Blogging Fatso!

[David L]

Let me know where I can buy some unmessupableness, could come in real handy, especially since I'm about to start routing binding channels!

David L

[David L]

I think I might make a couple of passes on the purfling, on this first one anyway, kinda sneak up on it. Elbow grease "is" on the same aisle as unmessupableness, right next to the left-handed monkey wrenches but don't bother looking, they're always out of those too.

David L

[David L]

Fretted Fb this evening, using the press-in method. The first two went in just fine, then they started rolling over on me. I found a method to avoid this problem; Two good raps at each end with the rawhide mallet to get them started into the fret slot and then drive them home with the press, cha-ching baby!

David L

[David L]

Thanks Tony, I like the gold frets too, too bad they're not actually gold colored in real life. A couple of sayings, a picture's worth a thousand words, counterpart saying, don't believe everything you see. No gold, just straight up run of the mill standard fretwire that came with my kit. Here's another picture that I took at the same time as the other except without flash, and, PRESTO, no more gold. Too bad, I like the gold look.

David L

[David L]

Spent last night working on FB. when I fretted the FB there was a tiny (technical measurement) gap between the bottom of the fret tang and the bottom of the fret groove cut in the FB. Most people probably wouldn't notice it but I didn't like it. I painstakenly (is that a word?) filled each little gap with sawdust and ca glue. Not perfect as the sawdust and ca glue turns out to be a little bit darker than the rest of the fretboard but I like it better than the little gaps. FB is Macasser Ebony and brown in color, color variation probably wouldn't as bad on standard black ebony. I'm also hoping that the ca glue will bond the ends of the frets to the FB to prevent them from wanting to pop up, the old saying, kill two birds with one stone. I didn't bother taking any pictures as my camera is not the best and I dont think it would show that small of detail.

David L

[David L]

Actually Tony there "is" an easter bunny but no tooth fairy!

[David L]

Been crowning frets, going really smoothly, out of the fourteen that I have crowned so far only one was really stubborn. I read somewhere that fretting is one of the most intimidating processes of guitar building (don't know if that's true or not). I'm finding that I'm enjoying this part the most out of everything that I've done so far, it's been the most trouble free thing I've done yet. Maybe it's because I don't really know what I'm doing, you know the old saying "less is more". Maybe it's just "dumb luck". I will say this, I have spent a couple of coins on fretting toolage (huh, fretting what?). I'm not the most skilled person on the face of the planet but I have found that with the proper tools I can overcome "some" of these deficiencies. More will be revealed!

David L

[David L]

Yeah, I have the following (all from Stewmac): Fret press caul, I like it a lot; End nipper fret cutter, nice tool; Fret beveling file, like it a lot; Double edge fret crowning file 300 grit diamond, the jury's still out. Due in this week, Quarter round fret file and fret end dressing file, both for rounding fret ends, I'll report on those when I use them. End nipper fret cutter, any pair of decent wire cutters would probably work just fine but these are nice because the outside of the jaws are ground flat to cut close to fret board. Fret beveling file is really nice, file is mounted on a teflon block and just glides over the frets like greased owl... it's really, really smooth, and again, you can make one for a fraction of the cost, KenCierp showed a homemade one in one of these threads. Fret crowning file seems more like a fret flattening file, they are crowned but it's a flatter crown than the wire comes from the factory, maybe that's the way they're supposed to be, I don't know. I don't think my camera will take a detailed enough picture to show them but I will try later tonight.

David L

[David L]

Well, I tried and it's a no go. I took several pictures from different angles and they are all blurry, camera just not good enough for really close close-ups. Oh well, like the saying goes, "I gave it the old college try".

David L

[David L]

Well ok, so much for fretting being the easiest, most trouble free, most enjoyable thing I've done so far. I got my fancy, shmancy fret files and tried them on a couple of fret ends and they look like crap. Fret ends look really good with the bevel on them but of course they have the sharp edge on them. Maybe the files are junk or I don't know how to use them or I'm not holding my mouth right. I can't take pictures that close up and I can't even find the right words to describe it, other than it ain't right. I'm in desperate need of some fret end rounding tips.

David L