Official Luthiers Forum!

Now you're talkin' my language Mike.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

I started out hammering frets, but now I press them in since I now use mostly stainless steel. SS fret ends love to pop out when using a hammer, not so when pressing.

Chuck

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I now use a press which I made from an old Black and Decker thingy which converted your hand held drill into a drill press. It was a crappy idea but the mechanism in the system works great as a press. If you have one of those laying around from the 80's, then you're in business!

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Under Compensated Nut!

I also fret my boards before I glue them to the neck. Here's my press inspired by Marios rig. It has 2 presses so you can fret from both ends and give one a chance to let the glue dry if you are gluing and it also gives a chance for the wood to relax around the fret some too. The radius caul is just a piece of a radius sanding block sandwiched between some alu. plates. You can also fret a guitar with the board on the neck if you have the correct neck caul. I was going to make a press simular the jaws II to slide along the rail that over hangs to the right but never got around to it .

I use a hammer like this. One head is nylon like this the other is hard red rubber like an eraser. I use the nylon face for fretting...