Time to learn a new skill - fret levelling - need advice on tools

dern

Hello, I've just bought a cheap epiphone flying V on a whim from ebay and generally it's in pretty good order apart from the wiring needs a good going over as it seems to have stood for a very very long time. It does suffer from slightly uneven frets though. Normally I'd ship it off to get it done but this guitar was so cheap that I want to learn how to do this job on this guitar. I'm pretty confident I know what to do and have a bad enough gas habit that this skill will come in handy.

From videos I know roughly what tools I need but the ones I could do with some advice on are the notched edge, the leveling tool and the file.

Am I better off going for the wudtone levelling beam and doing the job with the strings on or a notched rule and a levelling file/beam and doing the job with the strings off?

In terms of finishing the frets can anyone recommend a triangular file I can get please?

I'll be using this guy's videos as a guide...

...unless I get the wudtone beam and then the first part will be slightly different.

Looking forward to giving this a go.

Cheers,

Mark

meltedbuzzbox

Have you looked at the stew Mac fret kit?
Personally I found it easier than a triangular file.

I think @WezV is a fan of a triangular file and he might be able to offer some advice.

Sarge

I use the technofret 19" beam and love it.
The Hosco crowning file works wonders for me, I tried the Gurian file but found it incredibly uncomfortable and unsteady.
Also a stewmac fret end fule to smooth off the finger shredders.

Marktigere1

For the notched level I would recommend the Crimson Guitars one

I also use his fret levelling file

And for the frets I use his fret end dressing file with the safe edge.

Not affiliated with Crimson, just love his tools.

I would always do the job with the strings off (or folded back) but do be aware that the ends like to dig into wood and if they cut you without you noticing, the blood leaves a nice stain on unfinished wood. (Ask me how I know!!)

Cheers

Mark

notonlybutalso

+1 for Crimson Guitars tools. I stumbled across his instructional videos while researching how to start fret leveling, extremely useful and the guys knows his stuff. I was so impressed i went and bought his basic leveling kit and i have never looked back.

Also, always do it with the strings off. I don't see how you can possibly fret level with them still on 

:-?

WezV

meltedbuzzbox said:

I think @WezV is a fan of a triangular file and he might be able to offer some advice.

its not that I am a fan, but you can crown and dress frets with a normal triangular file with  a smooth corner ground into it.   it takes longer and it takes skill to get consistent results. 

The point I am making is that most specialist tools are just labour saving devices and almost everything guitar related can be done with simpler tools.  I know this because I started building guitars with no spare money and had to improvise.    I started on basic tools and added better ones as I went along.   My first 2 crowing files were the 3-1 gurian and the half round variety.... both were a waste of money for me as I found i got better result with my modded triangular file. 

My favorite crowning file is now one of the stew-mac diamond grit ones.   It does make life very easy and can also be used for dressing the fret ends.   some will say i should have brought this one first and only paid once, but there simply wasn't the budget for that when i started.

Its down to the individual to decide whether they want to spend the money on specialist tools or the extra time modifying and using standard tools.   

BigMonka

Have you seen the Wudtone leveller review that @PVO_Dave has done? Looks like a pretty good tool to me: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/68811/wudtone-utl-fret-level-too

eSully

I starting learning on a couple of Epiphone guitars I had before Christmas and was delighted with the results.

I found the videos done by Crimson guitars and WillsEasyGuitars on Youtube very helpful. You can pick up the ones from Crimson guitars in a kit. I got cheapy ones off ebay so a G&W Notched straight edge for £20, I got this leveling file , works very well and I just got a cheapo crowning file which was fine but I'm not sure I'd recommend, I'd imagine better quality ones would make it a lot easier. Then make sure you have some very fine grade wet and dry paper to sand down, some fine steel wool and I got a fret polishing rubber from Crimson guitars as well.

I don't know how you intend to protect the fretboard but I found the green frogtape to be very good on the fretboard, easy to get off without leaving any residue, I think I saw that on one of Crimsons videos.

axisus

I did it all on the cheap. Made a notched straight edge from a bit of my dads scrap metal - used the dremel to make notches. I used a big carborundum stone (of my dads) to level frets. I bought a plastic thing with a concave diamond file to shape the frets for £23 and 10 micro mesh pads to polish (they are brilliant!) for less than a tenner.

Chalky

Sarge;998780" said:

I use the technofret 19" beam and love it.
The Hosco crowning file works wonders for me, I tried the Gurian file but found it incredibly uncomfortable and unsteady.
Also a stewmac fret end fule to smooth off the finger shredders.

+1 for the technofret, makes it really easy and very effective.

dern

Thanks all. Leaning towards the crimson stuff. Would much prefer a file than oxide paper for leveling for some reason.

Sarge

Files, at least crowning files need to be cleaned of fret debris after each fret, I use a brass bristle suede brush which I snipped the bristles down with scissors for rigidity and this makes light work of getting the material out.
left in the file can either gouge a groove along the fret or chatter along it making more work.

andypwudtone

dern said:

Am I better off going for the wudtone levelling beam and doing the job with the strings on or a notched rule and a levelling file/beam and doing the job with the strings off?

Cheers,

Mark

If you want to level frets, so to be able to have lowest possible action, without buzzing, then they really need to be levelled whilst the neck is under string tension. This is due to the neck adopting an s curve when under compression. Levelling with the strings off is really a crap shoot. It may work OK for the majority of the time, depends on the extent of the variations in the neck and how low you want to go with the action. No doubt experienced luthiers may have even got used to manually compensating from experience, but levelling with strings off and not under tension won't automatically compensate for such variations. It is remarkable how this shows up when you do use an under string tension fret leveller. You will every time, actually see the hump that exists between the 14- 20 th frets being taken away 1st, along with the 5 -8 th frets probably being the last you get down to. So after you have levelled out those variations, whilst under string tension, set required neck relief, you will then have a perfect co planar set of fret surface points and be able to get the lowest possible action. kind regards    

andypwudtone

dern said:

Thanks all. Leaning towards the crimson stuff. Would much prefer a file than oxide paper for leveling for some reason. after 

its 400 grit, non clogging, cuts really smooth and efficiently, after say 6-9 guitars , you can just replace the oxide paper ,