costo Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 Trying to gather tools , and ideas for my new bench in my basement, Been reading alot. So what are your tools of choise for your fret leveling/dressing? THANKS! Quote
westhemann Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 stewmac radius block,homemade flat sanding block,sanding sponge,and sandpaper. and a dremel for polishing read the fretting tutorial on www.projectguitar.com Quote
Scott Rosenberger Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 I use a 800 grit chisel sharpening steel plate for my Flat sanding block Quote
Mattia Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 Flat mill (bastard) file for levelling and bevelling, standard StewMac fret crowning file for crowning, and a triangular file for doing the fret ends. Quote
WezV Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 Flat mill (bastard) file for levelling and bevelling, standard StewMac fret crowning file for crowning, and a triangular file for doing the fret ends. Same here. Plus a permant marker to colour in the frets at each stage so i know what i have done - especially as i get blinder by the week and find it harder to see file marks. I have tried the quarter-round and 3-in-1 crowning file and didnt like them - i found it easier to re-crown with a triangle file. I recently brought a double-edged crowning file and find it much easier to use, although i want to try a diamond one soon. I finish the ends with 200-800 wet and dry paper (dry), then i go over everything with micromesh to 12000 grit. Then i metal polish. Quote
fryovanni Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 I use a 800 grit chisel sharpening steel plate for my Flat sanding block +1 I use a 600 grit diamond as my flat block. Works nice Peace,Rich Quote
Setch Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 Do you keep a dedicated one, or use the same one you sharpen stuff on? Were they horrifically spendy? All the really nice quality sharpening diamonds I've seen have been a bit to pricey for my tatses... Quote
fryovanni Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 Do you keep a dedicated one, or use the same one you sharpen stuff on? Were they horrifically spendy? All the really nice quality sharpening diamonds I've seen have been a bit to pricey for my tatses... It is dedicated(well sometimes I attach sandpaper to the back as a block, but the diamond side is just for frets). I can't remember the price, but seems like it was under $50. Peace,Rich Quote
soapbarstrat Posted January 25, 2007 Report Posted January 25, 2007 I've mainly used glass with abrasive for almost 20 years. Some of you younger guys might be surprised to know that Stew-Mac actually used to sell glass/MDF fret/fret-board leveling "planes" (actually made by Luthier Ken Donnell). I used the 13" long one on fret-jobs for many years. The glass on that sucker is more flat than the Stew-Mac metal beam I bought much later. Don't want to rehash about the DIY ones I make now, but not long ago, I saw that luthier Charles Fox uses glass, although he doesn't even have the glass glued onto anything (except the sandpaper). http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Features/C...ews/cfox127.jpg I wonder how thick that glass is. If it's 1/4" thick, I might try it like he does, because I have a lot of 1/4" thick flat glass. Some of the fret-wire you can get these days is made so well, that if you level the board right, get all your frets seated right, you can get a fret-job that's as good as a new Warmoth neck's fret-job. Quote
Scott Rosenberger Posted January 25, 2007 Report Posted January 25, 2007 my Diamond Block cost about $27 at woodcraft Quote
Setch Posted January 25, 2007 Report Posted January 25, 2007 That's a pretty keen price - I've not seen anything over here which wasn't closer to £50... a good buy no doubt, but expensive. Quote
Jungle Boy Posted April 17, 2007 Report Posted April 17, 2007 Hello! I want to build a fret leveling tool like stewmacs fret leveling tool. I just want to "glue" a file on a piece of wood. But I dont know how to grab on it... Does anyone can help me? Thanks! Quote
Bertbart Posted April 17, 2007 Report Posted April 17, 2007 Jungleboy, I would go to a real hardware store one of the oldest in town and search through all of the mill-smooth- bastard files they have. They usually have them in a box individually wrapped in brown waxed paper. The big box home improvement stores will not let you open the packages. I prefer an 8 inch. I pick each one up and sight down both faces looking for the flattest I can find. They are not all created equal. Then I put the file in a vise after scoring a cut where the tang (Pointy part) joins the file body with a Dremel sizz wheel. Then smack it with a hammer and it will break off cleanly. (Wear eye protection). Then I stone grind the end smooth. I find an 8 inch long scrap of flat suitable wood, usually Maple and again look for the crown side of the file before using two part epoxy to glue the file, crown side up to the piece of wood. Then I belt sand the handle flush to the edges of the file. I also grind a slight bevel on the leading tip of the file. You can get art-sey/fart-sey and grind finger grip dimples into the sides with one on top for your index finger and coat the wood with lacquer if you're into that kind of thing. Quote
sexybeast Posted April 18, 2007 Report Posted April 18, 2007 Diamond stones for the cheapskates among us. Quote
soapbarstrat Posted April 19, 2007 Report Posted April 19, 2007 Diamond stones for the cheapskates among us. Good lord, those are not flat enough to be used as fret levelers ! Damn, my post count is bringing back all kinds of good/bad memories Quote
Jungle Boy Posted April 19, 2007 Report Posted April 19, 2007 Jungleboy, I would go to a real hardware store one of the oldest in town and search through all of the mill-smooth- bastard files they have. They usually have them in a box individually wrapped in brown waxed paper. The big box home improvement stores will not let you open the packages. I prefer an 8 inch. I pick each one up and sight down both faces looking for the flattest I can find. They are not all created equal. Then I put the file in a vise after scoring a cut where the tang (Pointy part) joins the file body with a Dremel sizz wheel. Then smack it with a hammer and it will break off cleanly. (Wear eye protection). Then I stone grind the end smooth. I find an 8 inch long scrap of flat suitable wood, usually Maple and again look for the crown side of the file before using two part epoxy to glue the file, crown side up to the piece of wood. Then I belt sand the handle flush to the edges of the file. I also grind a slight bevel on the leading tip of the file. You can get art-sey/fart-sey and grind finger grip dimples into the sides with one on top for your index finger and coat the wood with lacquer if you're into that kind of thing. WOW!!! THANK YOU MAN!! I will take a couple hours to undestand it (i am brazilian), but no problem. Once again! Thanks! Quote
Bertbart Posted April 19, 2007 Report Posted April 19, 2007 WOW!!! THANK YOU MAN!! I will take a couple hours to undestand it (i am brazilian), but no problem. Once again! Thanks! Jungleboy, sorry I don't speak Portuguese. I have an uncle who lived in Sao Paulo and he spoke fluent Portuguese if he was still alive I could ask him to translate. Good Luck!!! Quote
Jungle Boy Posted April 19, 2007 Report Posted April 19, 2007 WOW!!! THANK YOU MAN!! I will take a couple hours to undestand it (i am brazilian), but no problem. Once again! Thanks! Jungleboy, sorry I don't speak Portuguese. I have an uncle who lived in Sao Paulo and he spoke fluent Portuguese if he was still alive I could ask him to translate. Good Luck!!! Oh, dont worry about it! I am very thanks, it is just a question of time. I am on my work so I dont have time right now! I didnt think about glue it with epoxi glue! Very good idea, does it hold well? But once again, Thank you! Dont worry about it! Quote
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