@SixStringers 

Check this video out guys. It's from @HighlineGuitars. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-e3HGcTvxpFU.html After watching the video, scroll down to the comments and look for @Sixstringers comment. Here, I'll make it easy for you... @SixStringers 19 hours ago Yeah, it's called riding on coat tails in a malicious manner. Selling a lot of T-shirts are you. @HighlineGuitars

I was also highly interested in this product until seeing your experience and others. Thank you for sharing your experience on this. And I agree that it really doesn't matter how well a product works if this is the kind of service being provided. The product clearly had not shipped so issuing a refund should have been an automatic. No need for dialogue, excuses, etc. He had one opportunity to make a first impression and he blew it with you and also with another potential customer (me). Take care! And thanks again for sharing.

Just wanted to say THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY ASS $130. I saw his video then IMMEDIATELY started to see what the reviews were. Your video was the FIRST one I saw. So again THANK YOU I WILL NOT BE DOING BUSINESS WITH “THE FRET JERKOFF”. Sorry you had to go through this mess brother.

Thanks for taking the time to make this video and share your experience.

I believe that according to merchant agreements, any buyer that buys anything online is entitled to a refund.

Sorry you had this issue man, sure glad I had the chance to learn from your experience and save me time money and grief. ✌

Thank you for doing a real service for the guitar community by highlighting this, we can all draw our own conclusions. Sorry you are going through this frustration.

I'm glad I saw this... I was stoked on getting this product, but not so much anymore. The Golden Rule should always apply no matter what. My family has been in business since 1953, and it has nothing to do with Luck, and everything to do with Reputation...

What a nightmare!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for sharing!!

This thing is like a car crash I can't look away from, and the creator of this product has made himself look really bad. This will be talked about for years in guitar circles.

That is too bad I really thought about buying this product. I guess that is out the window now. Thank you for your video Chris!!! So, sorry you had to experience this but now all of us will really think twice or more before we buy his product. For me I do not have time for games and I will not buy it.

THANKS FOR THE FOREWARNING! I was getting ready to order and this is extremely disappointing to me because i really had my hopes up about this product☹ I thought at last a fret crowning tool that not only made it easier but a beginner like me could use it. His reaction to you for a simple request for a refund was childish to say the least! Even IF the tool is a miracle worker i do not think i can do business with a person like him!

I’m glad I saw this video. I was seriously considering buying a few of these to match different radii on my guitars but I value product support over anything else. I will pass on this.

Kudos to you for being so calm and collected in your responses despite this fret maestro guy being an absolute rude, slimy and a sorry excuse for a human. Hope you get your refund and the money used to get your guitar fretwork done.

Oh .. and I left out Painters tape from Lowes ..

Good video - In theory, this product is not something I would use because any error in the fretboard will be transferred to the fret... BUT, I though, maybe for a spot level, this could be a useable product. However, after hearing his responses, thanks but no thanks...Customer service is 100% of any business and he sounds like he needs to learn a bit of humility... Especially since reverb is absolutely clear about shipping policies of 2-3 days, his initial response is where he was clearly in the wrong...

Honestly, it just sounds like its a scam.

"I'm not a videographer"... could've fooled me, that was excellent! Very pro delivery, subbed hoping for more content (on more positive topics hopefully!) Sorry to hear and see the experience you're having with @SixStringers. Steven, dude, stop threatening members of the public and let your product do the talking - it looks brilliant! Get cracking on shipping those bad boys out and the videos and user reviews will start rolling in putting all of this negative PR to bed. Good luck!

I've been building guitars and doing fretwork since 1985. I don't see that this device can actually save me any labor. The final levelling, crowning, and polishing can't be done by any "gadget". Not if you are seeking really good buzz free low action which is the kind of fretwork that separates the pros from the amateurs. This is not a tool that is going to be loved much by pros or even amateurs who have high standards of workmanship. No thanks.

You did the right thing. This product won’t be around very long is my prediction especially with poor customer service.

As a luthier I will say, and most other luthiers will say , that this product cannot be better the overall leveling and will never replace a sanding beam and crowning file ( or even a simple file) I suggest that you go to RU-vid and watch the very many luthiers out tjere showing how to level frets ... They're going to vary from one to another slightly but for the most part they all work .. Once you learn and see how easy it is , you wont be scared to do it yourself.. When I first jumped into luthier work I started out by fixing a broken neck on my mandolin... then doing a neck reset on my Martin guitar... iI was scared... but the nobody around my area knew how to do it .. From there it got fun ... Hint , you can get away with those cheap Chinese leveling bars and fretting tools ... you will definitely upgrade later ... Whats the worst you can do ? Screw up your frets ? Okay . It will cost you a $150 fret job ... but I am betting you'll figure it out ..all you need is a notched straight edge ($10) , a cheap fret leveling kit that comes with leveling beam fret rockers , crowning files($20) some sandpaper in 400 600 800 grit from O'Reillys and your good to go .... Oh and of course a nit driver or allen wrench for the truss rod.. Try it . Watch RU-vid videos. You'll figure it out .. You can but the good quality stuff later after you are sure you want to continue.. which I am sure you will do both ..

The thing is more of a crowning file than it is any kind of fret leveling tool like the seller thinks it is.

Thank you!

Chris, thank you so much for posting this video and sharing your horrible experience with this company. Like you I'm just a guitar player. I am now disabled so I have more time on my hands and have been slowly learning to work on my own guitars. Because I'm disabled money has to be allocated wisely and I was about to buy 2 different Fret Maestros thinking they would save me money on the long run. I have done some research now and after hearing your story and others like yours I will not be purchasing them. Even if they were the greatest product on the planet I would not do business with someone who treats people like this. God bless you brother and thanks for saving me from making a huge mistake.

Here's the reuploaded video from @NautilusGuitars. It perfectly and accurately dives deep into the truth of what is FretMaestro. This one will not be taken down! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y7vIDhZHZkk.html

With ship station or any other place that allows the seller to create their own shipping labels, the postal service will pick those items up from the seller. So in creating the label at all, that alone suggests that the item is ready to ship.

First video of a user other than FretMaestro I've seen. Since @Sixslingers is trolling my video, let's see how he defends this. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SiyK_SEGfGc.html&ab_channel=GuitarRx

Not only does this guy’s customer service warrant being called out, but I feel the need to reiterate, as others have stated, that this product is based on a flawed understanding of the physical principles of fretwork. When the neck is straight the fret tops are supposed to be level to each other, ie all occupying the same theoretical plane so that none are low or high. This is traditionally achieved using very flat sanding blocks and near-perfect straight edges as a reference. The problem with the maestro is that by its very design it uses the fingerboard as a guide for the file. Fingerboards are made of wood and all tend to vary by a few thousandths of an inch across the whole surface. If you dressed your frets with this device you would just be transferring the error of your fingerboard to the playing surface of your frets rather than making them true to a nearly perfect straight edge. In the end you’d need a skilled luthier to fix the inevitable low and high frets. You dodged a bullet!

Would it be possible to put a stop payment order with your financier? in such case, especially seeing it wasn't shipped yet?

Thank you for this. Was considering one. I mean if the guy couldn't ship in the time he said, he could have at least covered the shipping cost, and if he already did that, then take the shipping cost off the price of the product, as a courtesy. Telling people he won't refund impatient buyers is a real bad move, but hey, if he wants to be up front about his bad business style, all the better. I just wish I had a tool like this to do repair work on my own and put those hack music shop guys out of business. This guy seems to be one of them. Too bad.

Do you mind if I use some clips from this video to help make my point and send people your way to hear your story? Since I'm not critiquing you, I'll give you the courtesy of deciding whether that's ok with you. But I do think it will really help drive my point home.

I bought it and received it. It took about 10 days. I've used it and it worked. There is a learning curve and you need to level the neck via truss rod adjustment prior to filing even though he claims you don't have to. If you don't do that using a fret rocker to check your work as you go will not give you true readings. If your fret board has major issues with the radius not being accurate this file will not level the frets like a beam will. It just can't. It does create really nice and uniform crowns though. This is just another tool that works ok. Is it worth it? Maybe but I haven't done enough jobs to determine that yet. By the way I've only had positive communication with the seller but I didn't ask for refund either so take that for what it's worth.

If there is one thing to learn here is to never talk with the seller when asking for a refund, keep demanding a refund because of the time line failure to ship,refuse to converse with seller in any manner,go straight to reverb to complain about the seller, when they look over your chat with the seller,he will then look like the jerk, for one thing if you have a depth gauge why would you even need to order his product.

I didn't have the time to finish this video when I commented this morning, but I'm finishing it and have been writing this comment as I do so. First, I want to say that you handled this very well and your responses were not only perfectly reasonable and proportionate, but you're well-spoken and clearly intelligent, which really helps this whole interaction have a clean slate. Your comments like "other customers opinions don't dictate my opinion" and "asking me to not be mad doesn't mean I'm going to not be mad" are poignant, especially with your excellent analogies and metaphors. No need to apologize for the length. This is important to get out. Trying to basically blackmail/extort you to remove a comment is right in line with my interpretation of this person. It's so messed up. He appears to have an extreme disposition towards slimy tactics. The first videos I saw gave me a very "off" vibe, but I gave him the benefit of doubt, and he deleted my quite sympathetic comment asking him to reconsider some of his marketing claims. I made a less sympathetic follow-up comment, which he illegitimately reported to make it hidden, which is what he's been doing to all critical comments. They're abusing the system to hide all criticism, but it's going to backfire, as it always does on the internet. The device itself has some major limitations, especially compared to the claims being made about what it can do. Most of the marketing is pure hyperbole. We don't need the device in hand to understand or discuss these, as physics are physics. All the data you need are already available, and I'm currently making a video breaking this down in deep, scientific detail. It's like explaining that a 2 horsepower engine can't tow a semi trailer. I don't need the engine in hand to prove this. The math is objective and easily provable. All of the refund stipulations are insane. Just like several other situations I'll go over in my video, these appear to be deliberately planted ahead of time to give him leverage to slip out of situations. I'm of the opinion that this guy is extremely shady and dishonest, and I'll be thoroughly making my case why. There are tons of verifiably false claims, massive exaggerations, and some outright unethical claims he's making to bolster his claims about the device and its use-cases. By the way, the "clogging it up" claim is goofy. This thing is supposed to be a diamond grit file. It should be perfectly fine if it's clogged up. It won't work nearly as well while it's clogged, but that certainly shouldn't damage the device or your frets, and it would be impossible to tell if that happened. Unless this thing is very poorly made, which might be why he's saying this. But I assume it's just a deliberate way for him to establish a catch-all to deny refunds. All of that said, props for sticking up for yourself! You did nothing wrong. I've been dealing with this all day every day too, just in a different way. People need to speak up when faced with deception, bullying, lies, and other awful behavior. And they are. He tried to silence you, and you said no. He tried to silence me, too. I said no, and fully committed to speaking out in the most surgical way possible. His behavior will only cost him.

I'm in the market a fret leveling kit. Thanks for the warning. I won't be buying from him. Ill go with the Fret Kisser and Music Nomad's Safe Zone Fret Crown file.

@CHRIS, Can you do a short video review of the Stew-Mac FRETKISSER? I am really considering that tool and wanted to see what others have to say about it?

Had same issue with that guy - after a week all he had done is 'create label'....when I asked for refund he gave me a rude answer "all sales are final"...and a lot of bs about how busy he is! That being said I did get the tool and a couple accessories and the product worked fabulous!

I wonder why my comment at "sixstringers" was not deleted...and I am glad I watched this video now! I had a feeling something maybe is not sooo proper with that tool...and my feeling seems to be right!😆 My comment at "sixstringers" (I take back the "StewMac" thing, these are really great tools!): "Nice tool...for a luthier! But not for me...i have several basses and guitars with a few different radii; 12", 14", 15.75"...that's all. The leveling i do with unexpensive radius sanding blocks with sandpaper attached...works perfectly. I have one notched straightedge for basses and one for guitars as well. Crowning the frets perfectly may a little bit of work and much time with unexpensive crowning files PLUS some other files like "key files"..., it works without destroying anything. That's it. I would NEVER buy such an expensive tool like that fretMaestro...I don't need it and I say: It is overpriced...like many "fancy" tools...for example from StewMac. Everyone does, what works for him/her individually. It is the result, what counts! And I have never in my live destroied a fretboard...not in now fifty years! Not everyone can afford expensive tools, and nobody has to...the main thing is that your brain works and you have patience! I had to write this because it was on my mind and I couldn't leave it alone! No offense intended.👋"

Regardless of product, the customer is always right period! I looked at this product when it popped into my feed but had too many doubts on its ability and cost although I may pick up the nomad safe file if it’s ever back in stock on account of my eyes getter bad and I can’t see my sharpie mark when crowning lol. Loved your vid brother too bad you had such a shit experience…

Apparently this video made him UPDATE the listing?. his listing states "PLEASE NOTE: We are totally slammed with orders. Right now we are looking at 7 days before we can ship.. working 18 hour a day 7 days a week. Be in the know... We will not refund impatient buyers, no exceptions. We make to order. After 7 days REVERB will not help you with a refund and i find it strange he went from a few days to ship it to you to 7 days??? After 7 days you would have been shit out of luck!

i sell on reverb the seller does not get payed untill the idem is shiped with tracking number it takes a few days after shipping to get your money get a hold of reverb they should have your money this is b.s. you should get a refund not to put anybody or any thing down there are better ways of fixing your frets great vid by the way to bad you had to make it

The thing is, the Fret Maestro doesn't work. Check out the videos on it.

The Fret Maestro did interest me, although the demo videos leave a LOT to be desired. Anyhow, I emailed SixString after watching this video - received an immediate response and no mention of delayed delivery, etc. Too many red flags. It may be a great tool, but what will I do when it breaks and I need replacement parts?? I doubt this company will survive long under the current direction.

The maker of this product is also mad because another RU-vidr posted a video, explaining why this product doesn't work like they claim. It doesn't, or cant, level frets. Since it works off the fret board and not the surrounding frets, how can it possibly level frets? I've never used it. And I've never made a video of it on my channel, but after watching the video explaining why it doesn't do what they say it does, I'll never get one. And from seeing your video, this person really needs to work on his customer relations.

To the Poster of this video; You can use an everyday pencil eraser to clean a file with. No need to order a fancy "Fret maestro file eraser" or whatever he is selling! any file can clog with the metal shavings of what you are filing so a pencil eraser will get them off the grooves/teeth of a file.

Negative comments should have to remain,had comments removed,if u tube wants interaction with the public opinion then why allow this, disturbing , suppression of speech is dangerous

so did you get a refund or not?

To be fair, you’re not trashing his product, How could you? You don’t have it. You are trashing his business acumen and lack of people skills.

Great video, your point was well put across. No-one is a bad person for requesting to cancel an order and having a refund. I agree with you and would like to see you get a full refund, an apology and an update on reverbs site stating the waiting time for shipment. I'm not sure what this product does but if you have high frets or high fret points, try gently tapping them in first as they might just not be seated correctly.

Call your credit card company and they will take the charge off your card.

@NaultilusGuitars has made a very detailed video about the FretMaestro. Hit the link to watch, you'll be glad you did: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zeoe43wBgq8.html

130 is a lot. him not giving a refund shows and tells a lot. It seems it's made to order and will ship directly from the manufacturer and he is complete hands off. He failed at communicating to his customers and he should be a grown up and own up to it. its not hard to give the refund, communicate with reverb and tell you if you dont return the item, you then will be charged. Shit happens like this all the time on ebay and reverb, they know what to do. This is basic online business and retail. This guy is a clown.

Reverb returns suck since changing ownership, hideout for scammers good luck at refunds

I agree with everything, with the exception of bullying. You are an adult. Kids are bullied. You have recourse, kids don't. Kids are bullied, and some take their lives because of it. Adults using the term waters it down and takes away from a serious issue.

when stewmac says they use the fretmaestro i may also. i think if you contact your credit card company, they would put a end to this REAL FAST.

Damn Chris, sounds like a horror story. After seeing the Fret Maestro demonstrated by this guy, I had some reservations on it's effectiveness. Some of the claims didn't seem right. Then I found a couple of videos like yours. By the sounds, the guys breaking so many consumer laws it's not funny. Not to mention just the bad business practices. It seems like snake oil. Sometimes the old saying "If it's too good to be true, then it probably is" seems to ring true here. I hope in the end you managed to get your money back.

That guy is still posting video on how his device works. If it does not, why is he continuing to snake oil us on this device?

OK...Who deleted all the comments? It wasn't me. 10:33pm Eastern time

I just watched a demo of this product literally yesterday and the guy finally gave up and dicided to go at it the old fashioned way.. he couldn't get the thing to work..so honestly you dodged a bullet anyway..

It is a shame. Checked out the product videos which seemed interesting. Too bad that you had this experience which was clearly not up to expectations.

Take a look at the screenshot on this thread and you'll see on the right side of the threat he sent me then deleted it. www.tdpri.com/threads/fret-maestro.1148997/page-2#post-12355178

I went to a nationally known guitar building and repair school in 1978. Opened my own shop in 81. I do unbound fret jobs for $250 and have done hundreds. I live in a rural area and frankly don't know what they charge in the city. I charge lots more for bound boards because of the time and difficulty. I'm 75 now and semi retired mostly doing work for people I have known for ages. This doesn't make sense to me. $130.00 ? Save your money and support your local luthier. There are LOTS MORE of them than when I started and the schools provide even better training. Looks like an easy way to screw up your guitar to me. Just my old 2 cents I guess

All this seems unfortunate... even though I don't know what the fret maestro guy's side of the story is. Can't come to premature conclusions. But I did notice his demeanor seemed kinda off in some of his responses to comments. Seems not to take well to criticism. About the fret maestro itself: there may be something I'm missing.. but dont know why I'd trust the fretboard surface as the measuring point for levelling frets. If I had done that, i wouldn't have been able to properly level plenty of guitars I've had. Wood moves, even if by small margins, and sometimes I need to compensate by leveling the frets the "traditional" way. These necks are not "broken unless you remove the frets and level the board". Some amount of compensation can often be done with leveling frets themsleves imo... For my own standards at least. I dont think fret maeatro would work for this. But hey -- it's quite possible I'm misunderstanding something about how it works. Just so far I'm skeptical about some of the claims made. At the very least, this would likely get limited use for me. But I'd love to see reviews by luthiers (which I am not).

Rebuttal video from Sixstringers: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dpFT92PMXfk.html

i buy everything with paypal. if a seller doesnt ship you file a case with paypal and you will get your money back.

Well i guess i wont be buying this. Thats awful. Having said that if it took a week rather than 2 to 3 days to send i would've been ok.

One 'Dislike'! xD

Lots of talkin, show me the Money!

It's a terrible product. Nobody should buy it for any reason ever.

😮not a very good way to start the giant introduction of a game changing product 😕 it was just introduced at the end of January 😮sounds like he needed everyone's money 💰 to make the product to actually sell the product 😂😂😂. 😮unless this thing is really a game changer this owner might be done before the tools big launch.😊not a good way to conduct a new tool launch and let everyone in the guitar community see 🙄 how you conduct business, like everyone i to have been waiting for someone to get this tool and demonstrate its performance on someones channel 👏

What a shit show…glad it all worked out…kinda!!

My opinion on your issue: First off you're not an instrument repairman.Second if you wanted to do your own fret replacement or fret leveling or fret dressing you should have purchases approx. $150 worth of Dan Erlewine's DVD's to learn how to DIY....then decide what you need to purchase for tools if interested in taking on the task of repairing your own instruments. I have talked to Steven....owner of Fret Maestro and when his products came out in 2024 he was swamped with orders.When I saw his product I thought it made sense to work the frets in that fashion other than the traditional sanding beam(which removes fret height way too much from what I have seen and experienced).His product to me would be like a manual PLEK system. So if you do receive your product from Fret Maestro to level your frets you should get the 150 grit file to start then move onto the 300 grit file.....then the 240 grit crown narrowing file.After that you'll have to dress the fret ends with a fret end file....then proceed with fret sanding 400 to 600 grit.Then I polish sand frets from 1500 grit to 12,000 grit. Cheers...!

Well this must really have affected you if you had to post a video about it

watch out. the asshole that owns the company is going to copywrite strike you. He doesnt want anybody to know how bad his product is