How I approach fretwork, part 1

[sully]

Hey all,

I get a fair amount of people asking me about fretwork, and there are a lot of people afraid of fretwork, so here's part 1 of a 2 part series about leveling and crowning frets.

There's some shoutouts to a few pals in there, and there's a bit more info in the video on the facebook page. You can get there from the youtube video if you really want to.

Sully

[MetalMedal II]

Hey, that was great! I'm one of those people skittish to do this on my guitars, so this will help in getting me there. Thanks for posting!

[sully]

Thanks for saying that; all of my videos have the central theme of "if I can do this, you can too!" Feel free to share!

Sully

[Twitch]

Thats awesome. Seems way time consuming. Looking forward to the next part.

[Trussrod]

Nice! I like how you found a simple way to file "fall away" into the frets above the 12th fret. Using a razor blade as a gauge is an excellent idea as well. I've made a few tools for fret work already. Do you use a radius block to radius the fret board or a straight piece of square steel tubing, chalk and radius gauges?

[sully]

Radiused blocks on the fretboard, for sure. I use a jig to help keep it straight. Chalk is good, but I just use pencil; you can still see it on dark boards.

[j2379]

good stuff Sully

[MartinBarre]

Cool, I'm needing this done on a guitar so I'll watch this later, thanks for posting!

[GuerillaPete]

Inspirational. Thanks Sully!

[sully]

Part 2 should be available by the end of this week; filming this stuff really slows the actual work down; especially when it's more of a "how to" style.

Sully

[PallarAndersVisa]

searched for fret stuff and found this vid. problems solved!

[sully]

Glad to be of assistance!

[thebigz]

I'm planning learning to do fret work in the next week or two, this is perfect! Thanks! I'm going to buy my cheapo $25 learning guitar tonight. That should provide some terrible fretwork for good practice.

Did you ever get the diamond file? What did you think of it? I've read they are pretty sweet

I'm looking at this one. i assume you just use it like you did the tri-file in the video?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Diamond-fret-crowning-file-110-220-Guitar-Luthier-tool-for-Lg-Jumbo-/260941067200?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item3cc14cb3c0

I still need to order up all my supplies. Any stew mac links or anything would be helpful if it isn't too big of a pain.

Thanks

[sully]

Still haven't gotten around to getting some diamond files, but I know I really should. However, I HAVE been using the Little Bone for crowning, which has diamond grit in it. Works well, and is very easy to use. It could be a bit more ergonomic, and have asked the guy that makes them for some larger ones, and I'll report my findings.

Sully

[sully]

Oops...here's part 2.