Tools for fretwork?

[nightsprinter]

Basically normal filing position directly over the fret. just position the fretboard/neck in the necessary angle so that when you move your hand back and forth, its in the straightest position.

Ohhhhh okay lmao man I was doing some mental gymnastics in my head. Basically use the file normally and be careful. Copy.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

This turned out really well. I didn't want to level the frets on my best guitars initially but now I almost feel like they're a step behind the ones I've leveled.

I've spent a lot of money on tools and pickups the last months. But the fret stuff was only around 320€. And if I level my best guitars too that'll be 5 guitars that I've done a full fretboard level on.
Definitely a very good investment that I should have done a lot sooner

A professional luthier around here would charge around 200€ for every full fretboard level, from what I've read on some forum...so yeah. Pretty crazy...

 

[nightsprinter]

This turned out really well. I didn't want to level the frets on my best guitars initially but now I almost feel like they're a step behind the ones I've leveled.

I've spent a lot of money on tools and pickups the last months. But the fret stuff was only around 320€. And if I level my best guitars too that'll be 5 guitars that I've done a full fretboard level on.
Definitely a very good investment that I should have done a lot sooner

A professional luthier around here would charge around 200€ for every full fretboard level, from what I've read on some forum...so yeah. Pretty crazy...

Yep. $190 USD locally for a level and polish here. The guys at my local shop are extremely well regarded and they're great guys and fabulous for repairs and custom work. But honestly I think my leveling work is as good if not better because I spend an hour or so with the crowning file and micromesh squares to ensure that there's not even the most infinitesimal amount of rock anywhere on the neck. An amount of time that the shops near me don't budget for, because I'm obnoxiously discerning...

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Anyway, dear diary:

Today I leveled my 2 favourite guitars, the PRS SE and the Ibanez SZ. Since I want to be careful with them, I used 400 grit instead of 240.

The PRS went kind of shit, because I played the hell out of this guitar and the frets are really dented. On top of that the factory frets didn't have a lot of material. They were barely 1mm tall or even less. So I couldn't fully erase the dents, I had to stop before I took too much off. I'm not brave enough to do a re-fret yet. I read on another forum that it's a lot more complex and you should be trained professionally to do it well. So that kind of scares me
The good thing is that you can't feel the dents while playing and bending. And the guitar plays well.

The SZ went really well

One thing though, even though these guitars use medium frets. I find myself using the wide side of the S file a lot more than the narrow one. Sometimes one after the other. Whatever helps me get a better result....

 

[nightsprinter]

Anyway, dear diary:

Today I leveled my 2 favourite guitars, the PRS SE and the Ibanez SZ. Since I want to be careful with them, I used 400 grit instead of 240.

The PRS went kind of shit, because I played the hell out of this guitar and the frets are really dented. On top of that the factory frets didn't have a lot of material. They were barely 1mm tall or even less. So I couldn't fully erase the dents, I had to stop before I took too much off. I'm not brave enough to do a re-fret yet. I read on another forum that it's a lot more complex and you should be trained professionally to do it well. So that kind of scares me
The good thing is that you can't feel the dents while playing and bending. And the guitar plays well.

View attachment 147134


View attachment 147135

The SZ went really well

View attachment 147136

View attachment 147137

One thing though, even though these guitars use medium frets. I find myself using the wide side of the S file a lot more than the narrow one. Sometimes one after the other. Whatever helps me get a better result....

Get a shitty rosewood ebay neck and refret it before you do the prs. I refretted a squier neck for practice and did pretty well so I refretted a super beat schecter bass as my second and it went incredibly well. Sold it to a guy locally and I crossed paths with him several months later and he praised how well it still played. I've done several at this point.

The hardest part of refretting for me was acquiring all the tools. Expensive af. Soldering iron and Flux to heat the old frets, fret pullers to pull them, fingerboard slotting saw to clean out the slots of debris, fret wire, a bender if you don't buy pre-radiused wire segments, tang nippers, CA glue, fret press, fret cutter for the ends, then you gotta go through the entire leveling protocol. I'm probably forgetting a couple things but oh well.

But I bought all that stuff, did my practice neck, and now I can refret stuff forever. But if you don't intend to do many multiple refrets or have an insatiable appetite for learning this stuff, there's no way it would make sense to get all those tools because it would cost the same as having a luthier refret a couple of your guitars and have peace of mine you won't make a mistake.

*edit- can't forget the little fretting hammer.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Get a shitty rosewood ebay neck and refret it before you do the prs. I refretted a squier neck for practice and did pretty well so I refretted a super beat schecter bass as my second and it went incredibly well. Sold it to a guy locally and I crossed paths with him several months later and he praised how well it still played. I've done several at this point.

The hardest part of refretting for me was acquiring all the tools. Expensive af. Soldering iron and Flux to heat the old frets, fret pullers to pull them, fingerboard slotting saw to clean out the slots of debris, fret wire, a bender if you don't buy pre-radiused wire segments, tang nippers, CA glue, fret press, fret cutter for the ends, then you gotta go through the entire leveling protocol. I'm probably forgetting a couple things but oh well.

But I bought all that stuff, did my practice neck, and now I can refret stuff forever. But if you don't intend to do many multiple refrets or have an insatiable appetite for learning this stuff, there's no way it would make sense to get all those tools because it would cost the same as having a luthier refret a couple of your guitars and have peace of mine you won't make a mistake.

*edit- can't forget the little fretting hammer.

Thanks. I don't know, I want to learn. I'll leave it like this for now since it doesn't really give me any problems. It lasted 10 years like this, maybe it'll last another 10 and hopefully by then I can buy another SE. I've learned so much with this guitar, but it has some problems that are not worth fixing. Like for example, the truss rod rings unless it's tight. Needs .006-.008 relief all the time, or it rings. It's a good indicator of climate changes.
When it finally dies, I'll rescue the hardware from it, it has a MannMade USA bridge, Phase II tuners, Dimarzio Titans and a bunch of other visual and playability things.
Then I don't know, I'll probably curb stomp it, since it seems like that's the new fashionable thing to do..