copperhead Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 my queston is. i guess i cant use a fret beveling file to bevel the frets ends on a neck with binding will i have to do them by hand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 You can bevel the fret ends on a bound neck exactly the same way you would an unbound neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 ...unless it has the binding over the fret ends? BTW, I bought the StewMac fret bevelling file with the slippery plastic body & it trashed my fret tops. The small metal particles get stuck in the plastic & scratch the frets...I only needed minor levelling before that but had to take quite a bit off afterwards to remove the grooves. If you want to buy one, get the wooden bodied ones off ebay, at least you can stick tape to that & remove if it gets clogged with metal dust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Or just free-hand it with a normal file. It's very easy, and allows you to 'roll' the fretends rather than creating a rigid bevel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Or just free-hand it with a normal file. It's very easy, and allows you to 'roll' the fretends rather than creating a rigid bevel. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 BTW, I bought the StewMac fret bevelling file with the slippery plastic body & it trashed my fret tops. The small metal particles get stuck in the plastic & scratch the frets...I only needed minor levelling before that but had to take quite a bit off afterwards to remove the grooves. I'm curious about this... the metal filings are pretty small and the same composition as the frets, how badly did it scratch the frets? After you did your initial fret end bevel then proceeded to level the fret tops, a light leveling was not enough to remove the scratches? It's just that I've beveled hundreds of necks and never had scratches on the fret wire so big that the leveling didn't remove them. The only time I've ever nicked the fret tops so bad that leveling doesn't remove them is if I slip with the beveler and run the file across a few fret tops (this is very bad). -Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 i must admit i have done that (slipped across the top)with the beveller as well - mostly i just free hand them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Glad to know I'm not alone... The only option after that is pulling the frets and pressing new ones in. What a pain.... The freehand method must be somewhat tricky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 I have been freehanding frets for years - but once I bought a preshaped file from ebay I've never bothered to freehand again. There are pro's/con's of each, but it comes down to personal preference. The reason I prefer the preshaped fret file is because each fret is exact to shape as the others, whereas freehand, I don't care how much of a fret guru anyone pretends to be - they are not as exact as if they were done using preshaped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 The reason I prefer the preshaped fret file is because each fret is exact to shape as the others, whereas freehand, I don't care how much of a fret guru anyone pretends to be - they are not as exact as if they were done using preshaped. Exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 The problem with the metal particles scratching the frets was most likely increased by my heavy handed bevelling...I seem to remember that I had left the fret ends longer than I should have, but still I don't believe that I would have experienced the problem with a wooden bodied file. A similar thing happens when plastic washing up bowls are used in ceramic sinks, tiny particles of grit such as dirt from potatoes or small pieces of scouring pads gets pressed into the bowl because it is softer & then it scratches away the ceramic. The scratches weren't the end of the world. I did remove them with a fret dress but it was looking unlikely that I would have needed to level untill I scratched the tops. I contacted SM about the poor choice of material & the response was: A) to cover the base with tape & change it regularly...tape doesn't stick to non-stick plastic to brush the base regularly to remove particles...it will take more than a brush to remove them, more like a belt sander. Great tool but poorly designed IMO. I think that I'll make a wooden body for mine when I get a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted July 8, 2007 Report Share Posted July 8, 2007 "Freehand" for me too, since I like the bevel to be rounded, not a flat bevel like those file holding jigs will make the bevel. 35 degrees is also too steep a bevel for the larger fret-sizes. If I put a 35 degree bevel on the .057" tall frets I just installed, the player would have the E strings doing cliff dives off the fret-board edges all the time. Probably more like a 15 degree bevel, but rounded, like the curve of the fretboard edge continuing with the fret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted July 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2007 wow this turned in to quite a discussion anyway thank !!!!!! i got it done without recking the binding looks good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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