I am refretting my 1985 SG because it had wide flat frets on which I could not do good bent notes. I have removed the old frets, fixed the chips, and bent and cut to fit new frets. I have cleaned out the old fret slots. Also I used a dremel tool to further clean them, using a tiny dental type piece. The replacement fret wire appears to have the same tang height and thickness as the old frets.
I have a Stew Mac caul with 12" radius press plate which I am using on a steel clamp braced behind the neck with in a custom built piece of radiused wood. When I tighten the clamp, the brass plate pushes the fret into the fret slot. I can watch the fret descend into the slot and stop winding the clamp when it is flat against the fretboard. I am first inserting apoxy resin into the slots.
The problem is that some frets get about 7/8ths of the way into the slot and then stall. I don't want to wind on too much pressure on the clamp for fear of damaging the neck. There is a lot of torque on the clamp handle and I don't think I can go any further winding it up without causing damage. As noted I have cleaned out the fret slots and dremeled a little deeper with the dental bit. Clearly there is some impediment to seating the frets.
Since the neck is bound, I cannot get a fret saw in. However I am reticent to put in again the dremel tool with the dental bit for fear of making the slots too loose.
What would you recommend so that the frets seat? More clamp pressure? Buying a dremel routing attachment and getting an exact bit to rerout the slots? Not using epoxy?
I look forward to your advice.
