Thomas & Ginex still around?

[jread]

I've only used the Thomas & Ginex fret leveling, crowning, and polishing method/tools from www.fretrefinishing.com with excellent results on all my builds. Went to order refills on the sandpaper and polishing films and the web site seems gone and just seems to have evaporated. Anyone hear anything about them going offline? There's only one pack left on ebay and the seller is listed as away.

perhaps I can use other abrasive sheets with the kit or just learn other ways to work the frets.

[tippie53]

I think they are gone I use a longer machined aluminum bar for better fret plane truing. It is 14 in ling and I use
320 grit on once side 220 on the other
I do mark and protect the frets like they do adjust the neck as flat as I can get it. Level and dress
then I use diamond dust fret crown file , and to polish frets I use wet dry paper from 800 to 2000
Can do a fret job in about 30 minutes.

[jread]

Thanks John! I use a beam like that. Too bad about the company. Thanks for the tips. Seems like I just need to learn how to use the fret crowning file instead of the rippled plate with the Thomas & Ginix kit.

Here's a cheap beam for anyone else following along:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/262782263448?ul_noapp=true

[Diane Kauffmds]

I think they went out of business during the pandemic. However, I've found replacement emory cloth and polishing film.

They used 4 grades of cloth. I made a note of the emory cloths. You want the equivalent of 320g, 600g, 800g, and 1000g.

You'll find the 320g, 600g, and 800g on Amazon, in the form of 4" wide x 2 meter long rolls. Just cut off as much as you need to wrap around your tool. I found 8 x 11" sheets of 1000g on ebay. Quarter the sheets. Do the same for the polishing film.

Forum software only allows for 1 link per post, so I'll make separate posts to link you to sources.

[Diane Kauffmds]

The links for Amazon aren't working. Please copy the following, and paste it into Amazon search and you'll find both.

PZRT 1 Meter 320 Grit Emery Cloth Roll Polishing Sandpaper 100 Width for Grinding Polishing Tools Metalworking

Here is the search wording for the 600g. The 600g is the same width, but 1 meter long:

Generic 1M Emery Cloth Roll Matte Paper Roll 600 Grit 10.16 cm x 1.1 Yards Sander Abrasive Machine Roll

[Diane Kauffmds]

Here is the 1000g emory cloth.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/332563251383?m ... media=COPY

[PSmill]

Hi, What are opinions on levelling using a flat bar versus using radius beam? Thanks!

[Diane Kauffmds]

You can level your frets with a good radius beam. I've done this. But leveling bars are far more accurate; they're truly flat to within .001".

After radiusing a fretboard using my 20" aluminum beam, I level the board with my 19" leveling bar, maintaining my radius. If you level your fretboard, you're frets will be much easier to work and will be a lot more accurate.

I use my leveling bar to level the frets as well, since it's much more accurate.

[Diane Kauffmds]

FYI, they're apparently selling through Ebay now.

http://www.fretdressing.com/

[Diane Kauffmds]

I don't know what's going on with Ginex. However, the Emery cloth that I bought from Amazon and ebay have done as good, if not a better job, than what Ginex provides. You can make a tool.

As far as the polishing kit, don't buy the Taytools lapping film. It's not film; it's paper. I found this lapping film on Ebay, which appears to be identical to what Ginex used. Each sheet = 4 pieces. Just wrap a 1/4 sheet around a padded flat piece of wood, metal, or even a piece of micromesh, and rub up and down the frets to polish.

The Ebay film comes from China. I've ordered 1 set and I'll let you know if it's the right stuff, when it arrives. But it looks identical.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175232663820?m ... media=COPY