Official Luthiers Forum!

How were bar frets originally installed? I can understand that a high compression fit would hold them but surely that would then send the neck into a back bow. Given that the early instruments were Gut strung, perhaps a back bow would not be desirable.
Which I guess leaves gluing them in with Hide or forming barbs to the bottom edge. Does anyone have info on this aspect?

A bit off topic, but a few times I saw plain-tang fret wire on older guitars. Whoever installed them used a sharp edge to cut or deform the tang producing a few random barbs. I guess the same can be done with a bar fret.

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Build log

Bar frets are available in different gauges. It is also possible to make the stock thinner by hammering it, and wider by cutting small tangs with pliers.
The proper way to install them is not sequentially, but start with the 5th, 9th, 1st frets (for example). Check the fretboard plane for back bow, then go on installing the 7th, 11th, 3rd. Check for backbow etc. It is not unusual to have to pull a couple of frets and replace them with thinner ones. With a bit of experience it is not as difficult as it sounds, and gives an incredible amount of control. For steel strings a tiny bit of backbow is perfect. Bar frets make a neck incredibly stiff, and I believe contribute to the tone. The downside is the leveling and rounding of the fret tops.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

As Laurent said, you gauge them appropriately; don't notch the bottoms. That would defeat their functionality, since you would lose the solid contact between the wood and the side of the fret.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Bar frets are held in by the interference fit, which is roughly 0.001". There is some trial and error involved, but once you do a few bar fret jobs, it becomes intuitive.

Also, you can always file thicker frets to get the desired fit.

Martin would only notch the bottom of the frets at the body joint. They continued to do the same for many years after the switch to tee frets.

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John