Official Luthiers Forum!

Oops, double post. Tapatalk glitch...

Thanks, I've been using a small jeweler's hammer, so I reckon I just don't bang them in all the way.
After I get a larger hammer, I'll practice on scrap.

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I found this spring loaded cold chisel on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008FOCC3 ... SY165_QL70

Ground a concave face into it and polished. It works great, thanks Hesh and David.

I can see you might want to protect the fretboard in case it slips!

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

@meddlingfool

First, That flat head hammer looks surprisingly like an auto body hammer with the pick end cut off. I have about 5 of those in different sizes in my rollaway toolbox.

That is a very good explanation of the process and it is pretty much what I follow. When I re-fret a board I start by checking how level the board itself is. If it is level then I clean it with naphtha and then lightly sand it with 400 grit paper fixing any chips that happened when pulling the frets. I then bevel the edges of the slots and apply a couple coats of lemon oil on it. The lemon oil gets into the slots and helps open up the wood to accept the new frets. I also agree if the board is flat and the frets are seated there isn't a real need to crown the frets with a crowning file. I usually just make a few passes over them with a fine flat file or my aluminum sanding block which is an 18" piece of an old carpenters level that I cut up. When I am sure the frets are level I then just round the tops off slightly with a piece of 400 grit paper to smooth them out and make a nice rounded top. I finish them off with 800, 1200 and them my 1000 grit fret eraser (which is really more like 1500 or 1800 grit and then buff them out with my dremel and compound. The last thing I do is finish the edge of the frets with a few coats of hand brushed lacquer on the ends to really give them a finished look and feel.

Coating the ends with lacquer is something I learned a long time ago and it really gives your fret jobs a professional look and if done right you can not even feel the frets when playing.

@Terence Kennedy.
That is a pretty nice fret-setter. Me? I just use a small piece of hardwood held about 1/16" above the offending spot and give it a quick rap with my fretting hammer does the same thing but no metal to worry about marring the frets.

It is an auto body hammer. I cut the chicken beak end off to save a bit of weight. It only gets called out when things are being obstinate...