81/85 sets. Regards, Victor...
I bought a korina Epiphone Explorer a few years back that came with an 80 and 85. I was surprised at how good it sounded clean, but I don't like the EMG sound with gain, because I don't play high gain, but more blues/rock. Anyway, as the guy provided the original pickups, these were going to be sold with all the wiring to recoup some of the cost. I'll come back to that. I trusted the guy had bought genuine EMGs because of where he got them from and he wasn't interested in taking a chance. But I wanted to be sure and did a lot of research and was glad that mine were kosher. But even on the higher quality fakes, they tend to use the same sticker with the same date on it. It looks right, but they don't bother producing different ones. Anyway, I sold the EMGs for nearly a ton, the heavyweight dean soft gig bag for about fifty, meaning I got a Korean korina Explorer for the price of an entry level Squier Strat. Keep on keeping on, Victor. best of luck to you.
thanks for this - I build guitars ( on my 12th now ) and have been looking for plans for a neck jig so I cant get perfect fret levelling on my builds. This video ( and the accompanying one ) are a great resource. Obviously this is quite an old video now. Do you still use this jig ?
Hi Pete... Odd you should find this right now! I did buy a Stewmac/Erlewine jig 18 months ago but sold it last week (I only used it once: mine is just as good). I have used this jig since I built it and I am actually using it on 2 projects this week. I have always used this one and it's more-or-less just has it was the day I finished building it. If I change anything, I am going to change the main beam into one made out of 4" by 4" as I have a spare fence post knocking about. I've had what, 9 years out of this? Looks a bit battered now but it's still gouing strong :) Great piece of kit. Regards, Victor...
The guitar? I didn't import it. I bought it used/new ( 'used [stroke] new' ) from a guy on Reverb. I don't remember what I paid exactly but I think it was £900 with a hard case. I sold it for a lot less :P
Hello... No I cannot! It's a nine years old video and I retired recently because of ill health. You will have to look yourself: it is not difficult to source the parts you need. I managed it 9 years ago. Regards, Victor...
Your video just saved the day. My first fret job tore the slots up pretty good and they are too wide for a tang to seat properly. Good thing I ordered a small sheet of this Teflon. Thank you for sharing! I’ll be trying later on.
Quick question @fretfriendgwal , what grits did you use for polishing the stainless steel frets? I have to polish some of mine on a new guitar I got, and it has tooling marks on them so it feels super rough so I have to smooth them out
@@FretFriendGWaL thanks for that! I actually went ahead with it this past weekend starting at 400 and working all the way up and it worked out really well. Glassy smooth stainless steel frets now. Thanks again for your great videos, I know it takes a lot of time but those of us who watch really appreciate it 🙏 it’s a certain breed who are passionate about this stuff!
Superb video! What’s that punch tip material? I see it does not scare you off it slips . I have a 1974 in need of a refret and it really scares me that a luthier without experience on vintage strats messes it up , at least now I know how it needs to be done, thanks!!
Understand that these are my measurements. They may not be the best. I tend to go 0.3mm on the bass side to 0.2mm on the treble side. Gradiate it down from string 6 to string 1. Victor...
Look for the 935 Deluxe. Special run MIJ. I've a 1983 935C for cherry finish. Amazing solid guitar. All original parts still working. Tuners still good. Pups sound great (original DiMarzio open coils). Pots getting scratchy beyond repair, and jack loose. That's the only attention I need to give it.
@@FretFriendGWaL Yes. I know. Great job. I like your reasoned approach. Just wanted to let you know about the higher quality 935 Deluxe, if you can find one.
I got a squier neck off reverb for a thinline tele build and to be fair the frets were all level to begin with and not too tall for "tall vintage" the tuners are a bit cheap feeling but tune up fine when you down tune you can feel play in the tuners but they work fine and hold tune fine. The bone nut needed rounding on the edges front sides and back and needed cutting down a bit. The finish on the neck will chip easy at the edges if not careful. I would not buy a whole guitar not a tele anyway as I saw a few of them and the ferrules on the back of the bodies are wonky God knows why they dont have the abilty to drill them straight its like they are done by hand, older VM Squier teles were the same from Indonesia but the China ones were done perfect.
I know that we are watching these much later than real time. But I do appreciate you sharing them. I pray that you are feeling better these days. Rest well, in the Lord.
I just did the same to an eastmann hollowbody Saturday... it had a fret level 2 years ago but all the frets lifted up... maybe not radius enough in the making... after gluing and clamping (I copied all your tools) some where still popping... so with some delicacy I finish them the fret kisser... so you made me 90 bucks with your knowledge for the first time. You're an angel Vic!
Chibsons look nice from a distance but when you see it up close they look horrible from the wood to the hardware very cheap and nasty i got one a couple of years ago as a project just to see how bad they are . I ended up replacing all the hardware and electronics for better sound it will become firewood soon people shouldnt waste there money lol
People become attached to their japan stratocasters there is just something about them that makes them feel well made and they stay in tune really well ive got a squire japan from 92 and its the best guitar ever it feels like its made in usa great guitars
It's an old video: I still have lots to upload from before I closed the shop. This was from before I got quite bad with my haed pain. I'm doing okay now though. Thanks for your support! Victor...
I am considering getting one of these as a modding platform, the bodies on these are now poplar, I would prefer an ash body and so I will look to see if there are any old used ones on the market, I have many Harley Bentons and have never had one with sharp frets and only two that I needed to do a complete fret level, but I level them all if I have more than 4, back in the '80s I only ever had one guitar that didn't need a fret level, that was a 1984 Squier Telecaster, in fact the guitar didn't need anything doing to it, that was strange for an '80s guitar. One of the things I like about this guitar is that that it doesn't have the horrible orange tints that many Teles come with these days. Did you end up buying one of these? if so are the edges of the fretboard rolled? Those £100+ Bumblebees that Fender were selling were the exact same 20 pence components I had bought for prototype circuits with a shrinkwrap Bumblebee cover on them, they were not quality componants.
Hi Andrew... No, I did not buy one of these but I seriously considered it. I am sure with a few tweaks and some upgrades there is a very good instrument there. I personally prefer the Squier Classic Vibe series of guitars. I have had a CV Tele from new for around 4 years and it is still all stock and wonderful! I know all about the Bumblebee caps :P I actually have one left over from a project I did for a client (there was a spare which I paid for and kept). at the end of the day, a cap is a cap so even 5c cap will sound exactly like a $100 one so long as the measurement of capacitance is equal. Regards, Victor...
Just seen this Victor. Can I just say you inspired this 0 confidence bloke to step out and try the teachings you gave on your channel. Obviously it's not on the level that you do but please accept everyone on here, greatest thanks for your efforts and inspiration to show us mere mortals, WE CAN ! Cheers mate
Nice video, thank you sir! I've the same frets on my Epiphone Dot which needs a fretlevel . How low can you go because the height on my frets are about 1mm and some have some minor dents in it? I'm not sure if installing new frets is a better option....
@@FretFriendGWaL, thank you for the answer, I appreciate that. The reason I asked is that Epiphone used to use fretwire on older Epiphone Dots (width 2,7 and height 1,1 mm) Epiphone emailed me. This leaves not much room for a fretjob in the future. What kind of fretwire do you recommend for this guitar?
@@marcohermans3207 I have been using Sintoms Elite for 5 or 6 years now as it is 25% nickel silver (super hard but easy to work). Regular fretwire used to be 12% NS but most modern ones are 18% NS. The Sintoms is even harder but not as hard as stainless. My clients love the Sintoms. It is also 1.4mm high so you will get many fret dresses in the future if needed. I'd go with aroung 2.5mm width. You can buy it from tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk/ if you're in the UK...
Vick have you seen a chiropractor. I had something similar, had the CT scan the lot, and I met a client that was a chiropractor and he sorted it out over several sessions. Maybe a thought before you go down private health road. Best of luck.
I love these ants supposedly when you put new tubes in it, you can dial back that bias pot, and when you placed the new tubes in you slowly turned it up until the T.S.I red lights turn green. I guess it automatically biases it when it’s green. I haven’t tried it yet, though.
i have this guitar , its difficult to bend the strings i have tried more than way to fix it but there is no good result can you please help me by giving a solution to fix that problem hard neck , hard bending !!
