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Chuck,

That makes it clear, with the string and the center of the cylinder of a single-radius FB not coplanar. Hadn't thought of that aspect. It would seem that even few thousandths of an inch difference at the 5th or 7th fret could extrapolate to 8 or 10 thou at the nut. Thanks.

Pat

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

As long as you are doing string path fret leveling with a beam, rather than using a radius block, it is not going to make a difference whether you have started with a plain radius or a compound, except for the big benders
When you push a string off it's original path on a low radius board such as a telecaster at 7 1/4 or 9 1/2 , away from the centreline of the board or across the centreline, that is when raduis starts having an effect because where you fret is lower down the radius than at the next fret towards the bridge.

C and U channel are different names for the same thing. This should help http://www.mcmaster.com/#aluminum-channels/=2ypue5

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Near as I can tell Jeff Highland has it right. The compound radius only comes into play for extreme string bending where you run the risk of fretting out the string as you push it up the radius off of it's line.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Steve, thanks for the link. That is like what I was thinking it just doesn't seem like that would work as good as an 'L". Seems harder to work around the strings, I don't know though, I haven't tried it yet.
I bought two L ones today at lowes. One is 1/2"x1/2"x1/16" and the other is 3/4"x1/2"x1/16" I guess the 3/4" will give you bigger handle. Anyways I have two main questions before I try this. And I know Rick says "stop thinking and just do it", but when it comes to removing fret material...I am just going to over think ok.
First question, how flat is flat enough? I don't have a granite or marble thing to flatten on. If I hold it up to my straight edge and it is in within 1/32" is that flat enough? Just guessing, I haven't checked it yet. What about a 1/16"? Too much out of flat?
Second question, The way I understand it is that I sand for each string. So does that mean I will follow exactly the lay of each string? That concerns me because I do not have a compound radius board. It's just a standard 16" radius. Would I just need to try and go mostly under each string but keep my aluminum leveler parallel with the center line of the fingerboard?

Oh and I just posted these pics incase someone else stumbles upon all this and needs a pic. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure out what exactly ya'll were talking about when I first started reading about all this leveling under string tension. It sounded crazy and I just couldn't picture what was meant by 'L" shaped aluminum. Now, if somebody would have said an aluminum corner protecter I would have pictured it in a second

I'm no expert since I've only done full fret jobs on 2 guitars but I would want my bar within a few thousandths. I think 1/32" is way too much. I don't have any granite or marble but I did stop by a glass company and got a thick piece of plate glass about 22" x 16" for $5. It was just a cut-off they had laying around. I use stick-on 80 grit sandpaper to flatten out my planes. Aluminum ought to flatten easily.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yeah I know for leveling fingerboard 1/32" is waay too much. Or for leveling frets even. But this is for leveling under the strings. In the other thread about this they kept acting like it didn't have to be very flat. I guess I could flatten it on glass,but I don't know if it would work too well. I mean it might be a little flimsy to really get a straight edge on.

The L shaped aluminum can flex quite a bit. I suppose that's why some are using the U shape - it's more stable. I can't comment on this specific technique since I haven't tried it yet but I'm interested on what others have to say.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Cant some of you all make a short photo toturial for this. with string tention/reliefs and all. . I have the everett setup CD but nothing of this is mentioned. confused !
Would be good to know how to excactly use the U or L beam, how long should it be etc. "or perhaps I miss this in previous posts.

Lars.

Yes it would be really great if someone would make a photo tutorial of this. I would but I don't feel like I have quite enough knowledge of the process. Since my first time doing it was today. It worked great though!!! My L shaped beam was much straighter than I thought it would be when I checked it. And if you held it in the middle and pressed it would flex just enough to be perfect level. I feel like the results may have been a little better if I had something to flatten it on. But mainly I just remembered the center having a little bow in it and tried to hold it toward the center and apply a tiny bit more pressure there. Right after I started sanding I could tell it was touching some frets more/quicker than others. So it let me know string tension was causing something to be unlevel that my eye couldn't see when held up to the straight edge. The only small problem I had was the string was pressing on my L and causing it to apply alot of pressure there. Also it would hang up alittle if I went right up to the nut. I did put the string on top of the nut, but my nut was very low. I like a low nut with shallow slots.
Still have to finish crowning my frets now, didn't have much time today. But it was playing and sounding good right after a quick leveling.
Thanks guys for bringing this method up. I'll be using it and perfecting it from now on.

Pat, sorry I didn't respond sooner. I was out of town. Chuck explained the geometry well.

I don't disagree with Jeff either, in that the result of leveling the frets in line with the string path IS a compound radius - it's just created in the frets themselves rather than in the board. I prefer to put the compound radius in the board first, so I don't have to remove any more material than necessary from the frets.

For the best possible playability, I think a level playing surface in line with each string (before putting in the relief) is a good thing even when string bending isn't part of the equation. I also view a couple thousandths of an inch as a lot with regard to all aspects of set up.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

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

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

In my experience .. 5/64ths low E and heavy playing are not buzz free .... I can pretty much guarantee when I play a guitar set up like that the F# and G will most certainly buzz.

I like to set up at 95/75 low/high at the 12th fret, and had my Montreal guitars set up a tad higher than that this year .... last year I had my guitars all set up low and they all seemed to buzz when folks played them hard. I measured a selection of guitars that never seemed to buzz on tables around me and not one had low E action as low as mine ... no one complained about thier higher action either.

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

Thanks for the info, Todd and Jeff.

Pat

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

Thanks everybody! Lots of helpful info here.
Tony, Thanks for the input. I felt alot like that was the case. Some people just don't play hard and like really low action. It also seems impossible to me to get really buzz free action for bluegrass playing and heavy playing at 5/64". I was wondering though if others, could play harder at that action with less buzzing.