Fret Leveling

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scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Fret Leveling

Post by scamp »

The guitar I'm building is an OM with bolt on neck.

I have installed the frets and I need to level them.
The question is, what do I need to do with the truss bar (if anything) before I level them.
When I glued the fret board to the neck I put the truss bar in the neutral position ( no bow to it).
After this I leveled the fret board.
Now with the frets installed can I level the frets with the truss bar in the neutral position or not?
I read that installing the frets can cause a slight bow in the neck that needs to be compensated with the truss bar before leveling?
Any suggestions?

Scamp
tippie53
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Location: Hegins, Pa
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Re: Fret Leveling

Post by tippie53 »

make the neck as flat as you can and level what you read was for 1 way rods not 2 way
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Fret Leveling

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Yes, leave the truss rod neutral until you finish the guitar. When you do your first setup, with string tension, is when you'll need to adjust it, to correct any bow caused by the pulling strings.

What you read is mainly for compression fretting. There are frets with a wider tang which will bend the fretboard and neck back a bit, but that's an entirely different thing. You'll have the most common frets, with narrower tang.

In theory, the insertion of the frets would spread each fret slot, causing a bow. But, you have to take into consideration the fact that you're removing wood, when slots are cut. The tang grabs, but isn't so wide as to worry about the neck bow. That's why we level the frets. It takes care of the situation.

But everything, including action, is done with the rod in neutral.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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