Never Level Guitar Frets Again! 

Sounds logical if all the frets and the slots are exact then why wouldn't it be level it's like laying tile u don't sand down tile after u install it u install it flat to begin with

Chris… I’m a guitar builder. Your videos are like the morning news to me. I replay them over and over just to focus myself. Really appreciate the time you put into making them. You’re hella cool brother. 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻

Interesting stuff but description should read "when building the guitar". I'd imagine that for most of us who came here we simply saw it and thought we could avoid fret-levelling on all our old guitars. Thanks for listening.

I cant count the # of times I have tried to tell people this good to finally hear someone with the same ideas . if you start with a perfectly level fretboard and press the frets in properly you should have almost no fret work to do

FINALLY someone who takes the time and care to install frets as they should be installed. Well done Sir 👍

when i see your videos i can see all the passion you put in making this instruments. The way you talk about all the little details on making a perfect build on the first try is just amazing and inspiring to me. For me you're a true genius that loves making guitars and translates all his knowledge to a high quality craft. You're inspiring.

I am at the start of my guitar building career(5 guitars in) and this video answered/confirmed a lot of things I have noticed. On the most recent build I have used stainless frets with an arbor press and I have had the stellar results you talk about. I did do some beam leveling, but like you said, it was probably not necessary as I only noted 4 high spots across the entire board.

I never thought id be so fascinated to listen to a guy talking about thickness of his nut. Good stuff, great information.

I'm not particularly skilled at fret leveling but I've used your technique here to refret multiple guitars and they have come out perfect every time. I've learned more from your videos than any other youtube channel.

When doing a refret, anyways oil your fretboard well, and give it time to soak in. This will enable you to pull the old frets out cleaner, without having to repair small chips. The oil also lubricates the fret itself, allowing it to glide out of the slot smoother and evenly.

Love your videos mate always very true and informative, can't wait for next video of the floyd rose build! Have a great day mate

Great vid, Chris. I combined your approach with Kent Everett's (Fret slots precisely milled to tang width except barbs, then hammer, and wick superglue) on my last build (I'm strictly an amateur) and had no problems with hammering nickel frets - 3 high spots in the whole board. Thanks very much.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. I am in awe of your generosity!

Thank you for sharing. I agree with your method. I have built guitars using similar methods with great success. I have learned that it is important to clean fret slots before installing frets to avoid high spots. Another advantage to your method is that it decreases the chance of accidentally damaging a beautiful guitar with a metal file.

I will be doing my first custom rebuild of an 80's Fender Strat neck-through I scalloped, and was thinking this very same Concept a few days ago, while preparing to install the frets - Your Awareness confirms my Understanding! Truth in Common Sense! Nice video... 🌎✌🌿🎶

Yes, thank you! I’ve noticed over the years that leveled frets wear much quicker.. many have argued with me but it has to be due to surface hardening from the manufacture proses... The biggest key to me is leveling the fretboard prior to re-fretting... Also I hammer frets with a RUBBER MALLET glueing the ends and clamping ONE AT A TIME... However, this is how I get perfect fret Jobs on my bench on a good day... individual results may vary

This video will save me a ton of work! Doing my first build, making a replica of a fender j-bass and have learned a ton from your recent bass series, as well as from these one-offs. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!

Great video! You are 100% on-the-money here. I use a similar method where I first slot the board, then radius it with a router/jig set up. Next, it's sanded dead flat using a long radius block, then I pre-radius the fret wire using a bender and press them in with a matching caul. The key, in my experience, is to use plenty of double sided tape to secure the board to a very flat surface such as the top of my tablesaw and use a jig or rails to control the sanding block as it must remain perfectly aligned with the fingerboard. If the prep work is done accurately the frets will be so close to level that they only need a bit of polishing. Thanks for the vid!

As the neck is wider at the base than at the end, the frets at the base are longer. Given that the frets have a constant radius, but at the base are longer, this results in those fretends having more total bend. As such the fretboardedge at the base has to be thinner than the fretboard edge at the end.

Great information and thinking outside the box, will be trying this out. Thank you!

as always you're full of great tips man

All my new guitars have stainless frets with semi-hemispherical ends. I've gone so far as to sell all my old guitars or have them changed to stainless frets. I recently had my brand new Epiphone Firebird frets redone this way and it now feels better than my old Gibson Firebird. I will probably sell it now.

Fascinating insights. Thank you for sharing.

I followed your advice and got great (to me) results. I went up and down the fret board with a rocker and tapped down any high frets until I couldn't detect anymore. I also adjusted the truss rod and installed a new bridge saddle. Even though I tapped the frets in with a hard plastic faced hammer the cheap old ($50 used - 20 years ago) Alvarez plays great - as good as a Taylor I recently acquired. Which was the goal. This is the second fret job that I have done on this same guitar - the first time (done pre youtube) I botched it 3 different ways including by grinding the tops all down. Nonetheless, I learned to play on it. You know what they say - try try again...

I'm not sure I'm sold on stainless steel frets yet, but I like the way you present your ideas and information. Nice video!

Thank you for this video! Very insightful! You are an inspiration!I learn a lot with your videos!

You rock! Thank you for all your videos.

Great info passed on to others,your experience's over the years can help other like minded folks save a bunch of time.(I,ve got two guitars needing re frets but just don't have the tools so we'll check out a local luthier and save botching a 63 st & 68 twelve fg230 which is almost unplayable) your confidence is inspiring my friend.....👍

Thats how I levelled the frets on my first build , I didnt know about levelling in those days . It worked well also because the tension of the strings adds to the result . Also I found it best to work down the fret board ,ie towards the body from the head

I am certainly no luthier, although I have levelled my frets with somewhat decent results, but I agree it's a pain in the neck, especially the recrowning and polishing. I'd certainly avoid it all if possible. Another point in favour of your argument, is if one likes tall frets. I do. I don't want the frets to get lower.

thanks for such a real video on that subject...like to see those fret ends get dealt with.

Cool! Thanks! Everything made perfect sense!

Parker guitars are made this way but at higher level, they had graphite fretboard, perfectly leveled with perfect consistency, and then glued stainless steel frets :)

When I was first dealing with the Gentleman who started Musikraft about 25 yeas ago (when you could call and actually talk to the owner) he guaranteed me that his necks would be perfect with no need to do a fret leveling

Great video! Very informative and accurate!

Great video. You touch on a good point. What qualifies as workmanship/craftsmanship versus just rework ( one of the biggest forms of waste).

Re-watching this video, it still makes sense. I always felt like we should focus a lot more energy into making the fretboard as perfect as possible before installing frets. When I first learned, it felt more like « well, we’ll level the frets anyway… ». So amen to a good fretboard prep, stainless steel and fretting press! Your explanation of the apparent fretboard thickness makes sense, and that’s not easy to explain without any visual cues. I have always been seduced by compound radiuses, but with stainless steel fretwire, I wonder how to radius it perfectly in an efficient manner for each fret. That must be quite headache to solve… Maybe in case you make quite a lot of instrument you can make batches of fretwire of each fret position.

I was fretting with stainless steel fret wire in the 2000 already and I was the only one in Australia I think...no fret level needed with my fretting jobs..those were amazing frets..less buzzing and less strings wearing ,opposite of what one would think.

I've learned that if I were to have to replace the frets, I would use fretwire size 6105 regardless if I had to do a fret leveling. But, I'm just now learning about all of this. Baby steps.

Great explanation! Thank you!

Nicely put

Great tips. It all comes down to how well you build the guitar in first place doesn't it? The better the prep, the less work to get everything right. Best money I ever spent was on a Stewmac fret press jig, makes fretting and refretting so much quicker and more consistent instead of hammering away.

I understand exactly what your saying, the better I got at refretting the less leveling I did, you have to have a very level or radius fretboard and the frets have to be pressed in hammering has too much recoil, also getting the frets ends to seat is crucial.

thank you for the video! very insightful.

Thank you for this video!

If you look at the heel of the neck from the "guitar" side and you look at the fretboard, just imagine cutting some material left and right to make it the same width as the nut. At those places where it's "nut wide", the fretboard is thick than at the edges of the heel. That's that thickness Chris is talking about.

This makes completely sense for new neck builds, and it is quite logical that leveling and 'radiusing' the fretboard itself as close as possible prior to adding the frets will massively reduce the need to remove fret material in the finishing stages.. but.. ...for many seasoned amateurs, like myself, the job is not building a neck from scratch but rather refretting a vintage guitar.. and then other practical problems may add to the gig. I n my case i.e. I am refretting a 40 year old really nice neck.. it has lots of trussrod action left and it is remarkably straigth for it's age, but sports a really thin, beautiful, tight grained veneer rosewood fretboard, and this board is s l i g h t l y wavy between fret 14 and 19. Now I dont want to remove any wood from the board as it is thin as is, so I am pretty much left with the option of compensating for the subtle wavyness by removing fret material. To get this done I go for narrow&tall frets, and rather than doing adjustments fret to fret, I will do a very careful full fret level job, as I think this is the most practical solution. If I had a thicker slab rose (or ebony) fret board I would not hesitate to sand the board straight and touch up fret slots where needed, but I can think of other quite common situations where preparing a perfect radius/perfectly straight fretboard might not be a practical solution. A slightly wavy fretboard is not an uncommon condition for older guitars at all, and there may be several practical and good reasons for not attacking the fretboard with radius plane sander: Maybe you don't want to start a prosess that includes refinishing parts of the (if not the whole) neck. Stripping down and refinishing a one piece maple neck is very time consuming compared to a plain refret. Not all finishes allow for a partial refinish. Then there are historic pieces, pre-CBS stuff etc. where you neither want to remove laquer nor plane/sand away material.. perhaps you want the board to show the wear of the fingers etc.. If the neck has only minor waves/kinks, then compensation through fret removal might be the best option. There are of course ways to straighten out a neck, by using heat and special tools to force the wood, but this for experts and I wouldn't even let experts do it if a proper fretleveling and truss adjustment would be enough.. So I'm gonna disagree with an expert (which I rarely do as an amateur haha) and say "Leveling guitar frets are not seldomly completely OK and even your best option)..

Exactly! I always said the same thing... Aren't you destroying your frets when sanding them? I also always thought that all guitar frets came level from the factory...NOT! Thank you for posting this.

I had a 1993 US standard Fender Blackie strat that was ruined because the shop owner recommended a fret level which was unnecessary since all it needed was simple set up, so he had some guy completely level the frets to half the height it originally came with, so really it felt very uncomfortable and worn out feel to the neck and I barely had it for a year till this day I still regretted to give permission for them to do that my first real good quality guitar

great advice Chris

Great video and a new subscriber. Reading the comments, I have to say that what you're talking about is a new build. Vintage stuff is another beast to tame. As for those looking to go on the cheap, go to guitar world. Serious players are willing to PAY!

Excellent advice, thanks

Another reason for the edges of a fretboard to be thinner at the heel end (on a "store bought" neck at least) can be because the neck has a compound radius and due to lack of quality control when sanding the board, the builder fails to change the sanding block to a larger radius as he/she works his way down the neck. Sanding the heel end, which would have a larger radius, with the same block that was used in the middle or at the nut end where the radius is tighter, will remove considerably more material on the edges before it ever touches the center of the fretboard at the heel. However, I do completely agree with you that if frets are installed correctly in the beginning, very little and even zero leveling is entirely possible.

I'm with Chris in that I absolutely HATE having to level and crown guitars. I almost always just opt for a complete refret. It's an incredibly valuable skill to have, although I do understand not everyone will be capable of doing it. But the fact of the matter is that if you're building a guitar or installing new frets, there shouldn't be any reason to have to level. The key is preparation, obviously. Ensuring the board is level is really 90% of it. That means having good tools, using proper technique on the fingerboard (sanding a perfect radius), carving a nut according to the fret height (as opposed to the other way around), and never taking a hammer to the frets.

Thanks with all that guru tech I can now be on my way to becoming a rock star

I have a specific question: So I've done only a few refrets in my life (7-8) - both on my own and on my friends' guitars. On one occasion I was refretting a very dense and hard maple neck. I should probably have widened the fret slots eversoslightly, but I thought removing rests of glue, sawdust/debris would be enough. What happened was that the new frets were perhaps sligly thicker at the "stem" and forced the neck into a slight backbow. Now I was lucky.. stringing her up with .10s countered this and I got a pretty astoundingly straight neck (with everso slightly let-off), because relaxing the trussrod had pretty much no effect from the set-off, as this neck was already pretty straight. I have a similar neck on a tele that is also naturally dead straight - even 35 years of string pull has not pulled the neck into much of a relief, which means I have no tension on the truss rod at all. It is now in need of new frets and I am afraid the same situation will occur but that this time I will end up with a backbow with no way of loosening the truss to acquire relief, and that 'natural' string pull wont be enough.. My question is: Is there a way to add relief to a neck that is already straight (with a loose trussrod)? How do I go about this? Any tricks? I am afraid to force the neck into relief and not sure how to do it? Are there special tools?

I installed some EVO frets in between nickel silver and stainless on a vintage japanese guitar. I bought a drill press and the radius caul to push pre radiused wire into the slota, and like you said, it came out very level. Maybe it was beginners luck, but I decided to leave it since I didn't have a crowing file or beam yet. It actually plays better than my other two guitars. The only thing wrong with it was someone had added shims at the front and back of the neck pocket as well as using electrical tape folded. I experimented some more to get a good back angle and made my own shim out of a moth repelling cedar block. That guitar is now my favorite and easiest to play. So I can definitely vouch for what you say. My guitar isn't perfect, but came out better than my other three guitars that I do need slight tweaks here and there. I have a crowning file and will be getting a beam next month. Will be interesting to see how true to level the guitar really is. I'm sure it's not perfect, but it does allow a lower action than is actually comfortable without buz or dead spots.

Love it brother

Hallelujah brother. Finally a machinist approach. No more hammers please folks.

Great tips, thank you..

Back in the old days when I was building a couple of 100 guitars ( not 10 , 20 , 30 a couple of hundred , when i was a human guitsr factory lol . I love hearing Some these guitar builders , luthiers And the things that they do and the things they have done . If its not the arsenal of tools , cutom tweaked or straight out bought its the skill and the ease ehich they do things it is a huge accomplishment . The years of knowledge and diddling with this that the other different woods glues paints Additives metals measurements overall ideas ).

Yeah it's a great workaround, for SS, because filing all the frets will take about 1 file as well. And you need expensive files, so. I'd have stainless steel fretwork done by a pro. I did my first fret leveling today. Worked out nice. Started on a cheap neck.

Makes perfect sense to me 😃👍

This is awesome and informative :).. Subbed.

I did a refret that was near perfect, then when the neck was under string tension and countering truss rod tension, the neck had that typical strat bump at the 15th, 16th, 17th frets so I had to do a slight fret level...pmo. I was learning though on a cheap neck. I leveled and radiused the fretboard, and checked the frets as I pressed them, if a fret was not perfectly level then I put more muscle into the drill press.

Now I'm using my Cnc Machine which I paid a nice buck for. In the past of course I did this by hand Which took incredible focus attention ( agsin another story to go wow about )

Wish I'd have bought my pre radiused wire in stainless steel.... Would using a fretwire pressing caul with my nickel wire help with reducing dents and therefore minimise the need to do a full levelling?

It was hard though, frets were already pretty low on this one. I did skim the wood a few times. At least they're level. And I polished and oiled the fingerboard after, so I don't think it will be a biggie

Hey. It's George McFly I always wondered how Marty played guitar so well

I’m with ya.

I'm skeptikal. There are just so many variables. Good old fret leveling helps the machine be very playable despite inevitable small errors and inconsistencies in building materials wheter fabricated or grown wild. If you look at materials science books and databases for things like tension or compression strength or specific gravity of a species of wood, There's always a range of values given.

Do you find that once you've brought the strings up to tension, that sometimes you need to tighten the truss rod?

What your trying to say at about 10:10 (re thickness of the fretboard after radiusing) is that the arc of the radius subtended by the edges of the fret board (before radiusing) is longer near that bridge than at the nut because of the difference in width, therefore the angle at which the radius intersects the edge of the fretboard (before radiusing is more acute. I think. That's clear right?

You could bind the fretboard to cover up the thickness discrepancy end to end and it looks good ? Thanks for the videos.

If you could monitor the pressure you're applying when you're inserting the fret wire into the fretboard you can pretty much as you say get the frets perfectly level. As long as the fretboard is level.

I have a question: Wen u ur adjusting nut n saddle for string height does the fretboard radius matter. U need more room for low e string than u do for high e because low e vibrates more. I think? N its just bigger than the high e. So now there r two measurements to consider. Three different heights for the high n low e the radius n the string height. Unless the bottom of the strings all follow the radius n that makes the low e higher just by virtue of its size. N y on some of my guitars i always know where the strings r in my picking hand n other guitars like the one im working on now, im constantly having to find the string or miss the string im trying to hit. It has to be string spacing at the saddle or the radius of the strings off the saddle doesnt match the radius of the fretboard. I have a mitchell that i never have any problem picking the right string everytime like it plays itself type of thing. If u can shed some light o this problem or direct me to a video that explains this problem id appreciate it. Ty.

I favor one piece Fender maple necks over RW. The 88 MIJ Strat I have around my neck has never given me problems and the frets are still beautiful. The luthier who refretted my 1957 P bass knows what he is doing and didn't level them.

I'm waiting on a custom tele neck I had made. The luthier had problems installing ss frets so I'll be doing it, as well as adding a decal, string tree & nut. Guess I'll be checking radius, slots etc...

I believe that a compound radius is the way to go for all necks these days. For me, it just seems more comfortable (my opinion). Going from handmade to CNC isn't easy, but with a little time it can be accomplished. Also, if done right the first time, little adjustments will be needed later.

It would be nice not to have to level. The evidence on how well the neck was made and frets pressed in is how much off the top that is actually removed. How do you polish your frets - what grit sandpapers and product or method for putting the final polish? Thanks! Glen

how about a completely flat fretboard like a classical guitar? do they make those on electric guitars? i would like to try one to see how it feels.

Wow thats awesome. I’ve gotten to were I can start leveling with 400 grit and sometimes just kiss the tops with 600 and then polish. I never thought it was possible to not have to level the frets. Great vids, keep up the great work.

nice job

Can you help me by any chance? I want to remove the lacquer finish from a neck a bought because it’s an awful plasticy looking finish and it’s too pale looking so I’m wanting to stain it and refinish it with a matte finish rather than super gloss..ANYWAY how can I remove the lacquer? I really don’t want to have to take the frets off and i would prefer not spend hours with a razor blade. Paint stripper maybe?

I only have one question. When you are doing precision work on a fret board do you make allowances for the thickness of the bandage on the thumb of your left hand? I would like to try doing what you do but I need some OCD. Do you have any left that you could sell me? A 5 gallon pail full should be enough to get me started. LOL

If the fret wire is consistent and installed evenly then you should have perfectly level frets off the bat. Just got a warmoth neck with stainless steel frets 6100 frets and they’re perfectly level right out of the box.

I radius my fretboards very carefully (router jig followed by Stew Mac aluminum leveling beam), then use an arbor press with Stew Mac cauls to press in Stainless fretwire like you, but I when I lay a straightedge over the tops of the frets, I always have one or two lower frets. Unfortunately because they are too low instead of too high, I need to do a whole fret level. Maybe I'm just pressing too hard??

Compund radius lol that is sheer batsht lunacy.

Hi good day. I have seen a big mistake very common in many builders, if you use a sanding block for a 12 inch radius fingerboard for example and put sandpaper between the block and your fingerboard you will not get a 12 inch radius fingerboard but 12 inches minus the thickness of the sandpaper in question. The same is true if you intend to use a fret press and use radius inserts the insert radius should be 12 inches plus the height of the fret so that it can be pressed evenly and seat properly on the fingerboard, the same philosophy should apply. to nuts and bridges. Sorry, my English comes from the translator.

+Highline Guitars Do you radius to an exact 12" radius or do you radius with the crown height added to get a 12" radius when you press them in? Cause neck radius + crown height is the final radius you're playing on. (Chip Todd pointed it out)

My engineer mind was exactly thinking on this very subject. RU-vid obviously was reading my mind and showed your video to me today. Thanks very much for this informational video.

I love your videos. As a machinist I couldn’t figure out why people have to do so much leveling. I just got a feet arbor press. Love it. Thanks!

I remember reading about how Hamer was adamant that the fretboard was dead flat before fretting... I wondered why other companies didn't seen to subscribe to this same idea.

I can relate to that, I probably refreted 20 or 25 guitars in my life, (and I'm hammering them in with a plastic end hammer). I got to the point now that after installing the frets all I have to do is literally just kiss the frets with my leveling beam and then without the need to recrown them, I just go directly to polishing the frets, the result is superb.

What Stew Mac tool ate your thumb?

I see I'm not the only one who loves Cafe Bustelo.

Of course if you jazz it up (the fretboard)with 12 layers of binding, ala the Hofner guitars of the 50's, (yes, 12) then it ain't no thing. I'm wondering how to measure my frets to determine if I need a medium or a large fret crowner, if I go the diamond crowner route. Especially since the diamond crowner will probably last me years.

Love the videos. Keep it going.🙂

thanks for a great video........where did you learn how to program your cnc machine. thats a mystery where i live

I just finished my first Stratocaster copy, and I agree. Make sure the fingerboard is right and smooth, and put the frets in right and leveling is unnecessary. I also actually pounded in nickel-silver frets, which is something you point out as a potential source of problems, but I found driving them with a wooden punch prevents beating them up.