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I've leveled and recrowned my frets and sanded the bevel on the ends. The fingerboard edge has a sharp corner. On my Santa Cruz and Larrivee I noticed the edge of the fretboard is slightly rounded over and it looks like it was done with the frets installed because looking from above they come just shy of the side surface of the fingerboard. This makes sense to me that the fingerboard edge would be slightly rounded but I can't seem to find any info on this step. When and how should this be done?

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Jeremy Douglas

Try taking a piece of 220 or 320 folded up and just glide it up and down the edge of the fingerboard slowly. This will round the edge and flow it into the edges/ends of the frets. Do this until you're happy with the results and move on to 400 and 600 and you'll be ready to buff. Some may go to 1000 if hand buffing but 600 will do if you're putting it on a power wheel and compound. An alternate method is to use the fine grit nail pads from your local beauty supply store and achieve the same results.

BTW, waiting until the frets are in is the key. IF you round over before and not careful your fret ends will look like they're not seated properly due to the rounding over at the edge.

Good luck Jeremy.

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"We might not be big but we sure are slow"

Just continue cutting the bevel on the ends (I use a mill file) until you have taken off a 32d or so of wood (the fret ends will be that far back from the outside edge of the board). About 35º from vertical is good, just like the fret end bevel. Then run some sandpaper along the bevels with a hard rubber backing block, same grits as you would use to do the frets. That will soften the bevel on the board edge.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks That's along the lines of what I was thinking but it's strange I haven't seen this step mentioned anywhere before.

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Jeremy Douglas

After beveling the ends and fretboard edge with a file, as Howard said, try using 3M foam backed sanding pads instead of paper. They confom better to all the transitions and round everything off nicely. They have a stupid grading system (superfine, superduperfine, and ultrauberfine, or something like that) but if you use the 3 finest grits, you are ready for buffing.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I break that edge after the frets are in and file bevelled, before finishing - 280 paper on a semi-hard block. After the finish is on, you will likley need to clean up the edge again - I use a razor blade at a 45 degree angle - then 600/1200 the heck out of it and buff it all nice.

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

Thanks everybody, I finished dressing the frets today. The foam sanding block trick worked pretty well to take the edge off the bevel and gave nice finished look to the ends. It took forever to file the ends back with and angle sanding block and file attached. I don't know if it was the cheap single cut file I was using or what but I think I did a pretty decent job.

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Jeremy Douglas