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Very nice tools. I just made a fret beveling tool yesterday, but it's not as nice as yours.

Thanks Fillippo, The one to do two job file holder is much nicer then the two to do two job file holders I made. Good Idea.

Danny

Nice fret bevel file.
Could we not get into politics here? Please.

He was only talking economics, not precisily politics now is it?

Regardless, great work Filippo! Nice looking jigs.

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Great jigs indeed, Filippo. Thanks for sharing. The Paduak is especially elegant looking.

Todd...thanks for the update on the PC list. I seem to never know what I can or can't discuss anymore as well. A few things you may also wish to add... "24", as well as handshakes. For the record, I'll continue to espouse the use of HHG...someone will have to pry it from my cold dead hands!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Very cool, and great job. I feel it worth noting though, that mass is one a very crucial, key feature of the fret buck. When I needed one for an alternate soundhole design we made a wood model, but hired a metal shop to cut the plate, arm, and bar from heavy steel. The wood one was meant to test fitting, but never really intended for use.

I would at the very least consider mounting a heavy brass block at the end of the arm under the extension. Preferably at least the arm and perhaps the cross bar could be made of steel (actually I think there is great benefit in entire steel/iron construction), but a stiff and massive arm would at least help that design.

Of course at that point, $300 for StewMac's Fret Buck starts to look pretty reasonable, if not downright cheap, though I'm sure hard to justify if you aren't doing fretwork regularly. I would say that at the very, very least, some additional mass would make it more useful.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I hold a block of lead that I found somewhere against the underside of the top with one hand while tapping with the other. Same block of lead I was using 35 years ago. Same hands, too. Didn't know I needed a special tool for beveling. I use the same mill file that I level with.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks for the link I'm going to make one. Right now I just use the StewMac fret leveling file and guide it by hand. It would be nice to have a angle guide for it.
I'll press the tongue frets with a C clamp and a bottom caul and radius sanding block on top if need be.

Filippo,

As much as I love the look of your fret buck, it fails to meet much of the criteria that
makes a fret buck such an efficient and beneficial tool. I use a Taylor Fret Buck that I
received from Bob before they were available for sale and it is a very valuable tool for
driving in those frets from the neck joint to the end of the board.

It's not the pressure applied to the underside of the fingerboard tongue by the fret
buck that provides the stable foundation for the frets to be driven against as much as
it is the weight and mass of the cast metal fret buck that absorb and disburse the force
of the hammer blows into the entire upper bout of the top as the frets are hammered in.

A wooden fret buck will likely be too light, regardless of the wood used to make it, to
really perform the job without some recoil and somewhat of a still present danger of top
failure under those forces.

Just some thoughts,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

One thing to watch for when you use the fret beveling tool is that small metal particles work their way under the poly and really ding up your frets. I put strips of brown binding tape on top of the frets to prevent this. (Or just do what Howard does).

Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I'm mildly happy to hear that you are ecstatic. But there was a point there other than saying what I personally need; you seem to have missed it, but I know you are a smarter guy than that.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

If you ever hang around junk yards? You can find lead laying on the ground in the form of wheel balancing weights. A bucket full is easily obtained.

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Tom Krebs

Don't forget to wear the proper hazardous material suit and air supply while handling the lead.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I'm not a big fan of lead, dust and all. Brass is good and heavy, and easy enough to work with.

As pointed out several times, this wood version is probably not worth trusting your top to under a hammer. My thoughts are this - the fret buck offers a little other than a minor convenience of freeing up both hands (though it should only take one to swing a hammer anyway). If you do a whole lot of fret jobs it can be a nice thing to have, but certainly not necessary.

The massive lead or brass block held by hand on the inside works on similar, but slightly different dynamics than the fret buck. You are essentially lifting the instrument (though it need not be actually removed from the bench), supporting it directly under the extension where the hammer strikes. It needs to be fairly massive to have enough inertia to hold against the hammer blow. The forces are direct between the hammer and the block, supported by your arm and it's own inertia.

The fret buck still requires that same inertia, as I feel you're just not going to be able to make an arm and hinge system stiff enough to fully resist the blow of a hammer without allowing the top to deflect. It differs in two slight ways from the traditional hand held block though. First is that the support is provided by the mass ultimately held in place against the top and sides, rather than your arm. Second is that it also acts the same as the bag of shot that some people place on the top while fretting, which dampens the top and keeps the whole ordeal a little quieter and more stable.

If it were me, I would just get a hunk of brass and hold it in by hand. I use a fret buck because I already have one, but don't know if I would go out of my way to buy one again. It's a cool tool, but it's not really any harder to support it by hand. If you really do want one though, to be quite honest I'm just not sure if the wood version can be made to have all the necessary functions. Maybe if the arm and cross bar were made of steel, and you screwed some 1/2" brass sheets to the main plate. At this point though, you wouldn't really be saving much over just buying one (unless you have a torch an machines to cut the metal parts yourself.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I recently came across a Shopnotes article about making a joiners mallet. They drilled out large cavities in the head of the hammer, filled it with lead shot, and then topped it off with melted wax before sealing it up. I bet that would do wonders for the wood buck, and be pretty easy to do.

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Gabriel Regalbuto
Carlsbad, California
Freedom 35!

Excellent ideas for some needed mods! I made one of these last summer with a couple of the same mods you used. The tool works very well. I made one modification on the arms; I opened them up about 15% on each side - it makes installing and removing the tool a bit easier. I'll make another one soon using your mods - especially the longer threaded rod - and I expect I won't need to open the arms. Congrats on making an excellent tool from a good tool! Byron

Todd, what solvent do you use to clean blood and skin out of your fretboards?

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Gabriel Regalbuto
Carlsbad, California
Freedom 35!