At What Point Do You Level and Round Your Frets

[Darryl Young]

Wondering when you guys level and round your the frets. Before the initial stringing up?.....after the guitar has settled in for a couple of weeks and you do your final setup?........some other time?

Thanks!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I fret after gluing the fretboard to the neck. Before I install the frets, I adjust the truss rod if necessary to make sure the fretboard is dead flat. Then I do the leveling, etc. soon after that with the neck bolted to the guitar. Seems to work well.

Kevin

[enalnitram]

More experienced people are probably going to disagree with me. but I install the frets before I glue the fingerboard on. Then I level the frets. I have talked about this with you before, Darryl, and you already know about how I try to get the frets seated as evenly as possible. If one fret sits noticeably higher than the others, I won't file it down, I'll pull it and re-do. When I level my frets I want to only just *touch* them. I recrown them most of the way after that, but I continue tweaking and diddling with it after I've strung it up the first time. I haven't had a fingerboard change on me after gluing it on a neck. yet.

[kencierp]

Like Martin Lane and the Martin factory (I think Taylor too) I have always install frets to the FB before gluing it to the neck. As to your question I have the frets contoured and prepped to their final shape while the neck is still loose from the body. I always glue the ends with CA to eliminate one the "down the road" variables. Yes likely there will be some adjustment at a later date -- but in my view the sarting point should be as perfect as possible. Generally an acoustic guitar will need set-up tweaking all through it's life.

[Darryl Young]

For those that level after gluing the fretboard to the neck but before installing the neck on the guitar.......how do you handle the fretboard extension? Seems it wants to curl down a bit due to the frets inserted in that unsupported section. Not sure how you would approach leveling the extension. Also, seems a litte rise might need to be handled after the neck is glued/screwed in place. Shoudn't that be addressed before leveling?

I'm a little more interested if it's best to do the final leveling and finishing of the frets prior to stringing up or a couple of weeks after stringing up when the body has more or less settled. Sounds like I should do it before stringing up the guitar.

[kencierp]

As a matter of fact by design the KMG fingerboard extensions do have a very slight bow. Its sort of a non-issue - if you think of the leveling process as the procedure for matching adjacent frets rather then trying to make the #1 fret on the exact same plane as the 20th fret.

[tippie53]

My process is first PREP THE BOARD. I make sure the radius is clean and true and the the fret board is on plane . If the fretboard is not perfect , your fretting will be more difficult. I don't even think about the actual leveling of frets until it is on the neck and on the guitar.
I will add about 8 to 10 lbs on the shoulder of the guitar and headstone on a base to simulate the string tension . ( Martin did it this was and is how I was taught ) . Then adjust the neck with about .004 relief ( with a 1 way truss rod ) 2 ways do it dead flat .
Mark the frets with a sharpie and what ever works for you , bring the frets to plane and radius. I used to use a mill file but I like my diamond sharpening stone , Once I get the frets leveled and I do the extension as a separate area then I recrown them . The key is to get things true to the guitar in its playing position.
Once I am happy with the frets and the crowns I polish them with a cork and 1000 micro mesh . I will dress the ends off the neck , but the leveling I feel needs to be done on the instrument for best results .

[Tony_in_NYC]

What fortunate timing since I will hopefully be doing this tonight on the koa OM. I have always followed the KMG online instructions because I have only ever built Ken's kits and the process has worked, so I dont see the need to question it. The only difference on this guitar vs. the last two is that I needed to drill the locating pin holes in the fret board so I am currently missing fret #'s 2 and 13. However, I am about to go remedy that in about 5 minutes. Then, I will level and crown them.

Matin, how do you keep the board flat when leveling before attaching to the neck? Just the pressure of the leveling block on the FB? Fairy dust? Magic gnomes? I am curious because I have a nice granite counter top to screw up...I mean use as a flat surface if needed for the next two guitars in the que.

[darren]

Tony, i think he means he frets, then glues fb to neck, then levels. That's how I do it as well.

[Tony_in_NYC]

Well I didnt want to assume darren, because I am enough of an a$$ anyway!
That makes sense, and is how I do it as well. I am not going to level mine tonight. Too tired.