Tools for fretwork?

[AwakenTheSkies]

You honestly overthink it.

Get one decent tool (whatever it is: Z file, 3 corner, whatever) and give it a shot. As long as you mark the top of the fret and know when to stop, crowning is hard to mess up. Just be careful when sanding afterwards that you don't sand over the top too much and too early (personally I don't touch the top of the fret until I am at like P800+ and then I stay very even).

Leveling is a tad more technical because it's easier than you think to rock the beam, angle it or just not put the light homogeneous pressure it needs.

Yeah I'm just talking at this point. Waiting for the paycheck so I can order the stuff I need.
Impatient to get started, it's a good thing I have these old cheap guitars to practice on.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

I ordered the stuff. In the end I got the Music Nomad S-File.

 

[CrystalSky]

There is gonna be metal shavings if you fret level or crown anyway so you still need to tape the pickups up for that and the steel wool barely adds anymore mess to what's already there so I wouldnt exactly say it's not clean but whatever works for you.

I am not the op, I don’t need level or crown, just bring back the shine to my EvoGolds

 

[LeftOurEyes]

I am not the op, I don’t need level or crown, just bring back the shine to my EvoGolds

You never said what you were doing so I responded to your questions how I did given the topic of the thread, but I think your missing my point that steel wool is not messy and that you are overthinking things. It takes like 10 seconds to tape up the pickups and there will be just a few tiny flakes so the "mess" of using steel wool is basically nothing. You originally asked about using sandpaper and steel wool would be much easier to use than sandpaper would be.

 

[CleansingCarnage]

Steel wool leaves little shavings everywhere, taping off the pickups is definitely necessary even if you're just using it to polish.

 

[LeftOurEyes]

Steel wool leaves little shavings everywhere, taping off the pickups is definitely necessary even if you're just using it to polish.

Certainly, but I wouldn't call it messy cause the only cleaning needed after the polish with steel wool is to pull the tape off.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

So you think the leveling is more complicated than the crowning? Practicing crowning seems easy, because I can just file and crown the same fret over and over until I feel I have it down.
But how do I practice the leveling? Wonder how many levels I can do until the frets have to be changed...
This is the cheap practice guitars I'm talking about.

 

[CleansingCarnage]

So you think the leveling is more complicated than the crowning? Practicing crowning seems easy, because I can just file and crown the same fret over and over until I feel I have it down.
But how do I practice the leveling? Wonder how many levels I can do until the frets have to be changed...
This is the cheap practice guitars I'm talking about.

In my opinion leveling is super easy and crowning is the part that takes a bit of technique. With leveling you just run your bar or file or whatever over the frets until they're... level, lol. Which can actually take a while and is harder to mess up by not going far enough than the other way around.

 

[lost_horizon]

Thank you. I'll buy things from Madinter in Spain, they sell Stewmac stuff as well. Though from what I've seen Stewmac stuff is expensive. What if I buy something like Hosco diamond fret file?
The notched straight edge that might be a pita. My guitars are 24,75", 25", 25,1", and 26,5"

Here's the deal, with a straight edge you just move it one way or the other depending on the scale length, e.g. with a 25.5 inch straight edge you would move it one fret to the right for 26.5 inch etc. I have a dual edge straight edge 25.5 and 24.75 and it works for 99% of guitars.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Here's the deal, with a straight edge you just move it one way or the other depending on the scale length, e.g. with a 25.5 inch straight edge you would move it one fret to the right for 26.5 inch etc. I have a dual edge straight edge 25.5 and 24.75 and it works for 99% of guitars.

I got the Music Nomad Tri-Beam. Three sides 24,75", 25,5" and normal straight edge. Should be good for all my guitars.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Got em!

Slept like 4 hours so no crowning for me today, but I'm eager to get started!

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Fret bros, despite my lack of sleep, I couldn't contain myself and went for it directly with the 300€ guitar that had problems all over the neck and suspected a twisted neck..

I'm finished now. All good news so far!
The guitar doesn't have a twisted neck. I leveled with the beam and crowned the frets with the S file.
Mwahahah I'm pretty fucking happy right now! I'm tightening the truss rod, lowering the action, tried every fret, bent every string and no problems.
Before it needed a lot of relief and high action otherwise lots of notes would choke out. Now I set it up just like my best guitar and it's awesome!
It feels so bizarre, I had this guitar since I was 12 or 13 and it always had these limitations. Now it fucking shreds!! So happy

Now for the 8 string the next time...

 

[CleansingCarnage]

Congratulations. And yeah it's amazing how a fret level can totally change a guitar.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

I have to add, my job wasn't perfect. How could it be the first time? There was still a tiny bit of rocking on some frets after the level and crown. But still, I set it up how I like it and can't find any problems like before so far.

 

[groverj3]

I have to add, my job wasn't perfect. How could it be the first time? There was still a tiny bit of rocking on some frets after the level and crown. But still, I set it up how I like it and can't find any problems like before so far.

Perfection is the enemy of good enough.

Also, many guitars with no noticeable fret problems from a playability standpoint will have a slightly high or low fret here or there. If it causes no problems with proper neck relief then you're golden.

 

[nightsprinter]

Here's my list of stuff after collecting and doing this for about 10 years now.

Original Z-file from Stewmac is awesome - worth the money
fret end file from Music Nomad - also worth it
Music nomad/stew mac sanding beams long and short plus sticky sandpaper
fret end beveler (music nomad has a straight and angled one combo) - any will do (i use a dremel to get close with a grinding wheel then file the rest of the way)
Fret rocker
Stew mac tape deck with three tape witdths
Fat sharpie marker
high grit sandpaper or micromesh for
stew mac dremel polishing wheels Green/fine

if you got further questions hit me on IG: Akm_guitarworks I check that more often then here!

Finally pulled the trigger on the original Z. I haven't been satisfied with the results I get with the stewmac dual grit diamond files. I think they leave the tops too wide. Any tips on using the Z regarding workflow?

 

[nightsprinter]

I have to add, my job wasn't perfect. How could it be the first time? There was still a tiny bit of rocking on some frets after the level and crown. But still, I set it up how I like it and can't find any problems like before so far.

Nice restraint. When I encounter the "bit of rocking" I go on a fuckin spirit quest with 400 grit sandpaper pieces and micromesh. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it's a waste of time tail chasing.

 

[nightsprinter]

Anyone try this yet? Some folks like it a lot but again, some complaints about leaving the top surface wider than one would prefer which is my peeve.

https://reverb.com/item/79984983-music-nomad-s-file-fret-crowning-file-diamond-coated

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Anyone try this yet? Some folks like it a lot but again, some complaints about leaving the top surface wider than one would prefer which is my peeve.

https://reverb.com/item/79984983-music-nomad-s-file-fret-crowning-file-diamond-coated

I used it today. Posted a pic of it earlier it's true that it leaves a wide crown. But I haven't used any other file so I have no reference to compare it with something else. It was my first time crowning and I found it pretty easy with this file (as in, my guitar doesn't have any problems so far).

 

[nightsprinter]

Fuckin hell I missed that a few posts up

Mobile flipped me to the page bottom when I replied to a previous comment.