TUTORIAL Basic fret level, crown & polish made easy (picture heavy)

andare said:
Best fret leveling tutorial ever.

+1 for using (coining?) the term "bullnosing"

I've done fret end dressing and polishing but I've never attempted fret levelling and crowning. My Coronet needs it.

I have a question. When you polish the frets after crowning, shouldn't you go along, not across the frets? I know your method saves time and I've seen experienced techs use it as well but strings run along the frets after all. Polishing the frets that way covers the whole surface of the frets, nicely rounding the crown.
What say you, @MichaelW ?
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It doesn't really matter if you get the polish done well because the end result is the same.

The way I've shown in the tutorial by going side to side "knocks the corners" off the crowning and rounds it a bit.

But doing one fret at a time going lengthwise along the fret works too and can give you more consistent results.....but takes more time and effort.
 
Gordo said:
I've heard it referred to as "hot-dogging" but I like "bullnosing" better...
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"Hot dogging" is really a completely different technique. Hot dogging entails cutting the fret the exact perfect length you need BEFORE installing. Then taking a small concave Dremel grinder and rounding the end of the fret so it looks like a.....hot dog. Then undercutting the fret tang then installing the fret. Super labor intensive and the end result is not always that great. As much as I like how it looks, invariably the lengths are not always cut perfectly and when a fret end lifts it's easy to get the strings caught under the fret.

Here's a good video.
 
Thanks for this write up, Michael. I've never done a fret level and crown myself. It's really intimidating. When I get another guitar I always tape off the fretboard and use 0000 steel wool to clean/polish the frets. Lately I've gotten gutsy enough to use a small file to clean up some sharp fret ends on some of my guitars (and a bass) with a maple fretboard where the frets poked out a bit. But as far as a full on fretjob I've always been hesitant for fear for permanently messing up the guitar.

I have a couple spare necks to practice on so I think I'm going to use them as my first victims of learning this process. One is an old Peavey Predator neck with a rosewood fretboard and the other is a cheapo maple Fender Starcaster neck.
 
cdwillis said:
Thanks for this write up, Michael. I've never done a fret level and crown myself. It's really intimidating. When I get another guitar I always tape off the fretboard and use 0000 steel wool to clean/polish the frets. Lately I've gotten gutsy enough to use a small file to clean up some sharp fret ends on some of my guitars (and a bass) with a maple fretboard where the frets poked out a bit. But as far as a full on fretjob I've always been hesitant for fear for permanently messing up the guitar.

I have a couple spare necks to practice on so I think I'm going to use them as my first victims of learning this process. One is an old Peavey Predator neck with a rosewood fretboard and the other is a cheapo maple Fender Starcaster neck.
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Glad you're going to try it. It's really not as scary as it appears and like everything else in life, experience is the best teacher. Once you've done it a couple of times you'll develop your own techniques and hacks. There are multiple ways to skin this cat.
 
Going to interject a bit here and hopefully not hijack too much as it’s a bit on topic.

My acoustic’s action was just a bit high. I wanna say factory spec is about 0.080-0.090” at the 12th fret low E (bass side) and 0.050-0.060” on the 12th fret high E (treble side). Mine measured about 0.115” and 0.085” respectively so about 0.035” too high.
Didn’t think that merited a neck reset (Taylor w/ NT neck) and had the stock Tusq/micarta/plastic/whatever saddle so ordered a bone one and figured I’d sand it down to get the proper height. As I understand to lower .010” at the 12th fret you need to remove 0.020” from the saddle.
Anyways got it fitted and sanded down pretty good and it’s very close to where I’d want it now, about 0.085 and 0.050. I think I was slightly skewed toward the treble side and took a bit extra there, but not bad. It plays much easier now and sounds really great.

Only small issue is I have a tiny buzz on the 13th Fret of the G string and only when I bend the note slightly. If I play it “straight” it’s nice and clear, no buzz. But just a little bend and it starts to fret out. This suggests to me that the 14th fret is perhaps slightly higher and it’s my understanding that this “bump” is relatively common where the neck joins the body. SO all that to say I’m wondering if a very slight “partial” level and dress as described above (~14th and up) would be the appropriate solution here, or if there’s something else to look at? It seems like all the other strings in the 12-14 range are fine, just that bent note in particular. Almost makes it seem like there’s a very slightly low spot on JUST the G’s location on the saddle though I don’t know how that would be possible.
 
Joben Magooch said:
Going to interject a bit here and hopefully not hijack too much as it’s a bit on topic.

My acoustic’s action was just a bit high. I wanna say factory spec is about 0.080-0.090” at the 12th fret low E (bass side) and 0.050-0.060” on the 12th fret high E (treble side). Mine measured about 0.115” and 0.085” respectively so about 0.035” too high.
Didn’t think that merited a neck reset (Taylor w/ NT neck) and had the stock Tusq/micarta/plastic/whatever saddle so ordered a bone one and figured I’d sand it down to get the proper height. As I understand to lower .010” at the 12th fret you need to remove 0.020” from the saddle.
Anyways got it fitted and sanded down pretty good and it’s very close to where I’d want it now, about 0.085 and 0.050. I think I was slightly skewed toward the treble side and took a bit extra there, but not bad. It plays much easier now and sounds really great.

Only small issue is I have a tiny buzz on the 13th Fret of the G string and only when I bend the note slightly. If I play it “straight” it’s nice and clear, no buzz. But just a little bend and it starts to fret out. This suggests to me that the 14th fret is perhaps slightly higher and it’s my understanding that this “bump” is relatively common where the neck joins the body. SO all that to say I’m wondering if a very slight “partial” level and dress as described above (~14th and up) would be the appropriate solution here, or if there’s something else to look at? It seems like all the other strings in the 12-14 range are fine, just that bent note in particular. Almost makes it seem like there’s a very slightly low spot on JUST the G’s location on the saddle though I don’t know how that would be possible.
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Do you have a Fret Rocker? That's the easiest way to check and verify is that 14th fret is high. Irregardless of the hump, there's ALWAYS going to be some hump and fall away, it's inherent in the design of instrument. But no one should have to live with buzzy frets and there are easy fixes.

If you do verify that one high spot I can walk you through how to deal with it.
 
MichaelW said:
Do you have a Fret Rocker? That's the easiest way to check and verify is that 14th fret is high. Irregardless of the hump, there's ALWAYS going to be some hump and fall away, it's inherent in the design of instrument. But no one should have to live with buzzy frets and there are easy fixes.

If you do verify that one high spot I can walk you through how to deal with it.
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For the upper frets, I find using a single edge razor blade better than the typical commercial rockers. (too short for the lower frets)
 
Sean from scarMyguitar on YouTube sent me this link and I got the kit... I also bought a cheap leveling bar from Amazon as well was under 10 bucks works fine I didn't my first fret leveling on a 1990 Jackson professional fusion guitar that had several string dents It came out great.. I tried posting the pictures but it said they were too big maybe later I can edit this but I'm on my computer

 
Great tutorial thanks very much for posting it years ago, very timely for me to find it! I have my first parts guitar I built many years ago that has become very buzzy even with pretty high action… I made the body and bought a cheap Chinese neck on eBay. It was serviceable when I got it (apart some flaws like nut in the wrong place but I could fix that). But not so usable anymore.

I tried a fret level once before on a different cheap £20 eBay neck that I thought had to be garbage for the price (it was). But I followed a much less detailed tutorial and got a result that wasn’t much better than where I started.

This time around, much better result, I can get the action a lot lower and neck a lot straighter with a lot less buzz.

Great idea taking the corner off a 3-corner file, that worked really well (except for the times I used the wrong side, I see now why I should have rounded every corner).

For the next time I do it though I think I should invest in a better quality file, my cheap £5 hardware store brand seemed to struggle. Can’t decide if I’d prefer just getting a Z file though, pricy but might be worth it. I’ve found it’s always worth getting the good tool when it’s one with a cutting edge.

I also need to find nicer quality sandpaper, I bought some exceptionally cheap emery cloth sandpaper from eBay and had to change it 3 or 4 times, it lost all its bite pretty quick.

Those fret erasers also look like a good and affordable option.
 
mnemonic said:
Great tutorial thanks very much for posting it years ago, very timely for me to find it! I have my first parts guitar I built many years ago that has become very buzzy even with pretty high action… I made the body and bought a cheap Chinese neck on eBay. It was serviceable when I got it (apart some flaws like nut in the wrong place but I could fix that). But not so usable anymore.

I tried a fret level once before on a different cheap £20 eBay neck that I thought had to be garbage for the price (it was). But I followed a much less detailed tutorial and got a result that wasn’t much better than where I started.

This time around, much better result, I can get the action a lot lower and neck a lot straighter with a lot less buzz.

Great idea taking the corner off a 3-corner file, that worked really well (except for the times I used the wrong side, I see now why I should have rounded every corner).

For the next time I do it though I think I should invest in a better quality file, my cheap £5 hardware store brand seemed to struggle. Can’t decide if I’d prefer just getting a Z file though, pricy but might be worth it. I’ve found it’s always worth getting the good tool when it’s one with a cutting edge.

I also need to find nicer quality sandpaper, I bought some exceptionally cheap emery cloth sandpaper from eBay and had to change it 3 or 4 times, it lost all its bite pretty quick.

Those fret erasers also look like a good and affordable option.
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I've seen those Z-file clones on AliExpress. No idea how good they are but they look like they copied it down to the little details. You might want to check them out.
 
MichaelW said:
I've seen those Z-file clones on AliExpress. No idea how good they are but they look like they copied it down to the little details. You might want to check them out.
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I’ve been googling for files, and the musicnomad S-File looks neat, and would be slightly cheaper than stewmac once shipping is included (in the U.K.).

Seems pretty neat and reviews are good though some say it leaves the crown wider than ideal (but I would guess leaning the file to either side when filing would probably take care of that).
 
Asdrael said:
I use Chris Alop crowning file with the Oak handle and it is great. Diamond, not too coarse so easy to get the marks out with paper afterwards, and a comfortable grip. Can really recommend for that price too!

Diamond Fret Crowning File with Oak Handle

Fret Crowning file, Guitar Diamond Fret Crowning File, Fret Crowning Tool,
www.chrisalsopguitar.co.uk www.chrisalsopguitar.co.uk
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I saw those, great reviews and price, so I bought the 3-pack (2mm, 2.5mm and 3mm width files). Just arrived today.
 
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