hi all I would like to discuss fall away when levelling frets
im planning to do my first one on the weekend. I basically got this fender telecaster with lots of buzzing on frets 7-12 and areas of the upper frets. the person that sold it to me said it was a project guitar, but couldn't get the guitar to play well. no history on the neck as to whether there was damage etc. anyway, I felt it was a good time to get into fret dressing.
my research led me to the subject of fall away. some people on youtube don't do it, some do. so first question is, do you really need it?
second question is how do you create a fall away. some people have said they tape of the 12th fret with 3 strips of tape, or 8 strips, it seems hit and miss for a novice, although I understand the concept. how do you know you done it right?
thanks in advance
Comments
The way I was taught to create a fall-away was to use three layers of masking tape on the 12th fret, mark up all the frets above the 12th and rub with a levelling beam (partially masked up) with 320 grit paper until the marker pen is rubbed off. This is done after the levelling all the frets.
I know of others who do it a different way and in fairness I know people who don't create a fall-away but still have good results, but this method seems to work well for me.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
You can always do a setup without a fallaway, and add one if you need to. You know, the old “you can always take more away but can’t add it back” adage...
The tape is just to stop sanding through.
In my experience the highest fret also needs to come down Alot, no exaggeration. I'd do fallaway and then more aggressively take height off the 2nd highest fret and more so on the highest. It's these that stick up the most when you add relief into a neck.
how would I know if I need to add fallaway?
Take a long ruler and bend it very slightly in the middle, now imagine a straight string running across. Do you see how the raised end near the neck would be interfering with the string vibration?
Is the neck relief OK, not back-bowed, it's a bit unusual for a Fender to buzz in that wide an area and all those places.
I use a long and short levelling beam with 600 and 1200 paper
(formerly customkits)
,Check how straight it is before doing anything, if it's on the guitar check relief, you can also put a straight edge on the frets just in case the necks itself isn't that flat
(formerly customkits)
I posted an update on another thread as the subject changed slightly, so wasn't sure whether to post it here
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/150832/adjusting-action-to-eliminate-buzz-project-guitar#latest