Official Luthiers Forum!

Anybody seen this thing? Too good to be true?

HIGH-SPEED FRET CROWNING TOOL patent pending

A re-design of our standard crowning tool increases it's efficiency by 100%...allowing the user to accurately crown all frets in half the time.
This new addition to our product line speeds up the process during the crowning step and will result in accurate, dead center crowning for perfect intonation.
Can be used with or without strings on.
Guaranteed to outperform ANY existing tool made for crowning frets.
Cuts crowning time in half without the chance of over filing a single fret which can often occur using a tool similar to a fret file.
Enough abrasive for crowning the frets of at least four fingerboards.
THE ONLY TOOL THAT WILL CROWN YOUR FRETS TO AN ABSOLUTELY TRUE CENTERLINE IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES.

Note: For crowning frets only. For complete fret dressing materials including leveling supplies and instructions, order one of our standard Fret Refinishing Kits or Combo Kits.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I see that the redesign is to double the number of bent humps in the sheet metal. That should put you right at 100% increase in speed. Obviously, Ken is joking when he implies Hesh has a bunch of these laying around his shop. With the speed attainable by this new redesign, even the busiest of shops would only need 1. It is so fast that I emailed Hesh, asking him to crown my recent fret leveling job. By the time I got up from the computer and back into my shop the job was done; I hadn't even shipped it to him yet!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Not so fast that thing would make a great ash tray..... Beyond that.... dunno

Translation: "new and improved" really means forgive us please for our last snake oil product.....

Me, I'm not opinionated......

PS: Read the reviews, not a one of them is from anyone who works in the trade and KNOWS what good fret work is...... Danger Will Robinson....
PSS: I am really trying to be nice too and didn't even mention that you could use a corner of the thing to get dog poo out of your boot tread.... maybe....

No link?

" We walked into the shop and Jimmy, with that infamous D’Aquisto warmth, greeted us with hugs"

That's clearly where the magic began.

Oh no. I'm not sure I can stop.

I went on their site and skimmed through the video. That has to be a spoof, right? It's a joke, like my bridge removal demonstration video, yes? Please tell me they're not serious...

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

And you don't even have to take your strings off - WOW

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Dang! I just spent $90USD on a diamond fret file, and I didn't even get a hug.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

And I spent HOW much on Dave and Hesh's fretting course?

Boy, youse guys have got some nerve.

S

.... and I've already paid my deposit!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I better find a way to suppress the release of their setup kit, before everyone finds out that anyone can get perfect setup at home using one chop stick, a couple post-it notes, and pair of tweezers.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

You can't?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This thing has been around for a long time. It's been discussed on the My Les Paul, Seymour Duncan, and TDPRI forums as long ago as 2006.

Here's a review that came about after a lengthy thread on the TDPRI forum that sums it up well:

http://www.tdpri.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php?product=213

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Here's a link to the destructions on how to use it.

http://www.fretrefinishing.com/images/H ... ctions.pdf

I like the part where it says to the naked eye it will appear that there is still a flat on top the fret --- but don't believe your "lying eyes" it really a perfect crown! And I think it also says there no material removed just burrs -- hmmmm

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Don't be haters. Over 10,000 sold

P.T. Barnum is alive and doing fine.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I'm waiting for the "Shake-n-Bake" "Complete Lutherie Shop In A Bag" to come out. You pay $99 and receive in the mail a Hefty garbage bag and a set of strings. Place guitar and strings in bag, stand on your head and shake the bag, find some little girl to proclaim to the camera "and I helped...." and have a perfectly set-up or repaired guitar.

Off to patent the thing....

Sorry Hesh. without hugs from Jimmy D. it will never fly.

http://www.fretrefinishing.com/aboutus.html

What is the instruction for this thing? So do you just sand the side of the frets or what? What about leveling the individual frets to make sure they are all in plane?

I remove the string because I use a large flat surface with abrasive to sand them all to the same height (and the truss rod is adjusted so that the neck is dead straight). It takes a lot more than just going over it with a tool as when you crown it you have to take care you don't overdo it.

Also I hate using micro mesh type abrasive for polishing fret, because the abrasive will cut for half a fret and will then get loaded up so much that it will no longer cut after that. The fret material seems to be very prone to gumming up. I usually crown the fret with a fine cut triangular file (to ensure that the surface finish is as fine as it can) then just hit it with Dremel buffing wheel with a coarse compound. That step polishes the fret straight up. (The finer the abrasive paper used, the faster they gum up)

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com