Cherryburst Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I realize that frets on compound-radius fb are usually levelled with a series of multiple increasing-radius sanding blocks. Now consider that StewMac sells this 18" aluminum sanding beam for fb's with continous radius: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_suppl...ing_Blocks.html Now consider a compound radius fb that's a 10" radius at the 1st fret and 16" at the 22nd (last) fret. (just for this example) Now suppose someone were to make a similar long sanding block/beam that was a mirror image of that compound-rad fb dimensions (10" rad at one end, 16" rad at the other end) If you were to attach the stickit sandpaper to that block and run it on the fb in short 1/4" - 1/2" strokes.... might it work for leveling the frets in the compound radius of the fb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 Actually, most people level frets, be them constant or varying radius with flat bottomed sanding blocks. I use an 18" surface ground steel bar from stewmac. Some people use long files and some do use radius blocks, but I can't attest to how well they work. I'm pretty sure that a compound radius sanding block would not work very well. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I made a radius block about 13" long that had a 10" radius at one end going into what was finally a 16" at the other end. Seemed to be a waste of time. Hard to tell what the hell was going on while using it. Too many put too high a priority on the radius being perfect, when it should be secondary to a level board and frets from end to end of the fret-board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_labb Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 basically it could work a bit. it would not be great, and you would have to do as short strokes as possible, making it take a very long time. it would work perfectly if your stronkes are 0 mm long, but that is the hard part. i wouldnt bother myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 basically it could work a bit. it would not be great, and you would have to do as short strokes as possible, making it take a very long time. it would work perfectly if your stronkes are 0 mm long, but that is the hard part. i wouldnt bother myself. That's what I was thinking. I could see using a flat sanding block and very carefully making a compound radius... but any radiused block is going to impart its radius to any part it touches, since a given portion of the stick will grind a certain portion of the fingerboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherryburst Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 (edited) If I understand correctly, the most common way to sand frets for a compound radius would be to use the 4" Stewmac sanding block set of 10-12-14-16, doing... frets 1-5: 10" 6-10: 12" 11-16: 14" (tight fit for 4" block on this one) 17-22: 16" Is that correct? If so, it would mean the strokes for each block can't be much more than 1/2" or so? And if so, doesn't that mean that say, fret #5 will have a 10" rad and the adjacent fret #6 will have 12" radius? Edited August 20, 2007 by Cherryburst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 No, the common way is to use a straight block and to sand the board along the lines the strings would follow. This produces a conical fretboard (ie compound radius). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherryburst Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 (edited) Is that how warmoth or USACG does it, where they have to mass-produce a LOT of fretted FB's with a 10-16" compound radius? How can you know you're getting 10-16" by using a stright block by sight? Edited August 20, 2007 by Cherryburst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 I'm guessing, but if a company was producing any appreciable quantity of compound radiused fretboards, I'm sure they'd use a jig of some sort. It wouldn't be too hard to build one with two swinging arms of differing lengths that moved across a sanding belt, for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherryburst Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 (edited) Well, does anyone here have any experience with using the 4" 10-12-14-16 blocks? http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_suppl...ing_Blocks.html Edited August 20, 2007 by Cherryburst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 I use the radius blocks to help, but I tend to only have 80 grit stuck on those blocks, so that tells you how long they stay in the game. I think it's often 3 different blocks. one for each end, and then somewhere in the middle, then the 'magic bar' that so many can't fathom will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Warmoth does it with a big old swing-arm sanding jig, there's a picture on their factory tour pages, just sniff around. As for the long block, I don't see why it wouldn't work (small, short strokes!) for final touch-up. I believe John Watkins (watkinsguitars.com) sells them, although he's currently remodelling his shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherryburst Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Anyone have a link for that Warmoth page? I'm not finding it (so far) Here's another idea... what if one created a long compound-rad sanding block (CNC), and then chopped it into about 4" blocks, to use on the frets I listed above... that way you'd get about the same sanding distance as the Stewmac 4" blocks, but instead there might be a more gradual change of radius... you wouldn't go right from a 10" to a 12" on adjacent frets... might that work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Here ya go: http://www.warmoth.com/customerservice/abo...hoptour.cfm?p=5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Ok, you said frets, not fretboard. Of course plants aren't going to tediously sand fretboards to a compound radius with a straight block. If you're determined to do it their way, grizzly actually sells the whole jig (it'll cost you a pretty bit though). Really though, getting a board roughed out with a cylindrical block and finishing it with a straight block is not that time consuming. Complete accuracy (in terms of your radii) should not be your goal; completely level and playable frets should be. I think you're really approacing this from the wrong angle, at least as far as a hobbiest is concerned. Also, for what it's worth, I've heard plenty of people needing to relevel warmoth's frets as well as frets on necks from other neck companies. If that's not a testiment to the accuracy of their methods, I don't know what is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherryburst Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 I guess this is the grizzly thing? A bit of overkill for me http://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-G0577-Fretbo...t/dp/B0002U8EY2 I was approaching this from the angle of having a Stewmac compound-rad fb: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bodies,_necks,...ingerboard.html and then installing & levelling the frets myself. I could use the 10-12-14-16 blocks, but if I could get a CNC shop to make a mirror image of that fb, and then cut it into 4" blocks, maybe that might make for a smoother transition of the fret radii ?? (and yes I agree that proper levelling is also VERY important, but I'm just focusing on getting the compound rad of the frets right, for this thread) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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