Best way to level high frets only?

stickyfiddle

This may be a case of "just do a full fret dress", but I figure I'll ask anyway... 

My new Les Paul has a couple of frets with a little more wear than the others, specifically the G & D strings from 9th to 12th frets, so I'm keen to get that sorted. There are bugger all trustworthy techs out here, and I generally trust my own abilities, but have never done a fret dress myself, so am obviously slightly cautious. 

I don't want to take any life out of the lower frets if I don't have to, so I'm keen to dress only the upper half of the fretboard. I have to put a stewmac order in anyway, so looking at picking up a couple of appropriate tools and having a go (gently and carefully!).

Am I asking for trouble? 

John_A

A fret 'dress' will by default only touch the higher frets, well maybe any lower ones ever so slightly, or do you mean only one end of the fingerboard?  If so then you cant do that, all of the frets need to be the same height 

ICBM

John_A said:

A fret 'dress' will by default only touch the higher frets, well maybe any lower ones ever so slightly, or do you mean only one end of the fingerboard?  If so then you cant do that, all of the frets need to be the same height 

Actually they don't, as long as the tops of all of them are properly aligned.

I always prefer to do a 'taper dress' on guitars with a lot of wear in the low positions - so you're taking off more metal down there where bending isn't important, and leaving plenty of height at the top end of the neck where it is. As long as the top surfaces are all in a straight line it will play perfectly.

This is the opposite, where you want to take out a little more height over a hump in the fingerboard. It's quite easy to limit the levelling to just a small area of the neck, simply don't move the levelling file too far.

stickyfiddle

ICBM said:

John_A said:

A fret 'dress' will by default only touch the higher frets, well maybe any lower ones ever so slightly, or do you mean only one end of the fingerboard?  If so then you cant do that, all of the frets need to be the same height 

Actually they don't, as long as the tops of all of them are properly aligned.

I always prefer to do a 'taper dress' on guitars with a lot of wear in the low positions - so you're taking off more metal down there where bending isn't important, and leaving plenty of height at the top end of the neck where it is. As long as the top surfaces are all in a straight line it will play perfectly.

This is the opposite, where you want to take out a little more height over a hump in the fingerboard. It's quite easy to limit the levelling to just a small area of the neck, simply don't move the levelling file too far.

That's what I'm assuming! 

Basically I know the 13th needs to come down a little, and considering everything above that current plays fine, I'm assuming I actually need a little off everything above it as well to avoid consequential buzzes further up the neck.

I'm thinking a not-too-long radius block, a fret crowning file, plus my usual grades of micromesh for polishing should do it.

Maynehead

A partial fret level is a perfectly valid procedure, in fact doing it to the higher frets only is actually safer than the other way round. Because if you do accidentally create a "step" in the fretboard where the first fret in the section that you levelled is slightly lower than the last fret in the section you didn't touch just before it, it won't cause any issues with choking or fretting out.

The only other thing to mention is you may want to create a slight fall-away in the last few frets ~19-22, rather than having them perfectly level. It will help you achieve a lower action without the risk of choking on the last few frets. This is however optional, depending on how low you like your action.

stickyfiddle

Maynehead said:

A partial fret level is a perfectly valid procedure, in fact doing it to the higher frets only is actually safer than the other way round. Because if you do accidentally create a "step" in the fretboard where the first fret in the section that you levelled is slightly lower than the last fret in the section you didn't touch just before it, it won't cause any issues with choking or fretting out.

The only other thing to mention is you may want to create a slight fall-away in the last few frets ~19-22, rather than having them perfectly level. It will help you achieve a lower action without the risk of choking on the last few frets. This is however optional, depending on how low you like your action.

Cheers, that's my understanding. I have a decent grasp of the geometry, and am willing to spend some money on half decent tools to do it right. I'm also aware I'll be doing this on a 3k custom shop guitar so don't want to fuck it up!

 

ESBlonde

Get a fret rocker tool or a 6" steel rule to properly determin the cause of the fault. A light fret dress may be all thats needed and using the many online guides gets you there. You will need the ability to reprofile or crown the high frets you have flattened off if you do much to them. For this a fine flat file can be used carefully, mask the fingerboard well and go steady. A simple flat bar or box steel will suffice as your straight edge when wrapped in sandpaper. Be careful to fully protect the pickups and surrounds by taping them a sealing them fully against metal filings, those magnets attract everything like that.

Be preparred to do too little and restring. It will improve anyway and you can always have another little go next time you want to restring whereas doing too much means you have lost a lot of fret life and will have to reprofile all or most of the frets. Put a colour felt pen mark on the fret tops before you start, it makes it easier to see where the leveling is taking place and how much.

You don't need lots of expensive tools, just understand the process and take your time.

stickyfiddle

ESBlonde said:

Get a fret rocker tool or a 6" steel rule to properly determin the cause of the fault. A light fret dress may be all thats needed and using the many online guides gets you there. You will need the ability to reprofile or crown the high frets you have flattened off if you do much to them. For this a fine flat file can be used carefully, mask the fingerboard well and go steady. A simple flat bar or box steel will suffice as your straight edge when wrapped in sandpaper. Be careful to fully protect the pickups and surrounds by taping them a sealing them fully against metal filings, those magnets attract everything like that.

Be preparred to do too little and restring. It will improve anyway and you can always have another little go next time you want to restring whereas doing too much means you have lost a lot of fret life and will have to reprofile all or most of the frets. Put a colour felt pen mark on the fret tops before you start, it makes it easier to see where the leveling is taking place and how much.

You don't need lots of expensive tools, just understand the process and take your time.

Yep, already checked with a 6" straight edge, and it's visible both looking at the frets themselves (slight flat spots) and the gap at the 13th when you fret the G at the 12th is noticeably tiny compared the equivalent gaps pretty much everywhere else. 

The plan is just to dress the tiniest amount off everything above 12th, and see from there  

SlopeSoarer

stickyfiddle said:

There are bugger all trustworthy techs out here

How true is this statement?

rico

SlopeSoarer said:

stickyfiddle said:

There are bugger all trustworthy techs out here

How true is this statement?

Not in the slightest!

stickyfiddle

SlopeSoarer said:

stickyfiddle said:

There are bugger all trustworthy techs out here

How true is this statement?

Considering I’m in the UAE, very!

In the UK I’m sure there are some crap careless ones, but there are plenty of great guys who seriously know their stuff