S.A.D Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Ok, this the 2nd fret leveling i've done. This time round I finished getting my frets totally level with my surface ground beam. i did the crowning, got the whole thing restrung, setup, etc and i find that i can't get the treble side below 5/64th without getting a little buzzing on the high e from frets 12-17. not much buzzing mind you, but after fiddling with the rod i decided this was a good chance to try adding a little fallaway to the highest frets. so i ditch my sanding beam and found a nice flat sharpening stone that checked i with my straight edge. i marked the frets with a little blue marker just as a little added guide. then i went to work on the 13th-last frets, checking every so often with the straight edge to see where i was at. i had a 0.004" feeler gauge that i'd try to stick under the straight edge now and then. so i took the layer of marker off and i'm thinking, not much to go after that. So after a few more strokes i check for fallaway, nothing... so a couple more stokes... nothing... more strokes... still nothing! so i kept going like that for, oh say 10 minutes and by now i could see the crowning of the frets was widening quite a bit and i'm really thinking i aught to be getting some kind of result. so i check everything, make sure the necks straight at the 7th, make sure the stones still level, hell i even stared at my stewmac straight edge for a few minutes scratching my head. So after deciding that everything was set up right and that the laws of physics seemed to be telling me if i continued filing these last few frets at some point they have to become lower then the other 12! right???! so i went at them a little more, nothing! gave up, crowned them off, restrung, setup, and this time around the action had improved slightly, but not by much and i'm still dumbfounded by this apparent inconsistency of logic! what on earth am i doing wrong?! just how far should i have to go?! while i'm writing all this i'd also like to say that i always seem to remove quite a bit of material when leveling, especially on the low frets. i'm starting to wonder if my techniques a little off. i use a flat stewmac aluminum beam the length of the board as my main leveling device. its got me wondering if i'm getting a decent radius too? ive read about the difference in compound and conical radius and i figured at the worst i'd just end up with a slight compound. i do have a wooden radius block, but i dont like it much since i don't trust wood like i trust surface ground aluminum and the fact that it only contacts a few frets at a time seems inferior. i did give the whole board a once over with it after the first level and i noticed it immediately took more off the sides of the frets. so can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Probobly a stupid question, But did you level the fret board before you installed the frets ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 You're technique is wrong. You dont just hit it with your radius block until you get to what you think is good, if anything you lightly go over it with a leveling beam a few times, then tape the fretboard and get a fret rocker and check every fret for high and low spots, level the frets individually, then crown the frets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 oh, i forgot, be sure to sharpie the wire before leveling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.A.D Posted November 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) I didn't build this one, its korean import, before you ask it's decent quality. i checked the neck with a notched straight edge and it's fine. As for the radius block I only used that at the end of the first leveling to remove the flats created by the beam, as per the stewmac shop guide. I'm thinking your right about targeting individual high spots with a rocker and a smaller file, but i don't have either at the moment aside from the sharpening stone i found. anyway a fret rocker will be my next purchase. But the point is the frets were level, my real problem is getting a little fallaway. So after the first level I did reset the relief and i'm thinking maybe when i went to add fallaway i haven't quite gotten the neck completely straight. i thought i was pretty exact, but if it had even the tiniest bit of relief then that might cause the fallaway to not show up with the straight edge. so i'm gonna have another look this time making 100% sure its as dead straight as i can get it. if anyone has any more thoughts on technique, or how they go about adding fallaway and such then please comment . Edited November 1, 2011 by S.A.D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.