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Hello all, I would like to purchase a fret leveler I have seen the ones that Stew Mac offers Has anyone had any experience with the Fret Guru on Ebay? Looks like a pretty good tool, is it? Thanks for your help

I couldnt find it .... wnted to see what you were talking about .. go to your local glass place, get a piece of3/8 or 1/2 inch thick scrap, about 2 inches wide and 8 long .. use 400 or 600 grit sandpaper ... check the levl of the frets with a good striaght edge, I use a 6 inch mitutoyu .... crown, polish.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I use an old 24" carpenter's level with two different grits on each face, and shorter wooden blocks I made out of scrap pieces of cherry, walnut, and mahogany. These are all sanded dead flat, using sandpaper stuck to my table saw. The carpenter's level only needed a very light touch up to get it dead flat.

I like Tony's glass idea, too.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Was using a level like Todd but now I'm using a plane body, a 4 1/2 or 5 don't remember which, with a flattened sole

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks for the information - Here is the item number on Ebay 370243196133 they seem pretty nice although I am getting the idea that most of you don't use this type of tool. Thanks again - Jim

We all use that type of tool: flat thing with sandpaper on it

Actually, that price isn't bad for a ground and lapped flat beam with the end caps and all that. If I was working in a home shop and didn't have the Fadal sitting around, I'd get one.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

The best way to check for level frets is to use metal dowel pins. Much better than the StewMac or LMI tools. The three I use are 1/2" diameter and the lengths are 2", 3" and a 4". They are within 0.00001" of being true! That sure beats LMI and StewMacs tools! I've check frets to be true with the LMI and StewMac tool, then I use the dowel pins and find the frets are off. The dowel pins will take your fret work to the next level of accuracy. You can also use them to check the trueness of the LMI and StewMac tools.

Wait Dave - not so fast please tell me more not the least of which is where do you find these... Thanks for the input. Jim

MSC has them http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/nnsrhm Search for Dowel Pins.

John Gilbert turned me on to using them about 15 years ago. So I should give him credit for the idea.

Does no-one use diamond fret levelers? I use a diamond stone knife-sharpener and if you have a good eye and technique it comes out pretty even. I think crowning is the trickier step.

I use the StewMac steel beam as well and like it. Todd, if you are leveling frets on a straight radius board do you ever fudge a little and level along the string paths a bit to get a compounding effect? (Assuming you are leveling under simulated string tension with the neck flat).
Has anyone switched completely to leveling with the extruded Aluminum L or U stock under actual string tension and totally eliminated leveling the frets with the strings off?
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Yes. (My own guitars are made with a compound radius, but on other guitars with straight radii, yes.)

BTW, I like a lightweight beam (e.g. my aluminum carpenter's level). I am often using extremely light pressure. (Beginners should be warned that heavy pressure can flex the neck and botch your results.)

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

David,

Great to see you posting here!

I think I'll have to try that idea. Seems that the theoretical point of contact - two perpendicular cylindrical surfaces - would make discrepancies easier to detect.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I was going to suggest this. Beat me to it. Back in the day before dan erlewine and stew mac sold these dan used to recomend this for the job in some of his earlier writings.

I have one.Very nice anodized and clearcoated; caps snap in nicely. I use DMT products more often. I filled the Guru one with rice. Added enough heft. If I don't grab a diamond plate, I use two pieces of milled and precision ground steel barstock that are really riveting bucks for the infill planes I was making. They weigh around ten -twelve pounds.

We are talking metal strips pounded or shoved into wood here-So, I have my limits on deviation from dead flat. The DMT's also do a great job beveling and rounding fret ends. I have a two sided 6" and a couple of mine are the 11 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch and they will easily highlight humps and dips. I made a handle that is a wooden "D" with 3/4" diameter super magnets inlaid into the two contact points-could have easily used 1/2"-it can be a bear to remove.

Terence, I use 1/2"x 4" Aluminum L stock that has been leveled on my granite surface plate. I face it with 400 sandpaper. This was Rick Turner's idea. It works great! I use it to fine tune the fret job with the strings on.