The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #76

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    Agreed. I watched a whole bunch of videos on spot leveling, full fret levels, and re-frets, as well as on set-us, action measurement, etc. The main thing keeping me from doing more extensive work is space. I live in small apartment and I have to do all of this at the kitchen/dining table. Taking over the kitchen with tools and mess for a whole day is not in the cards. So I need approaches that are quick and take up as little room as possible.

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  3. #77

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    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    I've done this several times, attempting a full level-and-crown, and was happy with the outcome.

    A key, though, is to make sure when you unstring the guitar, to crank the truss rod so that the neck is straight.

    The danger of the kit and video shown is lowering the fret too much. For single frets, I like the StewMac "Fret Kisser." The abrasive surface is on a straight edge that rides on the neighboring frets, so that you can't grind the fret down lower than its neighbors. For the whole fretboard, I mark the high places with a sharpie and use a sanding block that rides on several frets (correct radius too) and constantly check my sharpie marks lest I over-do it.
    What I like about the kit I got is that the sanding block has a fret-crown shaped groove in it, so lowering the fret and shaping it can be done in one step. The Fret Kisser is a flat surface, so you also need a crowning tool. I imagine that's the better way to do it (sandpaper goes very slowly on frets that need to be brought down more than a tiny amount), but for now I'm trying to keep it simple. I made a point of stopping frequently and checking the level so as to avoid over sanding. I actually had the opposite problem -- not sanding enough and thinking that reducing the fret height slightly was good enough. I wound up having to re-do the Gitane to get the high spots completely down.

    John

  4. #78

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    When leveling frets be sure to check for any that are loose. Then glue them down with superglue. On one of my first attempts at fret leveling I had one or two frets that remained high. My guitar repair guy pointed out that they were loose. The frets would go down as I leveled the frets then rise again.

  5. #79

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    I've been wanting to learn how to do fret dressing as well. If a couple of frets are a little high I guess it's relatively easy to lower them a bit while keeping the radius matched with the neighbouring frets.

    My fear is if there are any low frets. Then every other fret has to come down right? That sounds like a serious operation.

  6. #80

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    I have a guitar that needs a touch of leveling. With the neck as straight as I like it, I find with a fret rocker that both the 2nd and 3rd frets are high. I don't want to get into the recursive loop of leveling a fret, finding the other is now high, leveling that one, the next one is high, etc.

    Is there a best practice for which of two adjacent frets should be leveled first?

  7. #81

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    With the neck straight I would simply use a radius sanding block to the neck ( probably 12 inch radius). Start at the second fret very, very lightly going over the first 4 frets. Use some marker to show where you are sanding but frankly as you remove some metal it will show. It should then remove metal in the area of high spot first at least theoretically. Do this and then only work on the first 4 frets. Check again with fret rocker but and polish the 4 frets you have done some work on. String the guitar up and my guess is you will be good to go. Don't move farther that one fret in each direction of the high/low fret.

    Check to see if fret is seated all the way too. I know Lawson you know how to do this and much easier than you think. Main thing is when checking you know that the neck is straight. use the truss rod to get it perfectly straight with no strings on it before hand.

    Let me know how you do.

  8. #82

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    Aha. It had not occurred to me to do the same thing I'd do to level all the frets, just more delicately and on the first four. I will try to make a time this week to do this. Sounds like the best plan. I have inspected the frets in question and both seem to be seated correctly.
    Last edited by lawson-stone; 06-01-2020 at 06:18 PM.

  9. #83

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    Mark's description on what to do is spot on but for one fret that is a hair higher, I have used the tool below. It allows for hitting that high fret with the strings attached. It is expensive and it is not for general leveling.

    StewMac Fret Kisser | stewmac.com

  10. #84

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    I have that, but my problem is TWO frets that are high, and I am puzzling over which would be smartest to address first.

  11. #85

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    Like Mark said, I would address both at the same time.