Photo essay of a "level & crown" (fret work)

[Dreadman]

A while ago I picked up a pre-owned (but unplayed) semi-hollowbody and it had the worst factory fret job I've ever seen - high and low spots everywhere. I got it for a real good price and liked it otherwise so I decided to keep it and do a level & crown the frets. This is the same procedure that's done to repair a guitar with grooves in the frets and/or flat fret tops from bending (both of which affect intonation). Usual cost is around $100-$150. It can typically be done once or twice before fret replacement is necessary. Original fret height and personal preference play into it.

This won't really be enough to teach the whole process but it'll be a good primer and if nothing else you'll be able to discuss this procedure well with a luthier or repair person if you ever have it done. The following work is called a "level and crown". I'll level the frets so they're all the same height then use a fret crowning file to make the tops round again. This procedure is identical for acoustics and electrics.

The first step was examining the fretboard by playing every note. It seemed that the 6th, 11th, & 19th frets were high and a general uneven-ness all over but it turned out that the 5th, 10th & 18th were actually low. That makes it worse. Rather than lowering a few high ones (and evening it all out) I had to lower almost all of them to the height of the few low ones. Lot of work. Okay, here we go....



Here's the guitar before - Washburn HB-30






First I removed the strings, bridge, tailpiece and studs, then lowered the pickups out of the way.





Using an 18", bevel edged straightedge as a guide I adjusted the truss rod so the neck was perfectly straight without strings on it.




Next I covered the fretboard with masking tape to protect the wood, then colored the fret tops with a black permanent marker.





This is the fret leveler I made in the shop. It's a piece of precision machined aluminum bar with adhesive 220 grit sandpaper on both sides. It has to be perfectly flat so all the frets come out at exactly the same height.




I first made a light pass with the leveler along the frets to see exactly which frets were high and low. It's kind of hard to see in this picture but the low spots are where there is still black on the frets and the shiny parts are high. The first fret is completely shiny because it was a mile high. The second fret is low in the middle and the third is high on the treble string side, etc..........This is really pretty crappy.




On frets 14 - 19 you can see a lot of uneven-ness. It's not consistent with string wear, just a bad fret job. A LOT of leveling was required to get everything even.




Here's another shot showing some progress. I kept going until all the frets were the same height as the lowest spot on the lowest fret (which happened to be the 5th in this case).

[Dreadman]

The next tool is a fret crowning file. It's basically an ergonomic handle with a file insert that has a concave cutting edge. The inserts come in 3 sizes, narrow, medium and jumbo - for different fret widths. Normally I'd use a medium file on these medium frets but I had to take off so much material that it would take forever so I used the jumbo insert, which will give the fret tops a wider radius (and less material has to be removed). That will also make this guitar a little easier to do slides on and it will go longer before it needs fret work again.




I re-color the fret tops with the marker so I can gauge my progress. Great care must be taken not to file lower than the new top, otherwise you'll have low spots again. Crowning is tedious work. The file is pushed firmly, carefully and evenly across each fret maybe 20 or 30 times until the black becomes a very thin line and eventually disappears. I didn't get any pictures of myself filing but this is the finished job. You can see the markings on the tape that I use in the beginning to remember what's what. The straight lines indicate high spots and the X's indicate low spots.




After crowning, and before removing the masking tape, I run 400 grit sandpaper vigorously over the frets, end to end, to shine them up and make them very smooth. I've used steel wool and even polished frets in the past but I'll save that for later on this guitar. Here's where we are so far.




I rubbed some boiled linseed oil on the fretboard afterward to clean, preserve and enhance the wood. This fretboard wasn't very bad at all but if you look carefully at this picture you can see the results between the first 5 frets.




Not that this picture looks any different from the first one but here's the finished product. I restrung it and gave it a setup and was able to get the action down to .040" (a little less than 3/64" or a little more than 1/32"). Arguably lower than is comfortable for playing. I'll raise it up a bit later but I like to see how low I can get it as a gauge of my work. I can safely say this neck is now in great shape.




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If anyone's interested here are the two main tools you'd need for this job:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting..._Levelers.html
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting...Fret_File.html

[oldguy]

Dread, thanks a million for this post. This type of tech info is invaluable to those of us who are..... shall we say......... luthier challenged.
Seriously, the explanation and photos are really appreciated, this type of project can turn a bargain ball bat into a real keeper, thanks for the time to explain it!
The links are appreciated, also, btw.

[PeterPan]

Hey DreadMan. I also like to do my own leveling. One thing that often confuses me is the best way to compensate for the lack of string tension when you begin the main initial leveling task. Usually I just loosen the truss rod (hopefully remembering to note the starting point). Is that the best approach?

[Rocket]

Dread... you da effin' man donk!

That makes the process so clear that anyone could do a pretty good job at what most of us pay someone else to do.

What's different about acoustic L&C?

How bout a step-by-step pictorial of a basic acoustic setup like one might perform immediately after a new acquisition.

[Rx Tone]

That makes the process so clear that anyone could do a pretty good job at what most of us pay someone else to do.

heh heh....

[kiteman]

I have the crowning tool you showed, it's a good investment. I did a level and crown on my agile al3000 lp copy but I leveled the frets with a diamond dusted steel plate that was made for sharpening knives.

I used it to rock on the frets and hit the high spots found. Then using the markers I crowned the frets with the tool I bought.

The fretwork on this guitar was quite decent to begin with but after this job it was better. I was able to lower the action a little more.

[mrmudcat]

Not that I have to add anything to Dreads post but this is important. As you noticed the pups are covered with tape also!! Make sure you take the time to do this right as their will be plenty of metal shavings/dust and you dont want that on your pups or in the cavities! Magnets and metal

Great post brother and I know your just getting cranked up!:

[tot_Ou_tard]

Yow! First class thread Dread!

Very clear & well documented.

You done us all a very valuable service. Thanks! :

[Bloozcat]

Great post Dreadman. :

Tedious work, yes, but the difference it makes is like night is to day.

[wingsdad]

D-man, it is SO good to have you here to share your skills and knowledge of stuff like this Thanks, amigo :

[Robert****]

Oh D-man, we love this kinda of stuff here! This is just great! Highly appreciated.

[Pike]

Nice work Dreadman, and thanks for taking the time to put this together for us!

[luvmyshiner]

I remember this project Dread. It's good to see it posted again. Many thanks.

[kerc]

Excellent thread! Thanks!

[sumitomo]

Great thread, I think this thread has sticky written all over it.great info thats why I like this forum.Sumi

[Cal]

Thanks Dreadman! :

I've been missing your magic posts. It's great to see you in action again; keep up the good work.

[just strum]

Dreadman,

Wow, flashback without the kool-aid.

Nice to see that post again.

[wingsdad]

Great thread, I think this thread has sticky written all over it. ...

Not to put the D-man on the spot, but I'll bet I'm not alone when I say that he's got quite a few more potential sticky-threads on the care & feeding of our wood & steel weaponry up those flannel sleeves of his...:
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