First build - "Birthmark"

[Bizman62]

From the fine-tools site I noticed they sell Iwasaki carving files as well. https://www.fine-tools.com/carvingfile.html

I've got a couple of the small ones - I was interested in them based on Ben Crowe's review but skimped to get the full length ones, Nevertheless, they work as promised.

An inexpensive "rasp" can be made by attaching sandpaper on a piece of broomstick. The masking tape and super glue trick works fine.

[henrim]

27 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

An inexpensive "rasp" can be made by attaching sandpaper on a piece of broomstick. The masking tape and super glue trick works fine.

That kind of of sanding blocks are great as you can make them to fit any curve. I use different sizes of pipes and sticks with sand paper for smoothing, but not so much for shaping. I prefer spray glue for attaching the paper. If you don't need an exactly fitting stick you can tape one side of a sanding paper sheet to a stick and roll the sheet around the stick. Then tape the paper from the ends so it keeps tight around the stick. Once the paper wears out you can rip the worn-out piece off and you have fresh paper underneath. This works better with a rectangular stick though.

[Asdrael]

All around good ideas. So far, I have been using spare wooden handles of different sizes onto which I put sandpaper as a make-do round rasp. Works decently but ouch my fingers

[Asdrael]

Had a good evening yesterday! I have to say, I am extremely satisfied with how it went. Obviously, I was slow as hell but I learned a lot and didn't do any (significant) mistake. It was all neck work and since it's what I'll be feeling when playing I didn't want to rush it.

 

First item of the day was to mark the neck heel and sculpt it. I wanted to try some different tools, and some different approaches. I think I figured out "my" process better - which includes rough rasps, gasp! - even though I am sure it will change with time. I did the neck heel in half the time it took me to do the volute. I also learned that it doesn't have to be perfect at that stage, just "good". Sandpaper at the later stages will do the actual neat stuff.

(Note the dent that was almost 1mm deep... had to remove this one later).

The volute also got a second pass, I wasn't happy with its position and size. Moved it back (which ended up making it slimmer) a tad.

 

Wanted to take a break from sculpting so I finalized the radius. I reused my jig and did 120, 180, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200 and 1500 grit. Radius seems on point, fretboard seems as flat as it gets, and I'm down to 0.2mm accuracy on the thickness on each corner. Happy with it - at least happy enough to move forward.

Went from this (120):

To this (1500, note the slight mirror effect):

It feels *amazing*. Smooth as a baby's butt. With frets on and oiled I'm sure I'll have a good time. I also did the headstock veneer the same way and as planned, the headstock is slightly lighter for contrast. Both pieces have a very nice grain that should pop out more once oiled. The naphta test I did turned out great.

 

The next stage was the final shaping of the neck. Built a small support to help me with it, but since the facetting went well, it was mostly straight forward.

 

The general aim was to have a "flat C" or "Modern C" or "Cish to Dish". So queue a lot of sanding with 120, and a lot of checking of low and high spot. Took some time, but got a nice routine going, down to the last high spot:

 

Some more 120 grit and elbow grease, and I managed to hit the mark (self designed laser cut acrylic guides):

Shape is on point!

I moved then to 220 and 320. For hard maple, I will probably go to 400, raise the grain, 600, raise again, but stopping at 320 before I do the fretwork gives me a bit of buffer in case I put a micro dent in it (which I seem to have done when putting the neck away, oops).

Anyhow, after a thorough 320 on all the maple, I am done to precisely 21.1 mm 1st fret and 23.1mm 12th fret. 0.1mm more than I wanted. Hoh well

Interestingly enough, and even without naphta, the proper lightning seems to show that I have a very consistent flammy pattern all throughout the neck. I will do my best with sanding to make the tru oil reveal it permanently. The only disappointment so far is that the back of the headstock, which has a scarf joint "in the middle", has a pretty obvious grain pattern change. Nothing dramatic, but (hindsight 20/20), I should have done a back veneer. Maybe I still will, I'll look into it.

 

I also couldn't help myself and redid a test fit with the new carve:

 

The neck joint isn't as tight as it could be sadly, but for a bolt on, I'll survive. The overall shapes flow well together, and I have some room to lower the heel for action still.

 

Feels weirdly good to have a finished neck shape in hand! Kinda proud of myself though, great feeling to end up with this when I remember starting with a few chunks of wood.

 

Next stop: fret slotting (bought a yellow lead pencil for this... regular lead pencil on rosewood isn't fun) and fretting! I will do a test run on a rosewood scrap first but I am sure slow and steady wins the race again.

[Akula]

10 hours ago, Asdrael said:

Next stop: fret slotting (bought a yellow lead pencil for this... regular lead pencil on rosewood isn't fun) and fretting! I will do a test run on a rosewood scrap first but I am sure slow and steady wins the race again.

I use a scalpel, or even better a marking knife to mark fret slots. The line is about as thin and accurate as you can get, and when it comes to actually cutting the slots the saw follows the knife cut quite well. Of course there's no erasing and re-marking, so you have to get it right straight away. Another option is to print out on paper a grid of accurate fret lines, stick it down to the fretboard, and saw straight through that.

Great build. I'm following keenly!

 

 - Jam

[Asdrael]

My plan was to mark everything with a pencil, double check with my transparent acrylic template that I haven't messed up, and then go over it again with a marking knife to make sure and prepare for the saw. I don't trust myself to get it right straight away. Nor getting it straight right away but that is more age related.

I am basically planning on doing this, although with way less self confidence and less puns:

I bought a yoshiharu marking knife off amazon and it seems good enough for me:

 

Thanks for the insights!

Edited August 13, 2023 by Asdrael

[Asdrael]

Microscopic update tonight. My regular workshop had a CnC introduction course scheduled so I attended. I will give it a try for the back plate (and some name plates for our door I suppose!) and maybe for my next fretboard. Let's see. In the meanwhile, practice makes perfect.

Also, and right after the course, it was our weekly "open doors". I wanted to hang around  this time and try to help while doing a few random things. And funnily enough, this time a guy showed up (also a french guy lost in Germany what the hell) and he wanted to do a cutting board from a piece of maple. Funnily enough, it was some wild and awesome figured maple. He probably had enough to make like 50 headstock veneers of 3-4A flamed maple. I even showed him how to reveal it. But no, he insisted on doing a cutting board with end grain up. Hoh well. I should have bought it straight from him. I helped it to do a kind of mosaic board, he was happy, got the membership, now I'm +1

For my guitar, I could try out a few things when I wasn't making sure the guy still had 10 fingers:

- First, I drilled some scrap swamp ash with a Forstner bit to try out the neck ferrule fit. 15 mm Forstner + 14 mm ferrule = not very tight but that's not the goal of the ferrule. Good enough for me. Drilling with a brad point the screw hole was easy to do perfectly centered afterwards so I will keep this workflow for the actual body.

- Second, on the same scrap of swamp ash, I drilled for the ferrules (8mm) and used a step bit (to 10 mm) to recess them. Worked flawlessly. Won't even need glue, the wood grips it well enough. I will just have to make sure the alignment of all ferrules is perfect at the back of the actual body but I will use the "holding plate with a pin" trick for this.

- And lastly, a part that scared me: inserts in the neck. I bought some very reputable german hardwood inserts that should be exactly what I need (Rampa SKD30). Took a scrap of maple, same grain direction as my neck but significantly thinner (and without fretboard). I wanted to see if drilling to specs and screwing the insert in would split the wood. Drilled two pilot holes at the exact spots where it will happen in the neck and I could screw the inserts in no problem. Friction was the actual issue (blades cutting the wood, the inserts were even hot when removed so I screwed too fast) more so than the insert trying to push wood aside. So I think I will go with an inner diameter of 9mm, as per specs. Likely with either some beeswax produced by a friend of mine to alleviate the friction or with titebond as lubricant turning into glue. But it looks promising. In addition, I might use a clamp orthogonaly to the fibers as a safety neck + as a stabiliser during drilling and screwing. Hoh, and it recessed perfectly (those inserts are sold as "auto recessing").

 

[Bizman62]

Reading the entire post through before quoting and answering saved me from an embarrassing moment! You listed all the tricks plus one I didn't know: Using Titebond as a lubricant. Homework well done!

[Asdrael]

Hey I'd rather have you tell me something I already read about rather than make a mistake, so all good haha.

Not sure how TITEBOND behaves under a bit of heating though, would hate to have the insert glued only half way in...

[henrim]

With 9 mm bore there shouldn't be any problem driving the inserts in. I use the same inserts and I haven't ever needed any lubricant. I would hesitate using PVA glue as lubricant (titebond or any other brand) as heat likely makes it cure faster. If you for some reason need glue to help the inserts to stay in place I would first drive the insert in, take it out, add a drop of epoxy and re-insert the insert. Just be careful you don't get any glue into the inner threads.

[Asdrael]

Are you happy with those inserts? They seem pretty good on paper.

And I think I will do all "dry" and just put a micro drop of very low viscosity CA glue on the side of the insert just for safety.

[henrim]

12 minutes ago, Asdrael said:

Are you happy with those inserts?

They are good. Pretty easy get them in straight. Some other inserts that I have used have the tendency to go in in wrong angle, no matter what you do. I have used these in many applications and on three guitars. Out of which, on two of them the inserts are inserted to the body. Only one of them has the inserts in a maple neck. On an other "regular bolt-on" guitar I used t-nuts under the fretboard. I kinda like that approach better because it's mechanically a better joint. In theory at least. But the threaded insert are fine too.

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, henrim said:

I would hesitate using PVA glue as lubricant (titebond or any other brand) as heat likely makes it cure faster.

Maybe that's why I've never before heard about that trick! A simple search told the same, heat will cure PVA glues faster. Strangely enough dry PVA glue will also melt when heated. Some versions even re-bond which is handy for veneering.

[Asdrael]

Well, big day yesterday and some interesting progress. Not all great but I am used to it now. It was fretting day, meaning marking, cutting, slotting, sanding and quite some fixing of mistakes.

Behold the marking jig:

 

(Yes that's along the centerline, and the 60cm scale is graduated in half mm). That was the easy bit. The not so fun bit was making it all square. I started with a pencil and redid it with a marking knife.

So far, amazingly, no mistakes. Everything was sub 0.5mm accuracy which I consider good enough for a first go. Honestly, beyond that, I need a different marking strategy or better eyes.

 

The main "what the fuck am I doing" part came next. I took out the fretting saw and did a few tries on scrap. This didn't go well.

I did a few more tries and seemed to find a groove (haha pun). So I just went for it.

As you can see, I ripped once, and the saw "wobbled" quite a bit. I wasn't terribly happy but already had an idea in mind how to fix it. So I went on, trying to get a better technique. I "think" I got it now, but it's far from perfect. The devil is in the little things and I can't really pin point why the slot sometimes was too wide, to the point where I could push in a fret with my finger, and sometimes it was just perfect. I am using the right size fret saw, and a depth stop (bit shy of 3mm for a 1.7mm tang if that's any indication). Anyhow, this is how it looked once I was done:

A good eye will see some irregularities in slot width and overall consistency. As some frets were definitely going to be too lose, I went for surgery. Superglue and wood dust.

Which required a rerun on the radius jig to smooth things out:

And a recut of the fret slots. All in all, much better, but not perfect.

I still had a couple of not quite tight enough ends. I decided to move forward and to fix during and post fretting with CA glue.

So yeah, frets. This are regular nickel silver, SS frets scared me for a first job.

First one going in:

 

MORE FRETS. For some, I tried to prefil the slot with CA glue and then put it in but yeah, wasn't feeling it.

Beveled the sides almost flush to 90°:

At that stage, I had a couple of not-snugh-enough-for-my-liking fret ends and you could see slots. So I filled the slots with CA glue while pressing down on the fret firmly. Capillary action did the rest, and I think most of my frets are glued nicely. Towards the end of the slot filling, I dropped some rosewood dust on top;

And I just had to sand everything very flush with first a diamond file at 90° (that I don't really like) and then with a sanding beam with 240 grit. This option I liked a lot, better control and I could do a slight round over for comfort. Happy with the end result, both look and feel. Obviously the actual bevel is still missing, and I am pondering if I will it before or after leveling.

(There was up to 1mm of space between tang and slot bottom which is now filled).

So yeah, frets are in! I checked everything first with a thickness gauge, and everything is seated less than 0.1mm from the fretboard generally. With a good fret rocker, there are obviously some high spots. Only 2 or 3 half frets are "really high" and will require actual work I think. So not too bad. Most importantly, it seems all frets are now seated and sealed in properly so there shouldn't be any movement. And as a bonus: 24h later, the neck is still straight as an arrow (thanks carbon rods!). I also marked the side dots positions and called it a day.

 

All in all:

- I can actually mark fret positions and use a marking knife (yay me)

- I have no clue how to use a fretting saw properly. I think I pushed down too hard which caused it to wobble, but not doing it seems to require more strokes which leads to potentially broader cut? I am confused.

- My hammering technique isn't on point either. Probably hitting too hard, had quite a lot of spring back. Going at it more softly yielded better results.

- I am decent at fixing mistakes, which is a plus.

- For my next builds, chances are high that I will outsource or CnC this. It's not really fun and unless I find a really awesome explanation of how to actually use a fretting saw, I am not sure how to make progress on that.

 

Next stop: side dots, leveling, beveling, dressing. likely early next week.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Asdrael

[SJE-Guitars]

For a first build it's look neat, as you point out yourself the fretting part is the stage when it becomes somewhat tedious!  

The very first fret board I ever did. I struggled with getting the cuts perfectly parallel and thankfully I was in a position where I had plenty of spare timber around redo and remake things.  Unless you have a proper fret cutting jig (mitre block) to hold the fretboard you will struggle when you have already cut the fretboard to the neck.  It's far, far easier to do any fret slot cutting when the board is still square - since you can just use a square held up to the side and use that to keep saw square, also do any cutting prior to radiusing, you can always recut them to depth easily after the radius is cut (however, I know this order varies from person to person) 

Also I just noticed Stewmac and othedr no longer do the cheaper fret slotting jig, now just offering a horrendous looking over engineered fret slotting miter box for several hundred dollars!!  

Edited August 18, 2023 by SJE-Guitars

[henrim]

7 hours ago, SJE-Guitars said:

For a first build it's look neat, as you point out yourself the fretting part is the stage when it becomes somewhat tedious!  

The very first fret board I ever did. I struggled with getting the cuts perfectly parallel and thankfully I was in a position where I had plenty of spare timber around redo and remake things.  Unless you have a proper fret cutting jig (mitre block) to hold the fretboard you will struggle when you have already cut the fretboard to the neck.  It's far, far easier to do any fret slot cutting when the board is still square - since you can just use a square held up to the side and use that to keep saw square, also do any cutting prior to radiusing, you can always recut them to depth easily after the radius is cut (however, I know this order varies from person to person) 

Also I just noticed Stewmac and othedr no longer do the cheaper fret slotting jig, now just offering a horrendous looking over engineered fret slotting miter box for several hundred dollars!!  

Exactly!

[Bizman62]

That looks neat! Filling the slots is common practice even amongst professionals. We've let our tutor who has a Master's degree in Luthiery do the slotting for us in his workshop and the slots always require some filling. Cutting the slots freehand definitely requires lots of practicing, most likely starting with some softer and uniform wood like alder or basswood and moving gradually to harder and more figured pieces might be worth the effort. Also using cheap alternatives rather than actual "guitar wood" might be wise - beech is hard and can be found as inexpensive cutting boards most everywhere, kitchen and flooring makers may give you scrap pieces of various woods for free.

11 hours ago, Asdrael said:

And I just had to sand everything very flush with first a diamond file at 90° (that I don't really like) and then with a sanding beam with 240 grit. This option I liked a lot, better control and I could do a slight round over for comfort.

I've been using this little self made file for leveling the fret ends as well as doing a slight round over. It's just a cheap single cut file glued on a piece of wood. The spike for handle has been cut off and the ends beveled. Although it's a bit short to my liking it's long enough to cover several frets and it fits my palm for accuracy. After that I use a sanding beam just like you did.

[Asdrael]

10 hours ago, SJE-Guitars said:

For a first build it's look neat, as you point out yourself the fretting part is the stage when it becomes somewhat tedious!  

The very first fret board I ever did. I struggled with getting the cuts perfectly parallel and thankfully I was in a position where I had plenty of spare timber around redo and remake things.  Unless you have a proper fret cutting jig (mitre block) to hold the fretboard you will struggle when you have already cut the fretboard to the neck.  It's far, far easier to do any fret slot cutting when the board is still square - since you can just use a square held up to the side and use that to keep saw square, also do any cutting prior to radiusing, you can always recut them to depth easily after the radius is cut (however, I know this order varies from person to person) 

Also I just noticed Stewmac and othedr no longer do the cheaper fret slotting jig, now just offering a horrendous looking over engineered fret slotting miter box for several hundred dollars!!  

I was initially looking into the miter box but I'm not doing that kind of cash on one. I may do one myself in the future, or just go the CnC route fully. Maybe I will also try slotting on the rough board. Learning by doing!

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

That looks neat! Filling the slots is common practice even amongst professionals. We've let our tutor who has a Master's degree in Luthiery do the slotting for us in his workshop and the slots always require some filling. Cutting the slots freehand definitely requires lots of practicing, most likely starting with some softer and uniform wood like alder or basswood and moving gradually to harder and more figured pieces might be worth the effort. Also using cheap alternatives rather than actual "guitar wood" might be wise - beech is hard and can be found as inexpensive cutting boards most everywhere, kitchen and flooring makers may give you scrap pieces of various woods for free.

I've been using this little self made file for leveling the fret ends as well as doing a slight round over. It's just a cheap single cut file glued on a piece of wood. The spike for handle has been cut off and the ends beveled. Although it's a bit short to my liking it's long enough to cover several frets and it fits my palm for accuracy. After that I use a sanding beam just like you did.

I will likely train on softer wood indeed. Thinking about it, I think I simply pressed to hard which induced wobble and didn't let the saw follow its own cut enough, hence some wide spots. I may also have one fret not perfectly parallel but unless you know it's there you basically don't see it. I will though... Damnit

[Asdrael]

Checked again and again. I have a few that are what I would assume to be 0.2 or 0.3 mm off on the very end on one side, the other side being generally in point. Nothing the eye can pick up,and likely nothing the ear will pick up taking into account fingers pressing etc. So not too fussed.

[Asdrael]

A very productive day! One might say it may be related to my wife and kids being away for two days.

I started off by putting some side dots. I ordered 3mm diameter Luminlays ages ago which may be overkill with my 4.x thick fretboard but who cares, they glow!

 

First you drill

Then you glue and hammer and cut

Then you sand down

Since I was doing that, I though I would add the bevel too. I went with 25° since I always found the classical 35° a tad narrow for seven strings with jumbo frets.

I of course went a bit "into" the fretboard for comfort. I like it a lot.

 

And now there was no pushing it away anymore. I had to do it. Fretwork!

With blue tape.

A shoddy fret slotting work makes for a long leveling session.

I did put a guide in the form of a centerline along the tape. Easier to stay on track when sanding.

As you can see, some frets were really seated badly. Took me a long time to level them all (using 320 grit). When I knew I was down to 2 or 3 really high frets, I "spot leveled" to avoid losing too much height anywhere else. Once the fret rocker told me I was good to go, I used the beam again, the rocker to check again and moved on.

I wanted to add a taper after the 12th fret, so I taped the 12th fret, half of my sanding beam, and went to town.

It looks pretty extreme, but it's not too bad really.

The fret rocker says go, so... crowning time!

One down, 23 to go. Thank god for good tools.

And done! It wasn't smooth sailing due to some frets being wonky. It's easy enough crowning a fret entirely, but focusing on parts of it is a pain. I somewhat managed, and the fret rocker agreed with me on almost everything. I did a small mistake and went a bit hard on the 3rd fret, low strings side which now sits a touch too low. I am sad, but not too bothered. I usually have a rather high action on the low strings so I shouldn't feel it. I am bummed that I can't claim my first fretting job was spotless

Hoh yeah and I sanded the shit out of them after doing the fret dress (no pictures of that cause... why?). 400, 600, 800 grit on the side and then 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 on the entire fret. I also did a few passes with the finger wrapped in sandpaper on the side to really have this glass smooth feeling. I am happy with the results, it's better than my prestiges and on par with my custom guitars. Too bad it's only the very end of the frets

The only things left to do on the neck beside Tru Oil is polishing the frets with Autosol (I'll do it during assembly), and putting inserts in it, which requires matching it with the body perfectly. So I moved on to the body to prepare for it, after checking that the neck (when fully seated) perfectly aligns with the centerline of the body. I will have to double check the neck angle and action height before I position the bridge, but at least I can work on the body in peace now. So I did that:

With no blowout because I tapped some MDF (yea, I am learning).

 

And in the ferrule goes! (With around 1mm recess to have something for sanding).

Tomorrow I should have time to finalize the body routing and neck angle. Let's see. Overall I am happy with today because I consider my first fret job a success - the only issue is a slightly low fret and I know why. It just took ages because my initial fret slotting job was really subpar. There are a few cosmetic issues that I may or may not fix on the fretboard due to me not being very comfortable today in the workshop (someone almost caused a fire) but I am tempted to call it "character". We'll see.

Kinda exited to be nearing actual assembly!

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Asdrael

[Bizman62]

8 hours ago, Asdrael said:

A shoddy fret slotting work makes for a long leveling session.

Well... Hammering the frets in instead of using a press and a caul is more prone to deform both the metal and the wood below unless you're a robot. Even then it's hard to predict where the wood gives in more, causing a dip. Seeing we've been watching the same tutorials by a tattoo-headed luthier, I suggest you to watch closer how non-consistent his frets are before crowning! Properly seated, yes, but not necessarily the same height. Also bear in mind that on video you don't see everything! A friend once worked at Crimson and he told that especially the time challenge guitars had to be re-finished as the quality as such wasn't up to their standards.

I've seen videos about using a press and caul in order to insert the frets so level that no leveling is necessary. To me they seemed very tedious, requiring as much work as leveling with abrasives. Some told that filing the frets would change the molecular structure of the surface of the fretwire, causing irregularity in sound production. Well...

And then there's Plek, which is a robotized leveling machine used in factories and even as a maintenance service by companies like Thomann. I've learned that a sanding beam and crowning files can give equally good results.

[Andyjr1515]

Nice work @Asdrael 

[henrim]

52 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Some told that filing the frets would change the molecular structure of the surface of the fretwire, causing irregularity in sound production. Well...

Yeah, well. Metal do change when they are worked. If we talk about regular nickel silver wire, which is copper for the most part, there is a lot changing throughout the process. Copper work hardens rather quickly. The wire is cold formed in the factory and is sold in hardened state. It stretches and shrinks when you bend the wire, and at least in theory, this plastic deformation causes the wire to harden more. Also hardening happens when you hammer the wire. I guess hammering does harden the surface more than the inside of the wire. When filed, this harder layer is lost. I'm not so sure that the heat generated by filing would change the molecular structure considerably though. Unless you file so vigorously that the wire becomes cherry red and the metal anneals  

I have hard time believing that hardness would change so much when doing fret work that it really matters. But personally I aim to a process where levelling is not needed. Although I can't really see that levelling can be fully avoided I try to minimise the amount needed. Just because that's my view on craftsmanship.

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, henrim said:

Metal do change when they are worked

That's true. There is a certain structure on the surface of the fretwire from the factory, nothing to argue there. And changing the radius of the wire certainly changes the properties. And hammering most likely affects the surface more than the inside. But then we come to the interesting parts:

If the hammered surface is something preferable, wouldn't using a press and a caul leave the frets softer? And how does the material of the hammer affect the surface - nylon, brass or steel? Or using a radiused plastic block for banging the frets in?

I can see two main questions there: How much faster will filed frets wear out compared to those that are hammered level and thus hardened on the surface? And more importantly, can anything of the above be heard?

1 hour ago, henrim said:

Although I can't really see that levelling can be fully avoided I try to minimise the amount needed. Just because that's my view on craftsmanship.

Not arguing against you here either. "Perfect" should always be the goal but since we're dealing with unpredictable materials "as good as humanly possible" is close enough as a measurement of good craftmanship.

[henrim]

4 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

If the hammered surface is something preferable, wouldn't using a press and a caul leave the frets softer?

Yes, in theory at least. With out any scientific proof I would say that the hardness gained with hammering the already bent wire is negligible. Most of the hardness results from the process when the wire is manufactured. I'm sure if you annealed the fret wire, it would be very much softer and wouldn't last that long. 

 

9 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

I can see two main questions there: How much faster will filed frets wear out compared to those that are hammered level and thus hardened on the surface? And more importantly, can anything of the above be heard?

Again without any proof, I seriously doubt there is any significant difference in hardness. But that would have to be measured. I only know from experience how brass (nickel silver is copper alloy, so I categorise it as brass. Someone else may disagree.) behaves when cold formed and how brittle it becomes if not annealed every so often. But even with that experience I haven't ever even thought that there would be a significant change introduced in fretting process. That is an interesting question and maybe it should be studied further.