Fret'n About Fretting

In a previous post I talked about the difficulty in preparing the fret board, particularly the accuracy necessary in the fret slot positions. I was now ready to actually install the frets. I had stalled as long as I could and now I really had to jump in and do it. The first step for me was to prepare the fret wire. The fret wire that I had ordered came in straight lengths two feet long. This fret wire needed to be bent to a curve shape that matched the radius of the fret board. I researched lots of methods for bending and looked at several special fret bending tools. I thought about building a fret bending machine from plans that I got from the internet but finally decided to take a much more simple approach on this guitar. I read several articles that stated that you could effectively bend the wire by pulling it down over an edge of hard wood. The effect is similar to curling ribbon by pulling it against the edge of a pair of scissors. I started by filing a v groove in the edge of a piece of 1x4 lumber. This groove was for the tang of the fret wire to slide through and help guide the wire as I pulled it down and over the edge. I used the wooden handle of a dust brush to hold the wire down as I pulled it through the slot. This method seemed to work pretty well, although the starting end needed a little attention as it remained flat. This method puts a nice arc on the wire but there is no real method of getting the radius exact. I think when I build my next guitar I will go ahead and spend some time and make a bending tool but this method was certainly quick and easy and it seemed to work fine.

Inserting the tang in the v groove.

Using the wooden handle to hold the wire in position.

Pulling the wire through the slot to create the curve.

The next step was cutting the wire to length. I cut the wire long to allow about 1/8 inch overhang on each end.

Measuring wire with the fret slot.

Cutting the wire.

I used a little water and a drop of white glue to help set the wire in the slot. I used a small plastic palette knife to drop and spread the water into the slot. I then used my specialized glue spreading tool to apply a small amount of white glue to the tang of the fret wire.

Spreading water into the slot.

Applying glue to the tang of the fret wire.

I then carefully positioned the wire in the slot making sure the tang was square and in position in the slot. I seated the wire on one side with the fret hammer and worked my way across the face of the wire to the opposite side. After a few times I could easily see, feel and hear the fret as it seated properly.

Positioning the wire in the slot.

Tapping the wire into the slot with the fret hammer.

Working my way across the slot.

After I was sure the wire was seated properly I cleaned up all the glue with a wet sponge and trimmed the excess wire overhang. A good pair of fret wire cutters makes this part easy and saves a lot of excess filing later.

Cleaning up excess glue.

Trimming wire overhang.

As it turned out all my "fret'n" was for not and the fretting process was one of the easier parts of this long journey.

Finished neck with installed frets

Finished fret installation.

Tools

After the frets are successfully installed, they still need some finish work. The edges must be filed and polished and the entire fretboard must be leveled. The ends of each fret are burred by the cutting process and must be filed flat and then beveled for smooth playing. You can do this with a standard metal file but I decided to make a simple file holder to make this process more uniform. I started by cutting two pieces of maple 3"x8"x1.25". I cut a straight 90 degree slot approximately 1/2" from one edge and approximately 5/8" deep. This slot will hold a file, allowing it to stick up about 5/8" above the block. This file block can now be used to run on top of the frets with the file running along the edge filing the frets back to a flush 90 degrees. The other block I cut a similar slot to hold the file but I angled the blade so I cut a 35 degree slot to bevel the frets back and soften the edge.

Maple blocks with 90 degree and 35 degree slots.

Blocks and file.

File inserted into angle slot.

After the edges of the frets were filed smooth the bottom of the slots need to be filled. Thick CA glue was used for this then sanded smooth.

CA glue and fret board.

Filled slots.

The final step was leveling the frets, then filing and finally polishing with steel wool.I used a fret leveling file and the radius block to apply the same radius that was used on the finger board to the frets. Each fret was then reshaped with a fret file and then polished with 0000 steel wool.

Finished fret board and fretting tools.