Fret Dressing On Radiused Fingerboards

[Stickmangumby]

I don't understand this fundemental thing about dressing frets... how can people suggest using flat files or oilstones (as opposed to radiused sanding blocks) when dressing frets if the fingerboard is radiused? Surely, with a radiused fret board, the frets are installed with a radius, and using a flat object to level them will damage (ie flatten the tops of the frets) or remove (ie flatten the whole fret, so that the edges are thinner than the middle) the radius required for the guitar to play properly.

Also, how does the frets being radiused work in relation to the fret slots being cut to a linear depth?

THanks

[soapbarstrat]

How about the top of a string nut being made to a rounded shape with a flat file ?

Or the very radiused back of a neck being sanded with a flat sanding block.

[rhoads56]

Ive always wondered why a skateboard has a concaved surface, when we all have flat soles on our shoes.

[thegarehanman]

I always found the concave surface on skateboards quite comfortable...until I knocked my two front teeth out. Now I ride bmx, don't know how that's supposed to be safer. Somehow I even manage to injure myself wakeboarding. I went out in december and got two black eyes during a hairy landing.

On topic: Some people do use radiused blocks to level frets, but others don't see the neccesity in that as you can match the radius of the fretboard while using a flat file if you've got a good eye for it. It's just like you can use a file with a guide block to chamfer the edges of the frets, or you can do it with just the file. Either method can potentially yield very good or very bad results depending on whos hand their in.

[soapbarstrat]

The radius of the soles on my boots seems to be a perfect match to the radius of most people's buttocks.

[Stickmangumby]

How about the top of a string nut being made to a rounded shape with a flat file ?

Or the very radiused back of a neck being sanded with a flat sanding block.

I can see how that would work if the frets were filed across the fretboard, but the frets are filed flat along the length of the fretboard. Both of those examples involve rounding over the surface with a flat object, which you couldn't do if you rotated the file or sanding block 90 degrees (haha well you could, but I reckon you would butcher whatever you were doing it to).

On topic: Some people do use radiused blocks to level frets, but others don't see the neccesity in that as you can match the radius of the fretboard while using a flat file if you've got a good eye for it. It's just like you can use a file with a guide block to chamfer the edges of the frets, or you can do it with just the file. Either method can potentially yield very good or very bad results depending on whos hand their in.

Does that mean that the correct filing method involves making several parallel passes down the fretboard, each pass shifted a couple of centimetres across the face of the board?

Another question... how does the taper of a fretboard (thicker at the body than the nut) affect how you level the frets with non-radiused objects?

[thegarehanman]

Listen, fret leveling really is not that complex. You level the frets(be it with a radiused or non radiused object) until the frets are of a uniform height along the path of the strings that lie above them. What matters is that you get everything done correctly, how you do that is of your own concern. The fact is it's been done with both methods by many people with much success. If using a flat file, you simply tilt it so the center appears to be parralel to the tangent of the radius of the fretboard over the space you're filing.

peace,

russ

[Setch]

Given that fretlevelers are usually about 1" wide, I think you could safely assume you move them around to level the frets - you don't sand a 1" wide flat in the centre of the board

Frets are levelled with several strokes, following the string direction - so you make flats along the path the strings will run. you move the file or leveller across a little each stroke, until you've removed an even amount from the top of every fret. If you follow the taper of the board (ie: the string direction) you will introduce a very slight compound radius..

IMO, levelling frets with a radius block is less optimal than using a flat leveller and following the fretboard taper, since it will create a constant radius playing surface, which will require a slightly higher action, since it will not match the conical shape the strings create.

[erikbojerik]

Both of those examples involve rounding over the surface with a flat object, which you couldn't do if you rotated the file or sanding block 90 degrees (haha well you could, but I reckon you would butcher whatever you were doing it to).

Use a fine-grit sandpaper (I use 600) and go with a light touch.

Setch is right on about following the string path with a flat block, instead of using a radiused block. I've done both and the action IS better using the flat block along the string path (more so the smaller your radius).

[Stickmangumby]

Thanks guys, that makes sense now