Just one thing to add - if you install frets the way I did in this video, it leaves a gap at each end of the fret slot. That gap is then filled with wood dust, and then followed up with a drop of water-thin super glue, then sanded down. I didn't "film" that part of the process, but I should have.
They could be. Even with my USB microscope camera, they just show up as a shiny spot. I can't tell if it's part of a screw or a pin. But they're shallow enough that the bottom of the fret was bumping into them. Which means the original frets in this thing had less metal in the wood, so to speak. I bet whoever made the kit never thought about people doing refrets. I've never seen a pro guitar neck that left any kind of metal part under an actual slot. That said, this isn't a pro guitar, but rather a very fun kit for novice builders. I still like the guitar, but the metal under the slot was weird.
What a great video! The fact that you used common tools to carry this out is amazing in itself, and the overall fret work looks great! How much more difficult would it be if they were stainless steel frets?
I think with stainless steel, you'd probably need 150 grit sandpaper to level the frets, and it'd take a lot of more work to crown them, BUT you might never need to do it again! I want to get into stainless steel, but only after I get an arbor press for putting frets in. I think an arbor press will take my fretwork to the next level. I ordered a diamond fret crowning file from StewMac last night. I definitely enjoy doing fretwork.
@@budgetguitarist That is great to know - it sounds scary to even try doing any fretwork let alone with stainless steel but overall, one day, I may take the plunge. I'll be referring back to your videos because you have a no-nonsense approach. I look forward to more.
Buy dan erliewines fretting book first. Then get the stewmac straight edge set. If the fretboard is flat and you have to sand the radieus in, check the slots, if the slots were sawn straght across they will be too deep in the middle and all those little cuts, can cause a neck to be rubbery, just like kerfing wood bends for bracing and gluing the top and sides. I strongly recommend you install the frets with super glue to fill the gap at the center of the radius. Measure the width of the slots with a feeler gage, if the saw you got was kerfed, (my exacto saw was kerfed and too wide for the slots so i took the kerf off both sides with a dry oil stone. If you need to saw slot ends deeper, crazy glue a depth stop, a piece of thin plexiglass works well and you will never saw too deep. Get the right radius fret pressing caul from stewmac and build or buy the pressing tool for your drill press. Press in the first fret, skip one and pressin the 3rd fret, now presse in the second fret and use a fret rocker to see if the 3 frets are evenly set, check the middle and sides also, if a fret or two are two high press them in some more, keep doing this as you progress down the board keeping a cork lined call under the neck. With care and patience you can skip the whole tedious job of leveling and recrowning. I did some fret jobs with the grinding and recrowning crap and if you dont know how to swear, you will by the time you install frets the way its done in this video with the levelng and crowning. If you take a regular cutter and file off the outside of it removing the bevel, you will create a cutter that cuts completely clean with the edge of the board. Yaknow those little sanding disca that come with a dremel kit you never use? Stack two or three on a mandrel and use them in your dremel for rounding and smoothing fret ends, with that fine grained paper all you have to do is polish them and youre done. Again doing away with the filing crowning junk. Stewmac also sells thin ateel fretboard guards you can use during this process. I advise any first timer to use a thicker wider fret. Theres more to grind off if you get too rude with the leveling. Remember stevie ray vaugn had his strats refretted with wide bass wire for easy bending. If you buy wire from stewmac and its straight, just cut a slot in a piece of wide quarter round and draw the wire over it or just bend a radius in the wire by eye no need for fancy tools. I used bulk wire bent it pressed it in with one end flush and then cut the other end flush right then. My last bass i used a 24 fret ebony board from stew mac. Prettiest piece of wood i ever held in my hands, slots are cut to match the radius, but i still installed them with super glue. Good luck have fun and the guitar you design and build yourself is the right one for you. The best bass i built is one with no wood...it is the voice of god...but thats another story...
Yup, I did use a radiused sanding block... in part 2 of this series, at around 14:34. It's at: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7nPSIDzZzL0.html
I have a question On step 7 ,instaling frets with a hammer, i have a problem about the gap under fret ends ,i tried to hammer it again, but it still have a gap under the fret, can you tell me how to solve my problem?
This is really, really informative. I have recently started doing some repairs and upgrades at home but haven't done any fret work like this yet. Thanks for this. Is that a StewMac fret remover plier? Thanks
It makes sense that they'd be indexing pins. It doesn't make sense that the pins would stick up into the bloody slot! There's really no excuse for that, but then again, this isn't a very expensive kit.
