Fret Leveler

[jer7440]

Hey guys,

I recently had to level the frets on my LP project and I had one of these sitting around from my RC airplane building days.

easy touch sander

Works great with adhesive backed sandpaper, its light, and it has a nice handle. If you look through the web site, they have them in several different lengths (I also have the 22" one). When I put my straight edge on it, it was dead flat, but if it wasn't you could easily true up the bottom edge on a flat surface with some sand paper. Like you would do if you tuning the sole on a hand plane.

Anyway, it was something I hit on that worked and it was reasonably priced so I thought I would throw it up here.

[brutas]

I'm just curious, how sturdy is it?

[Mattia]

Best fret leveller: bits of angle iron. Level your frets under string tension, and it's dirt cheap. Thread with pics:

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/forum_p...mp;PN=1##186970

[jer7440]

It's very sturdy. The extruded construction makes a very sturdy structure even though the walls are fairly thin. I find both of mine to be very handy for all kinds of sanding tasks.

[Hydrogeoman]

Best fret leveller: bits of angle iron. Level your frets under string tension, and it's dirt cheap. Thread with pics:

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/forum_p...mp;PN=1##186970

This has probably been discussed somewhere in the forum before, but if you have a cylindrical radius on your fretboard, in essence these angle irons will put a slight compound radius to your frets. Correct?

[CrazyManAndy]

edit: I see why now. Thanks Mattia.

CMA

Edited August 24, 2007 by CrazyManAndy

[Mattia]

Pretty much, yes. But that's hardly a bad thing.

EDIT: the reason they do is that you're level sanding under the string path, not along the length of the fingerboard per se.

Edited August 24, 2007 by Mattia

[GuitarGuy]

Point already covered.

Edited August 24, 2007 by GuitarGuy

[soapbarstrat]

Best fret leveller: bits of angle iron. Level your frets under string tension, and it's dirt cheap. Thread with pics:

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/forum_p...mp;PN=1##186970

I lurk on that site from time to time. It cracks me up how some of the members actually *need* to see photos of something so simple.

[prs man]

I use the same as jer7440 used and I have a angle aluminum that work the same.

both work good.

[Mattia]

Soapbar: I'm with you on that one...

[erikbojerik]

Best fret leveller: bits of angle iron. Level your frets under string tension, and it's dirt cheap. Thread with pics:

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/forum_p...mp;PN=1##186970

Poor-man's PLEK. And way cheaper.

[soapbarstrat]

Poor-man's PLEK. And way cheaper.

Maybe better too, considering a human often cares more about what's going on than a computer with a Windows OS.

[bizarro scott]

It's very sturdy. The extruded construction makes a very sturdy structure even though the walls are fairly thin. I find both of mine to be very handy for all kinds of sanding tasks.

I have used the Great Planes Easy Touch bar sanders- I agree- they work great and best of all they dont cost anywhere near what some of the other popular luthier supply shops sell bar levelers for. I know I paid less than $20 for the 22" and less than $10 for the 11". I was (somewhat) doubtful about these (based on price alone- how could something so affordable be good right?)after seeing how expensive the stew mac ones were. I think I first saw these on Kathy Matsushita's site.

I keep an eye on mine and check with a straight edge that I know is true. So far they have been thru minimal wear and tear (5 fret board levelings and 5 new fret levels) and they have been in the garage thru 2 winters and 2 summers (Georgia) and they are still dead flat. So far so good- based on that- I can only recommend these.

Scott (now formerly out of 2 year lurker mode)

[Hydrogeoman]

... they are still dead flat. So far so good- based on that- I can only recommend these.

Scott (now formerly out of 2 year lurker mode)

Hey thanks Lurker, I mean Scott. I am going to try the 22", I love hidden treasures like this.

Cheers

Greg