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Jay5's $12 Fret Arbor


jay5

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Is the arbor all that is needed to fret a guitar(other than glue, files, cutters and other small mundane things)? I thought that the arbor press bends them for you and puts it in place, then all you have to do is just sand and then level to finish.

Edited by Pex657
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  • 1 month later...
Is the arbor all that is needed to fret a guitar(other than glue, files, cutters and other small mundane things)? I thought that the arbor press bends them for you and puts it in place, then all you have to do is just sand and then level to finish.

You'll need an arbor press with a 3/8" hole into the ram, so that it will accept the Stew Mac Fret Caul system if it's gonna be used. A standard arbor you buy doesn't have the 3/8" hole drilled into it, so you'll have to either do it yourself or get your local machinest to do it for you. It shouldn't cost much and you'll still end up cheaper than Stew Mac's. As far as it being all you need to fret.. ahh .. wish it was that simple. You can't press straight fretwire into the fingerboard without the ends popping up, even with using an arbor press. The strength of the wire will cause it to push up. So really you need some way to bend the fretwire to a slight over radius of your fingerboard like here. I bought one off the internet from a guy named woodenspoke off of ebay. Here is a link for one he is selling on Ebay. Here is a picture of me using it.

Strat_fretbender02.jpg

The tools doesn't stop there either, but a great start.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just used a combination of jigsaw and hack saw to cut the material. It takes a little time but its not too bad. I am glad you had success with the fret bender. Does the arbor seem strong enough with the thin stock?

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o ya. It's really strong. I did 3 layers of it insted of 1 layer of the 1/8" stock. It was harder to build having to deal with 15 layers and trying to drill through it and everything... for the part that goes into the drill press I used a bolt that was oversized and ground two flat spots on one end to make it fit into the aluminium thingy and so the drill bit wont just slip off it when I drill.

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  • 2 years later...

I can't seem to get them either. Nice idea. If you have access to a TIG welder, you can weld the round stock on. Anyone into aircraft or a machine shop may have access to one. By the way, there are a lot of good, used arbors on ebay going for about $15. Shipping will be alot, but then it will also be high from any mail order place.

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Sorry about the pics. I put them on photobucket but I must have mooved them or my account expired or somthing. Search "jaysguitarpics" on photobucket, they might be there.

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