Fret Leveling - The Easy Way // How To 

Please bear in mind that you also should file the nut slots to the new fret level (picture the nut slots as the zero fret). Nut slots that are too high create a situation where the guitar is difficult to play due to the high action in first positions. They can also throw off the tuning and intonation. The ideal nut slot height, in terms of playability, is subjective - much like string action height at the bridge. Some players like the slots to be cut up a little higher - like slide players - , and some players want them cut down as low as possible so the guitar plays very easy with no fight - that would be me ;-).

This is a great example of how videos should be done. No clickbait and straight to the point! Thank you, Sir.

Quick tip! place a piece of tape down the neck on each side before applying fretboard masking for quick removal.

No frills, no expensive tools and no nonsense. Great video thanks

The clearest video about crowning and leveling I've seen so far. Thank you!

After a quick trip to Lowe's, I just followed this video step by step. Amazed at how doable it actually was and very glad to save $100+ on tools I won't really use again for years. Thanks so much!

This is easily the best video on the subject by far. Your directions are distinct, you speak clearly, and actually show us everything you're doing. Thank you!

Just if anyone is new to that, the file at 3:58 needs the edges ground off to get safe edges. The regular sharp edges will eat through the masking tape and destroy (in this case) the finish of the neck and the wood beneath it. Good video, lowered the hurdle with the self made tools.

So glad this video isn’t telling me to buy expensive tools 🙏

I saw a friend of mine on Facebook talking about leveling the frets on his guitars and wanted to know what exactly this is all about. This video was very informative but also showed me that this is something I will never ever attempt to do myself XD

Great video, no expensive tools, down to earth simple how to! Great stuff!

Watching such films, I become convinced that I can do these things myself with my guitars, instead of paying the luthiers.

Very good, straight to the point.

The minimalistic approach is very understandable and encouraging for a newbie like me. If there's one, I'll watch your fret replacing video, too. Keep up the good work!

I levelled my frets following this tutorial and my guitar turned out great.

So helpful! The double-sided adhesive method looks like a great idea.

Prima! Thanks Fabian - really demystified the process.

Thanks for the really informative video. I'm about to try my hand at some fret leveling for the first time, and I feel your video gave me a good sense of what to do.

We did a great job with our frets thanks to your video. Thanks. Greetings from Serbia!

Nice video. It's nice to see videos like this where the luthier do the job with a simple tools and not using those special and expensive tools.

Clear and concise instructions and straight to the point with no garbage in between , great video matey thank you .

This is concise and straight to the point. You have a natural teaching talent, thanks for posting!

Straight and to the point,, great workarounds for the non-luthier in the family. Thank you so much.

This is great! I have been delaying a fret leveling on one of my guitars because of the over priced cost of the luthier tools, it is hard to justify that cost especially when the total cost of those tools nears the cost of new neck. This is great information thank you!

Great video with great information! I love videos that show you how to do projects with inexpensive tools.

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. Much appreciated.

Quick, to the point, and good instructions. Thank you !

Really great video, thanks for showing how to do this process with basic and inexpensive tools!

Well done! I've got a guitar in need of leveling and after watching, I'm confident I can do this myself. Thanks.

Fantastic video. Will be having a go using your approach. Really appreciate your pragmatic attitude, friendly tone and top tips. Elise I already have most of what I need tool wise, so just need to get started!

Great work on this video! This is a fantastic resource and I’m going to need it for a current build. Thank you!

Short and simple... Great video

It's amazing what clear and detailed yet plain instructions can do for one's confidence! I am now fully confident that I will be able to do this to my guitars, though I will be investing somewhat into a proper diamond crowning file and radius block to make life a little easier. Many thanks! Edit: Update - done and done. Might go over the crown again in the future as I think I'd get better results with a traditional 3 corner file. My polishing, while adequate, isn't quite mirror finish - really can't afford to skip grits there! No more weird zingy notes though!

Thank you! Just what I was looking for! Very informative!

The simplified and downright best fret tutorial out there!! No fancy tools like "StewMac"!!!

Thank you, sir. This tells me just what I need to do.

beautiful, you are really sharing knowledge!!! thank you very much!!

It’s Brian here on my dear wife’s iPad. Mine is opened up for a screen digitizer replacement in my “studio.” Thanks for a thorough discussion on fret level and crown procedure. Your video gave me the confidence to proceed as a DIY amateur luthier with old school attitude about fixing what you own and love when necessary. I’d collected new locking tuners, graphtech saddles, TUSQ nuts and a bridge, a Bigsby B30 and a Bourne split coil harness and I was about to order a pricey 6” leveling file to address two guitars of 4 I own and play, a 2000 Epiphone 335vs and a1988 Fender Strat. The Strat has moderate fret wear, divots and some buzz and the maple neck and fretboard will be stripped and treated with boiled linseed oil over Japan drier, then new saddles and nut. The Epi gets light fret dressing, new harness, the the Bigsby and bridge with Towner down pressure bar into a Graphtech Rotamax Bridge , ditching the OEM Rotomatic with steel saddles. . The other two are a 2019 LP Plus Top Pro VS which needs nothing and a 1952 Martin 018 on which if the two jobs above turn out as well as expected I will also do a fret restore. As refined and vintage sounding as it is it will likely regain what’s been worn away these years….Already refinished the neck myself, had a pro luthier in upstate NY reset that and repair/ stabilize some checking. It was my mom’s, I started playing that when I was 9 or so, now I’m 72. The roughly $65 saved from the leveling file (I own a new FretGuru 2.0 crowning file as of yesterday) I’ll roll into locking tuners for the Strat, save all the OEM hardware removed and all the tools in a box for whoever inherits my guitar collection when I ride off into the sunset. .

So effective and simple! I will try this and I also use the tool with the slot to cover the wood and fret polish on the metal. Great video. Thank you.

An excellent video, clear and to the point.

Excellent and to the point! Thank you.

Thank you very much for the tips. I am a beginner (6 months) and my cheap €90 Stratocaster has 3 slightly higher frets. I learned a lot about proper set up (neck relief, inntonation, string hights, pick up heights etc) and was wondering how to do this without special tools and also learn. I also watched your DIY kit, i was looking into a telecaster DIY kit (love the tele twang) and again learned alot. Much appreciated.

Many thanks Fabian, excellent video: very clear and detailed, with good camera angles to show the results.

Thanks for the useful video. Your work is much appreciated.

Perfect vid , this is what you need , this is how you do it , straight to the point , no bells and whistles

Excellent explanation and demonstration Fabian - good job mate!

Thanks! I have done a fret level before but I needed a refresh and this video was very helpful to get the process back in my mind.

Excellent upload. Thanks for sharing 👌

Awesome instructions. Thank you, Sir.

great and very helpful video, thanks Fabian ! Fantastic close-ups !

This was fantastically succinct, thank you very much!

very helpful! thank you for this video I've been wanting to try out fret leveling for years and I'll be trying out this method :)

Outstanding video. Thank you for showing us (in such a clear, direct, joyful way) that we can learn to work on our own guitars with confidence. All the best. ❤

good video on fret levelling, you make it look easy, thanks! Good job!

Excellent instructions.

Great tutorial

Outstanding. I have a fairly cheap ES335 copy which has a great sound but several high frets - this video is EXACTLY what I needed. I've seen others which make the job look very tricky ... your approach is very straightforward. Many thanks.

Awesome video! Thanks, Fabian!

Thanks Fabian! You literally just stopped me from wasting quite some money on the tools I would have used one or two times =)

Hi Fabian! Thanks a lot for your video guide. It's really very informative. Greets from Italy.

Awesome video bro! Perfect for the everyday average guitar guy like most of us. Thank you!

Thank you so much!!! I’ve been having a lot of trouble with this. I’ll be trying your method today! Cheers 🍻

Really good tutorial. Thank you!

This video is GOLD Thank you

Easy to understand steps and it's a short video! Great job.

Excellent video, Thank you Fabian. Much appreciated.

Thanks for the video. Really great.

Great video, very useful and easy to follow

That’s just what I was looking for, thanks

Greatly helpful, thank you!

AWESOME Video Fabian! I've been building guitars for awhile, but I've farmed out the fret leveling because I thought it was a BIG hassle! You made it nice and simple.

Thank you for that video. I just made only how you did and that helped me remove some buzz on frets. Thanks a lot and I wish you all the best !

Wow, danke Fabian! Was für eine geniale Anleitung!!! Gold wert!!

Thanks perfectly demonstrated.

thanks for showing this! I will encourage at least someone to do this by him self. I do it this way now a couple yers now with my guitars when needed, but I took me much more years to overcome my fears to make somthing wrong! With your manual and a cheap guitar neck to practice, everybody can get better at this an save money!

WOW! What a great SIMPLE and easy to understand lesson. 👍👍👍👍 This should be the FIRST lesson on fret leveling new learners should watch. Yes, you can go further, but all that includes is just being a little more precise at each step - NOTHING would be fundamentally any different. A+ Video Right Here! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Excellent video, very informative

Simple and objective. Very good content helped me here to do.

Thank you for the quick video!! Helped me setup my new partscaster Tele. Got it done fast and only needed to buy a level! 🤘🏼

That was awesome, thank you so much for sharing.

Excellent tutorial. I want to attempt to do this on my guitar.

Nice work!

Great and to the point! Thank you!

Great video on the subject. Thank you very much!

Thank you very much. I was to do a leveling job, but I did not have the proper tools. This helps.

Great job...Very informative and shows what a little creativity can do to save some money and time! 🤘🏻

Great video, thanks a lot!

Awesome! very simple to understand

Thanks for sharing your technique. I had a set-up done on a strat-shaped object of mine but I'm still getting fret buzz, a fret rocker and a notched straight edge from amazon later, and now I now how the fix the fret issues myself.

First video that I’ve seen to take into consideration that not all of us want to spend so much money on special tools. Thank you

Very nice informative video. Thanks for sharing this.

Something I didn't know that was fantastic thanks for sharing👍👍👍👍👍

Schönes Video, Fabian. Super erklärt und sehr gut gezeigt.

Loved the video! I never thought you could use simple tools for this job 😮

Straight and to the point,thanks👍

Excelent!!! I will try this out with my bass!

Thanks a lot for this video. Very helpful for people on a budget.

Great no bullshit approach. Seriously, I like how this doesn't require me to buy expensive stuff and establishes what needs to be done.. Though, I'll probably spend at least for the crowning file, only because I'm not confident enough to do the final shaping. But for the leveling stuff, I'll get the cheap stuff you mentioned, I never thought it would be that easy.

Amazing video. Thank you

Great explanation, good I have just stumbled upon this channel, is great... Thanks