Can frets be dressed properly with neck off guitar

[NSFY]

I had a strat neck re-fretted locally and am not happy with the results.  I'm thinking of buying a new neck with jumbo frets but won't have anyone local to do final setup / dressing.  Can fret dressing be done with the neck off the guitar or does the whole guitar need to be shipped somewhere for best results?

[simonallaway]

It can be done 'off the guitar' with good results (I've done it many times), but you can't beat using some kind of jig that will let you take into account string tension and the weight of the guitar itself prior to filing/grinding. The ultimate extension of that seems to be the Plek system.

http://www.plek.com/en_US/technik/

What is it about your recent fret job that isn't working for you?

[NSFY]

Well it doesn't seem to be quite as smooth or polished as I would have expected.  Bending in some areas actually produced sort of a grinding feeling of metal on metal although that seems to have lessened over time.  The ends don't seem to be very uniform and I'm having some intonation issues in the upper frets and some buzzing but maybe that's action and not the frets.

[simonallaway]

 

Well it doesn't seem to be quite as smooth or polished as I would have expected.  Bending in some areas actually produced sort of a grinding feeling of metal on metal although that seems to have lessened over time.  The ends don't seem to be very uniform and I'm having some intonation issues in the upper frets and some buzzing but maybe that's action and not the frets.

Firstly, in regards to the polish and fret ends, it definitely sounds like a shoddy finishing job. The grinding will lessen over time, but only because the action of bending the string is doing the polishing you originally paid for.

As for intonation problems, that could mean the frets weren't re-crowned accurately after being leveled, and indeed if they weren't leveled properly you'd be getting buzzes here and there.
Although if it's on the upper frets, and it's a maple neck, that might be caused by swelling of the wood due to atmospheric changes.

I'd say you have cause to either get your money back or make them finish the job properly.

[G._Hoffman]

Yes, a strat (or tele, or any bold on neck) can be dressed off the guitar.  In fact, that is how everybody here prefers to do it, since you can support the neck much better.

Neck jigs are useless.  Really and truly, I do not know one really great repair person (except for Dan Erlewine, who doesn't use them very often even though he invented the thing) who uses one, and they are no substitute for experience. 

Plek's are just silly.  They don't do any better of a job than a really good repair person, and they cost more (last I checked).  Why would you bother?  The only advantage is to the shop owner, who can now employ a minimum wage lackey instead of a highly qualified professional.  No benefit to the customer.


Gabriel

[simonallaway]

Neck jigs are useless.  Really and truly, I do not know one really great repair person (except for Dan Erlewine, who doesn't use them very often even though he invented the thing) who uses one, and they are no substitute for experience. 

Once I've adjusted a neck straight prior to leveling the frets, I don't want the act of applying pressure to the neck when sanding/filing/whatever to make it bend, and introduce a curve where I don't want one. Much the same as wanting a piece of wood to be held firmly while using a plane. So in that regard I don't think they're useless at all.

[G._Hoffman]

Neck jigs are useless.  Really and truly, I do not know one really great repair person (except for Dan Erlewine, who doesn't use them very often even though he invented the thing) who uses one, and they are no substitute for experience. 

Once I've adjusted a neck straight prior to leveling the frets, I don't want the act of applying pressure to the neck when sanding/filing/whatever to make it bend, and introduce a curve where I don't want one. Much the same as wanting a piece of wood to be held firmly while using a plane. So in that regard I don't think they're useless at all.

So, don't apply any pressure.  You shouldn't be pressing down all that hard anyway, as it will tend to load up your file/sandpaper/whatever too fast, shortening its life and making the job take longer, all while causing repetitive stress damage to your arm (my dad got bursitis in his shoulder from pressing too hard while polishing guitars - I for one would like to avoid cortisone shots in MY lifetime).  You hold your tool only hard enough and press down only hard enough to keep it in a straight line.


Gabriel

[HotBluePlates]

You hold your tool only hard enough and press down only hard enough to keep it in a straight line.

I'd buy that. The way I've seen a fret-level and dressing done (at least the initial stage) was a long piece of metal with a rectangular cross-section (a box-beam, if you're familiar with that term). 2 sides are longer, 2 sides are shorter. The shorter sides had some form of abrasive on them (maybe diamond dust, maybe something much cheaper). The folks I saw doing the leveling didn't press down on the bar at all, they held it on either end and moved it up and down the fretboard. The weight of the tool plus gravity gave all the needed down-force.

[G._Hoffman]

You hold your tool only hard enough and press down only hard enough to keep it in a straight line.

I'd buy that. The way I've seen a fret-level and dressing done (at least the initial stage) was a long piece of metal with a rectangular cross-section (a box-beam, if you're familiar with that term). 2 sides are longer, 2 sides are shorter. The shorter sides had some form of abrasive on them (maybe diamond dust, maybe something much cheaper). The folks I saw doing the leveling didn't press down on the bar at all, they held it on either end and moved it up and down the fretboard. The weight of the tool plus gravity gave all the needed down-force.

We mostly use a 12" mill bastard file that we cut the handle off, and mounted to a wood block handle in the middle of the file (kind of similar to the file block Stew-Mac sells, but with a finer cut and a longer file).  My friend Frank Ford uses an old Jack Plane with some sand paper wrapped around it.  I've seen other guys use diamond sharpening plates.  All it really needs to be is flat, straight, and abrasive.  The nice thing about using sand paper is it is easier to replace the abrasive when it gets dull.  Our old files, which have been in use for about 39 years, don't cut so well anymore - on the other hand, they leave a remarkably clean surface that needs much less cleaning up than a sharper file.


Gabriel