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Hi all. Newbie here. I just did my first fret level, crown, and polish over the weekend. Everything went well, except I'm not happy with the crowns I've left on the frets. It's an electric with jumbo frets, so I used the jumbo side of my fret crowning file. It's the standard double-edged one from Stew-Mac:



I used the marker method, where I marked the tops of the frets after leveling and tried to leave a fine line on top after the crowning process. I had some difficulty controlling that file, and was forced to leave either wider marker lines than I would have liked, or slightly inconsistent ones. The result is that my frets have "school bus" crowns on them. The guitar plays fine, with no noticeable intonation or buzzing problems. But after looking at some of my other guitars more closely, I see beautiful, nicely rounded fret crowns that I would like to reproduce.

Should I have used the "medium" side of my crowning file instead? Or is this just something that takes a lot of practice? Would I be better off with a diamond fret file? I'm not particularly impressed with my file, as it cuts kind of coarsely, and chatters more than I would like.

Hey John, welcome.

There lots of different "jumbo" wire out there, some more jumbo than other. You can certainly try the medium side of your file. Sounds to me like that might be better for you. The diamond files, as you suspect, are indeed a lot better in my opinion. It certainly does take some practice too, but don't expect to be able to leave a perfect 0.00005" uncrowned line all the way across the fret, or anything like that. If it plays well with no buzzing or intonation problems, like you said, then you've done something right!

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Thanks, Mike. After looking at my file more closely and comparing it to the frets, it does indeed look like the medium side would have been a better choice. D'oh! I'll just have to remember that for the next time I have to do a fret level on this guitar.

I like this guy http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_su ... Files.html the curvy end is nice when you have to fudge things a little to get a nice thin line across the top while crowning. But really, like Mike said, if it plays nicely and intonates well you should be happy.

It seems like you should just rub the file over the fret and let the fret crown itself, but in reality it takes a bunch of practice to get the fret files to behave how you want them to.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Thanks for your comments, all. I've since bought Stew Mac's offset diamond crowning file in 300 grit. It's *much* easier for me to control.

I'm on my 4th fret level and crown, and with this file I've learned something. When the crown shape of your file matches your frets, it's much easier to leave a nice thin marker line on your fret tops, and very difficult to over-crown if you're using a fine grit. This is evidently because as the fret gets closer and closer to the proper shape, more material is in contact with the file, and the crowning process naturally slows.

I use a medium file on most "jumbo" frets. More than likely you'll only use the "jumbo" file on bass frets. It sounds like you've got it under control.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

That's just what I did, and the fret crowns are a thing of beauty