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Hello all,
I am using a metod to level frets I read about here. I think Mr. Turner introduced this method a while back and I have been using it with success. This is where you lay the guitar on its back, string to pitch, check to see if the fret tops are as level as possiable, get an aluminum angle that is flat, stick 220 grit to it, place the aluminum angle under the strings and level away under tension. This works great for me as there is no guess work that under tension the fret tops will be level. However......I have a question on how I can speed up my process. When the guitar is on its back and I am stringing up to pitch and checking that the frets are as level as possiable before starting to level....I go through this process many times till it get as close as possiable. This is very time consumeing as makeing small adjustments to the truss rod and retuning over and over takes time.

How would I shorten this time.....tighten the truss rod as much as I can get it saftley and only loosen it?....some other measuarement I can take ......etc

Thanks for the info
Matthew

Matthew: Have you tried regular leveling and shaping before doing in under string tension as a touch up....?
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Fret leveling is all about prep. I make sure my fretboard is level before I put it on the guitar. While I do not string up to pitch I will use weight to have the guitar assume the tension . I mark the frets with a sharpie and I use a machinist parallel with 400 grit. Before I use this I do rough down the frets with a diamond hone stone that is about 6 inches.
As I see the frets leveling I finish off with the parallel and dress. When I dress I remark the frets and use a crown file. I want to let a small strip of the black mark. At this point I dress the fret ends and polish off the frets. When I relax the truss rod I like to see about a .007 to .009 fall off from the 7th fret if I am using a 1 way or non adjustable truss rod. With a 2 way I am not as worried about the fall off.

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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 have never tried to level while not under string tension. I read the thread here and it just ......well it made sense to me to do it that way. I have done it a few times and it works well. I just get impatient with the first step in getting the frets level as possiable.

Thanks for your discription of your method bluescreek. I will have to think on it though for the nextime and go over the steps many times to ensure I have it down.

I think I will try and start with the truss rod in heavy tension (back bow on the neck) and let it off in increments with the tension off....then retune and see where the frets lay with a straight edge. That way I only go one direction.

thanks

Are You detuning to adjust the truss rod?
that is not generally necessary.
Like John Hall, I dont consider leveling under tension to be anything more than a touch up technique for a problem neck

Matthew, that method is best used to fix problems, not to do the entire leveling process. Many times, you can level frets without tension and the strings will pull a nice relief curve into the neck. Other times, the strings will pull a bit of twist in the neck or some other odd thing will show up under tension. That tool is best used to fix those problems as a final tweak.

Also, if you do a good job of prepping and leveling first, you should be fine with 400 grit to fix problems. 220 makes for a lot of cleanup to get the scratches out. It's pretty easy to screw things up again in trying to get 220 scratches out.

I level everything, re-crown if needed, then string it up and see what happens. If there are a couple of small problems under tension, the L angle sanding works great. But you should be able to do that once and then remove the strings and do your final polish.

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I understand what you guys are saying.....do all this with the strings off and if I need to fix a twist or any other issue when tuned to pitch then do the L angle method. I guess I thougt I was taking care of all issues at once, that is why I was doing it this way. At the time is made sense to me to do it this way to take care of any issues.

I need to rethink my method(s). Thanks for all the help here. I will go back to the drawing board and see what comes up.

thanks again.