GarageRocker Posted June 10, 2004 Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 Hi all, I'm ready to order some fretboards and fretwire for my first couple of bass necks. I plan on buying from Luthier's Mercantile and having them slot and radius the boards to 16". I have heard their fretwire is very nice so I also planned on buying their jumbo fretwire FW110 which is a .110x.050 wire. Then I noticed there's a big difference in the tang depth of the various sizes. The FW110 is .054 deep while some of the others are noticeably deeper. I will not be binding these boards, so naturally I don't want noticeable gaps under the wires that I would have to fill with a lot of superglue, thick finish or wood filler. So I called them up. They told me that when you order both slotting and radiusing, they radius the slots to match the board radius, and in any case the slots are .085 deep. Now I realize that the compression from pressing or hammering the frets in will take up some of that gap, but it seems to me that there would still be noticeable gaps under all the frets if the initial difference between the tang depth and the slot depth is .031. Would I be better off to order something like Jim Dunop 6100 or the Stewmac equivalent? The tang is much deeper at .075 and I could live with the slightly higher crown. Or am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Could the compression from fretting make this barely noticeable? Have any of you used LMI's wire and their radiused/slotted boards? Sorry to be long-winded, just want to make myself clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jabsco Posted June 10, 2004 Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 you could cut the slots yourself and get um right. A slotter is pritty cheap off stew mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted June 10, 2004 Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 Either bind the fretboard, or fill the slot ends with putty or filler. Thats what every company out there does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarageRocker Posted June 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Either bind the fretboard, or fill the slot ends with putty or filler. Thats what every company out there does. Hmmm....I have three non-bound instruments and two of them absolutely do not have any putty or filler. They are both quality basses but not what I'd call high end. In any case I'm not interested in what mass production companies do, I'm interested in finding out what kind of gap I might expect after the frets have been pressed or hammered in and the wood has been compressed a little. If anyone has used LMI's service and fretwire, I would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarageRocker Posted June 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 you could cut the slots yourself and get um right. A slotter is pritty cheap off stew mac. Thanks, yes, I had considered that and I still might just go that route, it's a good long term investment. But I was hoping on the first few to just use a pre-slotted board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted June 11, 2004 Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Hmmm....I have three non-bound instruments and two of them absolutely do not have any putty or filler. They are both quality basses but not what I'd call high end. Are you saying you can see a hole from one side to the other?? Because thats what you'll be able to do if it has no putty/filler. If you dont have a gap under the frets, it makes it harder to install them, especially using a hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 11, 2004 Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 my high end japanese ibanez has filler of some sort just as you say...as does all the other guitars i have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jabsco Posted June 11, 2004 Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 My (high end) ibanez 6 string bass dosnt have anyfiller, the neck is beutifully sanded. Frets are just right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarageRocker Posted June 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Are you saying you can see a hole from one side to the other?? Because thats what you'll be able to do if it has no putty/filler. If you dont have a gap under the frets, it makes it harder to install them, especially using a hammer. No, on these two, the fret tangs go right down to the wood, and the ends of the tangs are visible, they aren't undercut. One is a 60s Gibson with a rosewood board. One one fret, one the treble side, you can see filler where there was a chipout, but the rest of the frets are seated in the wood with no filler and absolutely no gap or daylight. The other is a Fender with a one piece maple neck and a gloss finish. On three frets you can see little gaps and they have the polyurethane finish in them. But there's no gap on any of the other frets. My other non-bound one is a Rickenbacker guitar and you can clearly see the filler in the gaps on all frets. But I don't mind a little gap, I would just rather not have a big one. Maybe with the compression from installing them, beveling the slot edges and wetting the slot a little to swell it, I won't have much to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted June 11, 2004 Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 I can only tell you to be happy if the slots are too deep. If the slots are not deep enough at some places you will have to pull out the frets again, etc. This happened to me and I can tell you it is not fun. Filling the gaps is no problem at all and won't be visible. Havin the slots a little too deep is a big plus in my opinion.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 11, 2004 Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 My (high end) ibanez 6 string bass dosnt have anyfiller, the neck is beutifully sanded. Frets are just right. bet it does...you just can't see it if it was EXACTLY the same depth as your tang,i think it would push out over time as the fingerboard wood expands and contracts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STAHLER Posted June 11, 2004 Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 I know you said you was not binding the f/b, but if you dont want to see any gap bind the f/b with the same wood as the f/b. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted June 11, 2004 Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Lots of instruments have no gaps. Lots of '80's and '90's Japanese instruments for that matter. It just depends on what the factory was doing at the time. There's no reason that a near perfect slot would push the fret out over time. Then again I use a little CA on mine just to make sure. The thing you have to remember if you're buying pre-slotted boards is that you're going to level and smooth the board before you fret it. So that's going to take off a little material. I don't like a deep slot for structural reasons, but not cosmetic reasons. But a little extra depth like .030 won't hurt, and it'll be too small to see if you fill it right. The compression won't amount to anything unless you're smashing a groove into the fretboard from pressing or hammering so hard. Don't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarageRocker Posted June 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 Thanks to all of you for your input. I'm gonna go with the LMI fretwire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted June 14, 2004 Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 how do you tell if there is some kind of filler under the frets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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