fret

Kenneth Michael Guitars est.1978

1. Manual fretting requires an area where
there is room for a stool, a very solid bench
and good lighting. The board must be clamped
to the bench, move the clamps as you
progress. Trying to fret a moving board is
futile. I use a 99 cent hammer – it is polished a
little. A brass hammer will damage fret wire
almost as bad, so I do not see the need to
spend the extra $$$. A brass hammer will
certainly work fine. A mis-directed blow is doing
the damage not the hammer. BUT, to get the
beauty and playability the frets will have to be
completely leveled, crowned and dressed. I
pre-cut my frets to length, do not skimp --- cut
them about ½ too long it may cost a few extra
cents but you will not be sorry, in the long run
it makes things much easier.

2. Start on the edge farthest away,
make sure the wire is in perfect alignment
with the slot than tap in the end

3. Work across toward yourself tapping
the wire into the slot – do not hammer! Strike
down with no recoil. Keep the wire centered in
the slot and it will seat as you progress. Do a
re-tap working from the center out to the
edges.

4. When you have the wire seated
tap the ends of the wire at a slight
downward angle

5. Notice how much the wire
overhangs.

6. To use my method you will need to
fabricate a backer board. Mine is an old
defective fret board. You can cut a piece
of ¼ inch Masonite or plywood the same
size as the fingerboard. Next epoxy two
pieces of 1/8 “ brass rod to the edges of
the board. That’s it --- this board allows
you to apply pressure to the outside ends
of the fret wire. When a fret lifts it is
almost always at the ends. We are going
to take that out of the equation.

7. Clamp the backer to the fret
board aligning the edges.

8. Clamp the whole thing in a vise. I
like to sit down for this part of the
operation.

9. You are going to need a small bottle of
CA (super glue thin) I get mine from Tower
Hobbies. And a fine applicator tip.

Skipping this step is gambling -- like not taking
preventive medications. Plus it adds to the
sonic integrity to the instrument.

10. Apply a tiny drop of CA at each
fret slot -- both FB edges.

11. The CA will dry pretty quick ---
but make sure. Using a fine blade
razor saw trim each fret wire flush to
the edge of the fingerboard. Wire
nippers are tempting but do not use
them. (The voice of bad experience)

12. This device is a shooting board.
Simply a 12 X 30 inch piece of MDF with a 1
½ inch board screwed to the edge. Glue a
piece of 150 grit sand paper to the 1 ½ inch
board before assembly. This tool can even
be used to joint tops and backs before gluing

13. Last step is to sand the fret ends
flush to the fingerboard, glide the
fingerboard back and forth along the sand
paper until the CA residue is gone. That will
indicate that the frets are absolutely flush

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