Dressing frets

[Albert Whiting]

I was wondering what the best tool to use for leveling frets would be, a flat file or a radius block? It seems to me that if you use a flat file it will leave flattened places which you will have to correct after leveling. I would like some input from the builders on here. I am pretty new to instrument repair and I plan to practice dressing frets on a Kentucky and an alvarez that belongs to a friend before I start in on my personal mandolin. I have made nuts for guitars and mandolins and scooped fingerboard extensions, along with setting guitar truss rods, just very basic stuff. I was gonna order the dvd from stews mac. I think it is called "basic fretwork". Like I said any input would be a huge help.

[sunburst]

A radius block is only good for one matching radius, and must beheld and stroked absolutely straight to work. A flat block or file will work on a flat board, and any radius on an arched board including so-called compound radii (actually conical fingerboards).
Careful work with a flat file or sanding block does not leave flats in the frets, though it can happen if the work is not carefully done.
I use flat files and sanding blocks. I don't own radiused blocks, though I've used them elsewhere enough to know I don't like them and I don't think they are of enough use to me to bother with. YMMV

[Michael Lewis]

It is pretty simple to deal with a mandolin fret board since it is relatively short compared to a guitar or mandocello. # #It is a really good idea to have a longer tool to level the frets, and a well chosen mill ####### file will serve well. #That makes it much easier to get all the frets down to the same plane, and does leave the crowns flattened. #I use a 14" long piece of MDF with a face of float glass stuck to it, and NORTON self adhesive 180 grit stuck on the glass. #It serves well for the longer fingerboards and completely spans a mandolin fingerboard which removes all possibility of making low spots. #Using a shorter tool requires more attention to keep the frets even.

A standard fret crowning file removes the shoulders of the frets that were left with flat tops.

[BlueMountain]

I went to a metal shop and bought a foot of 2" thick, thick walled square aluminum tubing. I taped sandpaper to a piece of flat glass and ground each side of the aluminum until it was flat. This is wider than a mandolin fretboard and a bit longer, so all the frets are covered at once with a couple inches of overlap.

It's easier to dress the frets if the nut is removed, but not required. I should use adhesive-backed sand paper, but at present I use a piece of 60 or 80 grit with a fabric back that I got cheap at Harbor Freight. I fold it longways around all four sides of the aluminum tube. I set it on the fretboard and sand up and down the frets, trying to always keep the frets covered and to keep the pressure centered, rather than at one end (unless I want to take down the upper frets a little). I change sides frequently, as the frets eat into this cheap sandpaper, and I take the mandolin outside before blowing away the dust.

Yes, of course, some of the frets will be flattened. Those are the ones that would have caused buzzing. Sometimes I will round some of them over with a diamond fret file, but not usually. But none will look flattened when I'm done.

Now it's time for the MicroMesh treatment with its rubber pad. After I've cleaned off the fretboard with a wet paper towel, I rub up and down the frets with the 1500 grit MicroMesh over the rubber pad that comes with the set. The scratches from the 60 or 80 grit paper will be pretty much gone. Then, using MicroMesh over the 1" thick part of the rubber pad, I rub the ebony below the first fret and up against the side of the first fret, then between the first and second frets, etc., all the way up. I have to hold the pad at an angle to get in next to the frets, of course. When I'm done, the ebony is dull but clean and most divots are gone.

I follow this procedure with all the other grits, down to 12,000. The finer the grit, the less time it takes. By the time I'm done, there is no sign of flattened frets--they are perfectly rounded over and very shiny and very fast. The fretboard is also shiny and smooth. (The ends of the frets do get rounded over, too, which is nice for the hands, but it's possible to get so carried away with the ends that the E or G string falls over the end, which means making a new nut, so be careful. The last step is putting a few drops of 3 in 1 oil on a piece of paper towel and wipe the ebony, then in a minute wipe it off (this is what they use at the Martin factory). This cleans and preserves the ebony.

I find that generally this takes about an hour, perhaps two, depending on how much sanding is required. A set of MicroMesh pieces is good for at least half a dozen dressings. I can often rescue a set of frets that looks pretty badly worn, and sometimes I can take care of a hump where the neck meets the body. Sometimes I can't, and the frets will be filed too low there. In that case, I'll need to install new frets, but in that case I'll level the fretboard first, then resaw the fret slots. A lot more work. If I buy an inexpensive old mandolin in mediocre condition and want to get it up to good playing condition, this is what I do. The results are probably better than what these mandolins had originally.

[sunburst]

After reading the rest of the responses here I think I see "flats" meaning two different things.

Obviously, frets that have been milled/filed/sanded level will have small flats in the center of the crown of the frets and need to be re-crowned, but careful "rolling" of a flat file or block while milling the frets will not leave flats in the arch of the fingerboard. That's how I interpreted the original question here, "won't using a flat file or block leave facets in the arch lengthwise the 'board?" and the answer is; you have to avoid that through careful work.

[Albert Whiting]

Thank you guys for the responses. There is a hump in the fretboard where the neck meets the body but I think there is plenty of fret there to take care of it. I want to do this fret dress first for pracitce and I have a couple of other mandolins to practice on and then I am gonna refret and level the fingerboard properly to get out the hump.

[rcc56]

First: any loose frets will have to be located and re-seated or replaced before levelling. This is essential, or your work can turn into a real mess.

As for the levelling process, I do it differently. First, I locate any high spots with a 6" straightedge, followed by 3" and 2" straightedges, using the "fret rocker" technique. I knock off the indivdual high spots with a small file, then double check everything. [Note: a small amount of drop-off at the soundhole end of the fingerboard does not bother me one bit.]

After I get rid of any obvious high spots, I level with the fine side of a double-sided Norton sharpening stone, available at any decent hardware store. After I work parallel to the strings, I cross-polish horizontally, gradually working the stone up the fingerboard from soundhole to nut. Then I usually finish it off with a crowning file, followed by a quick polish with 400 sandpaper, then a more aggressive polishing with 600, followed by #0000 steel wool.

A nice tip from Frank Ford's frets.com is to mark the fret tops with a blue Sharpie before levelling with the stone, file, sanding block or beam, or other weapon of choice. He likes a long plane [with the blade removed] and fine sandpaper glued to the bottom. Work until the Sharpie marks are gone, then repeat if you think it necessary.

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An older Martin technique for dealing with humps is to remove only the frets from the offending area, level the hump, and replace those frets. It's easier to do if you also remove the frets directly adjacent to the hump.

Very good detailed info on fretwork can be found at www.frets.com. Although we all have our own preferred techniques and weapons of choice, you can't go too far wrong with Mr. Ford's instructions.

[pops1]

Good info from everyone. I don't use a sharpie, a good bench light will let you see the difference on the frets. I will add when leveling the frets, file/sand until you see marks on all the frets. Some will be fairly flat, others very minimal, but if there are no marks on a fret it is lower and will be a problem.