Devon8822 Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 I have an Ibanez from 1990, and from what I know it has had a fret dress a couple times, I would really like to know how much of the fret has actually been shaved off over the years, so I know if they have barely changed or if they are at half the height. They are big Jim Dunlop frets. So I want to know how can I measure the size of them? is there any special way you guys do it? And how can I found out how big the frets where before the fret dresses. The frets are Dunlop 6100. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Calipers are the generally accepted way to do it. This is probably the most bad-ass digital caliper ever, with a special measurer for fret height. A contour gauge MIGHT work, but the frets might be too small to gauge accurately. Barring that, you could use the same method as copying a neck carve, except on a much smaller scale using a cardboard sheet. I doubt the result would be accurate enough, but you can find dimensions for Dunlop wire all over the place and simply guestimate, if need be. What's your intention with going through all this effort, if I might ask? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 You can get a fairly accurate measurement by laying a decent straight-edge across two frets and seeing what size feeler gauge fits under it (also stacked feeler gauges). Guitar string cut-offs make nice feeler gauges, as long as you know the exact gauge the string is. I think there are some common household objects that have a consistent thickness, like a nickel, dollar bill, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon8822 Posted March 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 (edited) Thanks guys What is the range that would be shaved off from a fret dress? in any measurment (I can just convert it) for example... a heavy fret dress on a guitar with really worn frets = .4 mm a light fret dress just to even out the frets that are hardly even worn = .2 mm Those numbers are just random to put int for an example... could somebody with fret dressing experience, tell me approximately how much is shaved off in each of those 2 situations^^^ thanks this is really helping me out Edited April 1, 2008 by Devon8822 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 You can modify an easily available digital caliper set to acheive the same effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 You mean like this? The other method I'd always seen, was to drill a small hole (for the "plunger" bit of the caliper) in a piece of flat stock - plexi, metal, what have you. Place that across the frets, measure through the hole the distance to the fretboard, and subtract the thickness of the piece of material you measured through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 You gotcha. That's where I picked it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 What is the range that would be shaved off from a fret dress? in any measurment (I can just convert it) Too many factors to consider : Experience of person doing it, softeness of wire, how many times it was done, how well the frets were installed in the first place, how true the fret-board was/is, how the person played the neck, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon8822 Posted April 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 What is the range that would be shaved off from a fret dress? in any measurment (I can just convert it) Too many factors to consider : Experience of person doing it, softeness of wire, how many times it was done, how well the frets were installed in the first place, how true the fret-board was/is, how the person played the neck, etc. Thats why I said a range... can you guestimate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 Difficult - it's like taking a guitar in to an engineer to have it repaired and asking how much it will be without the engineer knowing what the problem is till he gets it onto the bench and starts repair time/money. Looking at what you said - ie. it's had a couple of fret dresses - you need to ask (as soapbarstrat rightly says) how hard the frets have been (ab)used and whether the dressing was to take up uneveness, or purely freshening. If the dresses were for freshening the slinkiness of the frets then probably very little (if the dress was good to start out with) but if it's turning a toured road dog hammer 'tar into a slinky straight-as-a-die studio instrument then possibly loads. 6100 wire is wide and tall - wider than 6105. Specifically, 2.85mm wide and 1.4mm high (0.112" by 0.055"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 Heck no, I can't guestimate. I have one extreme example : Strat I refretted when I was around 20 (I'm 39 now). I put StewMacs biggest frets on there. Guess they were .052 to .055 tall. I probably did a heavy handed fret-level after I put them in (being the inexperienced hack I was at that age). Then it's had a few re-levels now and then since. Those damn frets are only about .042 tall now ! I also think those frets are softer than the wire stewmac sells now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 I think the answer stems from the basic premise you are looking at the current frets after possibility several dressings. You cant wave a magic want and go back in time nor can you make an assumption on how far someone went dressing the frets. If Prostheta is correct with the original wire dimensions than you meed to measure the frets. No one can guess for you. A $12 digital caliber from Harbor Freight, a dremel tool (drill press will work but slower) and a small grinding wheel (try the dremel chain saw style) will create the perfect tool following Frank Fords guide. You don't have to go crazy here. You can always call Ibanez and see if they have the original wire specs. But you are going to have to take a measurement all the same and that will require a tool or shim setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 The wire sizes are freely available via the Warmoth site Woodenspoke, so they spec is as reliable as they are. 6100 frets seem stormingly massive...way too wide for my liking, but they look like they have plenty of meat on the bones with a height the same as 6105 wire. I couldn't live without my calipers. They should be handed out at birth to anyone who does anything more than twang strings on guitars! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 They should be handed out at birth to anyone who does anything more than twang strings on guitars! :-D God damn that scares the crap out of me. I'm imagining 100 years from now, right after birth, they do all kinds of modifications on babies. Digital screen implanted into arm and the thumb and first finger work as a caliper device. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 You gotcha. Plus a diamond coated burr surgically attached into the pad of the forefinger to dress frets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 The wire sizes are freely available via the Warmoth site Woodenspoke, so they spec is as reliable as they are. 6100 frets seem stormingly massive...way too wide for my liking, but they look like they have plenty of meat on the bones with a height the same as 6105 wire. I couldn't live without my calipers. They should be handed out at birth to anyone who does anything more than twang strings on guitars! :-D I do not doubt your knowledge on such matters and bow to the all seeing all knowing masters on this site (not joking). I would wait till the chinese knock offs are cheaper before you give them out to babys. OK honey I'm ready calipers are down to $5 with a HF coupon and their annual 10% off sidewalk sale. Did you really mean to say baby or newbie, Hummmm. Why bother with implants when robots will be fixing guitars when your in a retirement home. Teach babys to fix robots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 Okay, enough with the freaky baby stuff I guess (fixing robots would be great though). I bought my first set of calipers for a specific job, and just having them around taught me more than anything else and I started thinking of other applications. I'm a born rocket scientist, I love learning and was taught to research at Uni. It's just a tragedy that this learning is being used to modify the young. I'm not sure what our equivalent of Harbour Freight is over here in the UK. I bought a pair which - to my eyes - look like the cheap Far Eastern mass produced set everyone sells with the grey plastic body and red/yellow buttons. For what they cost, and what I used them for, they were a bargain. I hope Devon either uses a caliper set or some feelers and comes back with a positive result on this, although an eighteen-year old guitar could go one of two ways in being heavily used or just-eighteen-years-old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 Okay, enough with the freaky baby stuff I guess (fixing robots would be great though). I bought my first set of calipers for a specific job, and just having them around taught me more than anything else and I started thinking of other applications. I'm a born rocket scientist, I love learning and was taught to research at Uni. It's just a tragedy that this learning is being used to modify the young. I'm not sure what our equivalent of Harbour Freight is over here in the UK. I bought a pair which - to my eyes - look like the cheap Far Eastern mass produced set everyone sells with the grey plastic body and red/yellow buttons. For what they cost, and what I used them for, they were a bargain. I hope Devon either uses a caliper set or some feelers and comes back with a positive result on this, although an eighteen-year old guitar could go one of two ways in being heavily used or just-eighteen-years-old. Same Cheap Calipers. Harbor Freight is a large Chinese tool retailer here in the US, they also have local stores as well. They have a web site check it out you'll get a laugh and they don't sell baby's or implants or rocket parts (couldnt help myself). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 Damn :-\ Devon - if you have cash to spare, Stewmac sell a notched straightedge which is useful for testing your fretboard for it's level in case the areas between frets have worn concave. Doubtful, unless it's had some MAJOR heavy hammer. If it hasn't, then buy some cheap calipers (or a baby), grind the notch as mentioned previously and use that method to ascertain the amount of overall wear. Have the fret crowns worn a flat in the "heavy" use areas such as the first position or wherever you play the most compared to the fret crown between the strings? That would give you an indication of the difference in the fret size/wear since the last dress (if it was done consistently). Caliper time, baby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djhollowman Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 They should be handed out at birth to anyone who does anything more than twang strings on guitars! :-D God damn that scares the crap out of me. I'm imagining 100 years from now, right after birth, they do all kinds of modifications on babies. Digital screen implanted into arm and the thumb and first finger work as a caliper device. Lol, I was watching "Gattaca" only last night too!! But, yeah, as Prostheta says, get digital calipers, even cheap ones! I bought mine in my local Lidl store, and I've seen them in Woolworths too. Best tenner you'll spend. DJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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