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Well, the good news is I have my first 2 guitars to the point where I now have to start installing frets. The bad news is I have not purchased any fret tools at all yet. What would you consider an essential list of fretting tools? Also nut and saddle tools? Any specific tools from stew Mac and/or LMI?

Thanks,

Glenn

a really good, flat hammer, a bastard file, a fret file, a needle file and an x-acto saw.

Dan Erlewine's Fretting DVD series. I like the micro mesh set from StewMac for polishing the frets and also nuts and saddles and even inlays. A set of fret files and the StewMac spacing rules are nice for nut and saddle work too. The fret crowning file also works nice to put a crown on a saddle to start from.

Flush cutting nippers. That's about it for specialty tools on a freshly flattened fingerboard At least, I hope so. I might have to buy a fret rocker and flat file and crowning file if I get a lot of buzzing once it's strung up.

I used a cam clamp and the radius sanding block used to radius the fingerboard to press the frets in (but only the very end of the block, as it gets dented up by the frets). I'm not particularly comfortable smacking my beautiful neck with a hammer, and the frets are less likely to dent or crimp as well. Smash at the stubborn ones with a small wood block (by hand or with the clamp). Then masking tape all over, nip off the ends, and use a plain ol' bastard file to bevel them, followed by sandpaper to smooth the ends. A fret dressing file would be very handy here, but by no means essential.

Oh, and fret tang nipping, here's a cool tip I found somewhere. Buy a nibbling tool, like this: http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-Nickel-Plated-Nibbling/dp/B0002KRACO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1286771031&sr=8-1
And use a Dremel cutting wheel to grind in a little slot for the fret to sit in, while the cutter nips the tang off of it. Works like a charm, basically the same as Stewmac's tool.

Sounds like a video idea Glenn.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I love my SM fret press w/ brass inserts. I chuck it up in my drill press.
The thing I dislike about multiscale fretboards is not the freehand slotting, or the calculations, but that I cant use my press.

I tell you what, I bought a cheap nipper and adapted it, but it kept bending the wire. I recently bought a Stew Mac Fret Tang Nipper, and it's awesome. Much better tool than the cheap nippers I've seen out there. If you are a precision metalworker, maybe you can get the slot just right, but I doubt it. Theirs is nearly perfect. Seems silly to waste money scrimping on a tool you'll use 40 times on eadh guitar!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

1-A good hammer(fretting hammer is cheap, and well worth the dough).
2-A good fret crowning file. Not cheap, but essential.
3-Something that's at least 8"-12" long(18" is even better, imho) by an inch or so wide, and as flat as you can find. Stick some sandpaper to it and use it to level flets. Some people use a bastard file. I've done that, but, whatever you use, it's gotta be flat. You'd be surprised how many files aren't.
4-Flush cut end nippers, for cutting the ends of the frets off flush, and for pulling frets. If you need to pull frets, a soldering gun to heat the frets so you can pull them(slowly and carefully) with the least damage to the board.
5-A bastard file, for smoothing and beveling the edges.
6- A 3-corner file with the edges ground safe, for rounding the corners of frets and knocking down sharp edges.
7-Sandpaper (800-1200) and steel wood

All this for unbound boards. For bound boards, you need something to remove the tang on the ends. I'll leave that up to those with experience to suggest the tool for that.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thanks Guys!!

Obviously not an endeavor for the faint of heart wrt the wallet!

Glenn

Or, you could make yourself a press and just buy the little press caul from Stew Mac. Then if your board is flat you wouldn't have to level frets other than in tiny spots. Ask Grumpy. Then invest in a piece of 3/4" aluminum angle and cut two pieces as rockers for spot leveling. Look up Rick Turner's fret leveling thread in the archives. It's a good one. Since I started pressing, I haven't had to level frets at all. Only touch up small spots. Ask JJ too. It cuts out some of the needed tools. Somewhere, there is a picture of Grumpy's fret press. Probably in never/never land at MIMF though. Don't know if he ever posted it here. It's a good little system, though and inexpensive to make.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Glenn, pressing is almost a must if you are going to use stainless fret wire. And like Waddy said, less leveling and crowning, which makes stainless a little easier.

Also, Stew Macs diamond crowning files are well worth the money.

Chuck

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Really Ed ... I have done quite a few multis, and except for the frets around the heel, say 12-15, I press all the rest ...

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

How big of a difference is there between the outer scales for most of yours though? I have just done 24.75-26.25 twice and could only press a few of them around the perp. The fretboard is a cylinder, not a sphere, right.

I have done between 0.5 to 1.5 inch scale difference on regular guitars ... on some big wide fb 8 strings 3 1/2 delta (those were hammered in) .. whose press inserts are you using .. I have one of the SM cauls, and its about 1/2 inch shorter than the ones that John Watkins made .. which are my main ones. They easily cross the whole FB ...

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

Me too. These are great cauls but sadly no longer available. Another thing I find really handy for semispherical fret ends is a dental lathe fitted with abrasive rubber wheels, makes the job a snap.

Cheers

Kim

Here's a tool I made that helps with stuborn frets and fret ends. Stewmac sells something similiar.






John

John, that hammer looks alot like my fretting hammer

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

You have an old Maydole too? I just switched to it, I had been using a fret press. I was thinking that I need a new fret hammer and then I spotted the Maydole sitting in a pile of tools with years and years of paint and tape on it. I took a closer look and decided to give it a sprucing up and a promotion.

John

Woody, I read a lot of posts on a lot of forums when I started my first build that said you could hammer frets in with a claw hammer. In the end, I sprang for the $20 for a fretting hammer. It was well worth it, even on my limited budget. I have a hard enough time avoiding dents in the fretboard with that. I don't even want to think of the damage I could inflict with a steel hammer.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Mike, practice makes perfect. You are not supposed to hit the fretboard!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Guess i haven't had enough practice yet, lol.
Actually , I think once was enough to learn me. But I'm still really glad I sprung for the fretting hammer.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I have a 14lb sledge named Karl with "FRET HAMMA" crudely hand scrawled in red drippy paint on the side of his head. I rest Karl up next to the drill press when using cauls to press the frets home. I have never had a single fret resist the caul, they just seem to slide right on home and stay where their put and Karl gets put away until next time, great tool.

Cheers

Kim

Karl is just a big bully! And Hamma? He kaint even spel, neether.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.