Aux - Refret part 2, sanding

Welcome to part 2 of my end of year refret. In the last installment I discussed some of the prep work I go through before breaking out the tools and the finer points of fret extraction. Today I cover the unusual practice of sanding the fingerboard before installing new frets and the actual installation process. Again, keep in mind strangers pay me to be good at this. Be very careful if you decide at the end of all this to attempt a refret yourself. Now, without further ado, the most important part of this whole post...

Why sand at all?

Usually the answer to this perfectly valid question is "you probably shouldn't." The most common reason to sand a fingerboard is if it's uneven. If the fingerboard is uneven you are in one of two categories: You own a vintage guitar that's been abused or you own a guitar that cost less than half a refret when it was new. Either way think long and hard before fronting the cash because chances are you lose money either way. This guitar needed sanding to fix the fingerboard's radius. If you look at a fretboard in cross-section, you may notice the board is not perfectly flat, but contours to the arch of a player's fingers. The roundness of the board is measured by the radius of that semicircle.

The fingerboard radius on a semi-hollow guitar built by Schecter.

A well adjusted guitar also has strings that match the curvature of this fingerboard radius. My new bridge had a new, rounder string radius that partially drove my purchase decision. Unfortunately the mismatched radii left the middle strings (D & G in traditional tuning) higher off the fretboard than the two outer strings. I found this uncomfortable enough that I decided sanding was worth the risk.

Now The Scary Part...

Before breaking out the sandpaper I removed all the neck relief adjusting the truss rod and using a straight edge to check the fingerboard's shape. This ensures the guitar neck is as close to arrow straight as possible and leaves me with the most wiggle room when it comes time to set the guitar back up. While straightening everything out I also do a quick scan for high spots or dips in the board. Areas like that need extra attention when sanding.

Sanding is dangerous. There are so many things to look out for. Besides just not breaking the neck or popping the nut off my big concern leaving enough fingerboard when I'm done and making sure the whole thing stays level. This is a slow process involving lots of sandpaper and measuring tools to help verify what my eyes are telling me. Best general advice I can give is if you are sanding for more than 30 seconds, you are asking for trouble. Before the first cut I decided to make my life even harder by creating what's called a compound radius. Near the nut I gave the board a rounder (smaller) radius than at the bridge. Not all guitars are like this, but the combination of nut and bridge I installed resulted in a compound string radius so there you go. I think compound vs standard radius is a large enough topic for its own post so I'll write about it some other time.

Since I'm sanding down the neck anyway, I also shave the neck down to allow proper string clearance from the soon to be installed frets. Ordinarily this is done by shimming the nut but since I'm already doing body sculpting on this instrument I figured I'd build the clearance right in.

Back on Track

A roll of fretwire. This stuff can be bought from folks like Dunlop, Jescar, and Stewart-Macdonald

Having successfully avoided ruining my guitar, it's finally time to get on with the real fretting work. This is a simple matter of trimming a piece of bulk fretwire to size then hammering in the frets.... Yeah right.

Notice the chamfer to the left

First step: scratch out all the sawdust from the fret slots. I used a specialized tool because it does a good job of removing hardened glue but an exacto knife can get the job done. Before fitting the frets I also used a small file to cut a 45 degree chamfer into each side of the slot. This serves a few purposes. One, it gave me a nice incline to feed the fret tang into place. Two, the way frets are made generally leaves a bit of a round between the tang and underside of the fret. By widening the fret slot I ensured I didn't get caught up on that round so my frets sit flat on the wood.

Before cutting the fretwire, I bent it so it has a slightly tighter radius than the actual board. This keeps the ends from popping up. Your options radiusing fretwire are to use an expensive tool, a really expensive tool, or swear for 6 hours straight while you ruin $8 of fretwire. If you choose option 3 I suggest you take lots of breaks and find some moleskin or something so your improvised tools don't gore the brand new wire.

To glue or not to glue? Truly an important question. I like to avoid gluing if possible, not gluing reduces the chance of damage if and when the frets have to come back out at some point. From a tone standpoint a properly fitted fret will push slightly on the fretboard, creating a more rigid final product. I have in the past been very quick to break out wood glue for fret installations if I find a reason to go that route. Reasons to glue include:

• The tang is too narrow for the slot. Proper measurements should make this a non-issue but sometimes the original frets are just a weird shape.
• An end won't stay down.
• Wood glue smells cool.
• The fret holds, but there is a noticeable gap between the tang and slot walls. Vibrations don't transfer into the fingerboard.

Whatever the reason, if glue is in the cards, do take care to wipe excess off the board before it dries. A damp cloth is the best bet for this.

I opted for just hammering in the frets this time around. My tool of choice is a plastic dead blow hammer. While hammering in the frets my main concerns are making sure I don't dent the fretwire in the process and  supporting the back of the neck to keep the wood from splintering (this may have been where I broke my guitar the first time... If I hadn't skewed the fingerboard while practicing my sanding technique first.) Use a sandbag to support the neck and don't keep hitting the same spot with the hammer. The end result is a neck with spiny new frets. Spiny and jagged isn't quite the right feeling for frets so the final process involved is fret dressing which will be the topic of part 3. Stay tuned!

Unless your name is pinhead I don't think this is the neck you're looking for.