Stickmangumby Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 I'm making a fret bender, and having not done a lot of refretting I'm wondering how much you want to overbend the frets. I have StewMac radius gauges, and I'm comparing the tang of the bent fret to the radius on the gauges... how many mm from the centre of the gauge should I be aiming for? Am I getting too technical? I'll post pics up tomorrow if need be. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 I bent mine for a 10" radius when fretting a 12" radiused board, and it seemed to work well for me, but I'm far from a fretting expert, I'm sure someone else will chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 the main purpose of bending your frets is to get the two ends to seat first. if the fret was flat you can picture how the center of the fret would be seated first and the ends wouldn't follow the radius of the fretboard. with that in mind you don't have to get overly technical with how much you bend them. just make sure that when you're finished the ends touch the fretboard well before the center does and you'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickmangumby Posted July 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 Thanks for the help guys Is there any danger of bending them too far, as long as it isn't ridiculous (ie 10" for 20" fretboard)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 Well, if you bend them too far, you'll have a hard time gauging how long to cut the fretwire, and you'll have some difficulty getting the frets started, particularly if you're undercutting the tang for a bound fretboard. (The fret ends could be hitting the fretboard before the tang, making lining them up and getting them in started in the slots difficult.) Fretting is really something you learn by feel, it's difficult to explain in words. Best thing to do is to radius and slot some scrap maple and practice, and be prepared (i.e., have the tools) to pull the frets out after your first fret job - I ended up re-doing my entire first fret job and am much happier with it now. I also really recommend the Stew Mac "Fret Work Step by Step" book - it goes into an amazing amount of detail on the fretting process and really helped me out a whole lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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