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My Guitar fret level tool used for fret
leveling and fret re-crowning |
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Click on the image to see a larger image |
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The fret level tool
I got the idea for building this tool after
seeing the Stew Mac Erlewine neck Jig.
The Stew Mac tool was $370 at the time and it
looked like I could build one for a lot less.
Mine is a bit different from the Stew-Mac
tool.
The guitar body area is smaller and the body
sits right on the surface of the big square
wood piece.
I am hanging the rear neck plates off the edge
of this wood area because my Ibanez has an
angled metal neck plate.
The last steel rod on the right supports the
steel neck plate when everything is set up.
Not shown in the picture above are the straps
that are used to lock the guitar down to the
tool
There are rubber feet under the tool to keep
it from sliding around on the work bench.
Under the guitar body is some self stick,
soft rubber, weather strip material to keep
the body from sliding around.
The picture above shows the tool with a nice
coating of polyurethane.
I did a couple guitars first to see if I
wanted to change anything before I applied the
poly coating.
Some of the pictures down below show the tool
without polyurethane, as I was doing my Ibanez
JS1200CA
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I have done a couple guitars with this tool so
far and it has worked out great.
Got a couple more Guitars to do.
I am going to do my el-cheapo Ibanez Bass
guitar also.
The Ibanez shown above had some very flat
areas all over the neck from doing bends.
It started to fret out badly around the 10th
through 13th fret on the small E string.
All I can say after doing the fret level and
profile is WOW!!
There is huge difference in how this guitar
plays now.
I doubt that frets are even level when the
guitar rolled off the assembly line.
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The other tools I used to level my frets.
I also used a Stew Mac fret/fingerboard level
tool with 320 grit 3m stik-it paper
Link to Stew-Mac fret level tool
Link to Stik-it abrasive
The small tool with the handle is a diamond
fret file that has 300 and 150 grit diamond
dust
Link to Stew-Mac fret file
The long item at the front is a 24 inch
Notched straight edge I made on my CNC
machine.
You lay the straight edge on the fret board to
get the neck as straight as possible before
starting the fret leveling.
The notches fit over the frets so the straight
edge touches the finger board.
The picture makes the notched straight edge
look curved, but it is flat. |
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I added a dial indicator to see how much flex
was happening as I was using the fret level
tool.
I already owned the dial indicator which I
used to set up my CNC machine.
The neck flexed down about .0015 as I was
using the heavy fret level tool
You don't really have to press down on the
fret level tool, it is very heavy steel and
precision ground flat.
You just move it back and forth across the top
of the frets. |
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There are 6 x 3/8" steel bars that are raised
up after the neck is perfectly level.
These bars have plastic tips to keep from
scratching the neck.
The bars keep the neck from flexing while you
are doing the fret leveling.
The first bar on the left would only be used
for a long Bass guitar neck.
You raise up the bars and then lock them in
place by turning the 5/16" threaded lock
screws
Not shown in the pictures above are the straps
that lock the body and peg head down to the
tool. |
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The pictures below are before I applied a nice
polyurethane coat to the neck jig tool |
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Here you can see I have the Ibanez neck all
taped up
I drew on top of the frets with black magic
marker so you can tell where you have sanded.
As you level the frets, you can see which
frets still have black marker on them and
which ones are being leveled down faster.
Once all the frets have the black marker
sanded off, they should all be level. |
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Nut removed, Body and neck taped up
The metal object under fret #5 is my first
attempt at mounting the dial indicator.
I found that it was in the way and so I moved
it to the other side of the neck.
I also made a different, more solid mount for
the dial indicator. |
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Click on the image to see a larger image |
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After I leveled all the frets, I used the
diamond fret file to profile the frets.
I used the magic marker again to make the
frets black
I removed fret material from the side/top edge
until I had a nice thin black line left.
The black line is the fret tops that have not
been touched by the diamond fret file.
The frets tops were wide and flat after the
fret level
The fret tops are already level, you only want
to create a nice fret top profile.
This guitar has relatively skinny frets.
They measured .095" wide at the fret board
surface with my digital gauge.
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Another shot of the finished fret profile on
my Ibanez
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Another shot of the finished fret profile on
my Ibanez
The big fret level tool had 320 grit abrasive
paper.
The shot above shows after the 320 grit
leveling and then the 150 grit diamond fret
file/profile
Then I used 600, 800, 1200 and some fine steel
wool to polish the frets.
The frets came out looking out awesome and
they play like butter. |
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Click on the image to see a larger image |
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I also did my Heavy caster which has a
horrible neck.
It's better now, but the neck is twisted and
warped badly.
What it really needs is to pull the frets and
do a fret board leveling and then a new fret
job
This guitar is tuned down to D with some big
strings
It has a locked down stop tail piece so there
is a big solid string to body connection.
I only use this guitar for heavy chords on
some of my recordings. |
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If you are interested in making one of these, click on this image to see measurements. |
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