Sides Of The Frets

[tonebones]

Is it best to sand the sides of the frets or file them after refretting?

Opinions please!

[Primal]

I can't remember how I did it on my bass, but I would imagine you would want to file the fret ends down as much as possible (because files work faster), sand flush with a sanding block, then do final shaping with files, sandpaper, and steel wool/emory cloth.

Thats just my logic, anyway. Anyone else wanna chime in?

[SwedishLuthier]

My fret end procedure:

For an unbound fretboard I undercut the tang by about 0.2 mm using a tang nipper. This way the neck can continue to shrink/expand due to humidity (a common problem up north) without any sharp fret tangs protruding. Then I use a file to bevel the fret crown. I do it freehand, but you might consider using a tool; http://projectguitar.com/tut/beveltool.htm

After that I finish sanding the neck and at the same time the fret ends will get sanded at the same time. After spraying finish and fret levelling/crowning I continue to polish the frets with wetndry paper using my fingers as a backing and light pressure over the crown and a hard block over the fret ends. Moving up to 1200 grit paper I finish things up with a cotton wheel in the dremel and some polishing paste. The guitars leaving my shop have a mirror like shine on the frets.