Jdogg Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 I've been looking for ways to improve my fret leveling quality..... and I ran into this... http://rectifymaster.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=29 Im not affiliated with the above... Im just looking for oppinions.... I emailed them and it looks like it's about $130 shipped to canada plus brokerage... prolly another 30 bux or so.... seems like an overpriced item to me.... so i've started looking for similar items from local suppliers but i cant find anything even remotely similar that i can make work..... Thoughts???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted June 29, 2011 Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 For any guitar with a truss rod the katan version is overkill. A nice idea, but nevertheless overkill. For a guitar with truss rod you can just as well use a piece of straight angle iron with stick-it type abrasive (or double stick tape + ordinary sand paper). Thats what I use. The difference is the little tool. I made a simple tool like that from wood that lifts all of the strings years ago. Most of the times I don't even bother to use it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted July 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 Do you find that leveling under string tension makes a differance vs leveling with the strings off???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted July 2, 2011 Report Share Posted July 2, 2011 It sure does! Leveling frets under sting tension is my preferred modus operandi. It eliminate most of the minor twists in the neck that almost always occur, regardless of how good wood the neck is made from, or if it is multi laminated. Wood is too inconsistent to not have this behavior. That is my personal opinion and it might inflict a bit of flaming, but I stand by it and I back it up with years of servicing guitars. I have worked with neck jigs for the last 15 odd years to be able to correct perfectly quatersawn neck that still twist ever so slightly under string pressure. The rectify mater, or my simplified version is the poor mans equivalent to a neck jig. Or not a poor mans version, almost at good. It doesn't have the access to the frets or total control like in a neck jig but for less problem-some fretboards I always use this method. This is also sometimes referred to as the "Turner" method as Rick Turner described it in detail some years ago at another forum. The only new with this product is the Katan version that allows you to dial in the relief of a non adjustable neck with the tool and thus getting a better result as the tool will match the fretboards general curve and take care of the non-evenness in the frets only. Smart! is it worth 120$ probably if you run a guitar shop and do regular fret jobs on classical guitars. However in my 20 years of doing guitar jobs, i have had one single fret level job on a classical guitar and that was done with the strings off as the lower tension of the nylon strings doesn't bend and twist a classical neck (that also is much thicker/wider, thus resists bending/warping better) like a steel string guitar. I'm not ordering the Katan even thou I see the use of it. I stick to my collection of short to long ultra flat angle irons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted July 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate your input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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