Arlington Fret Works

This Epiphone Broadway had been re-fretted once before, but the neither the fretboard nor frets had been leveled. The result was nice tall new frets but a wavy fretboard with lots of humps and valleys. The action had to be raised very high so the strings wouldn't buzz. 

The only way to get the fingerboard level would be to remove the frets and start over. Instead, we decided to level just the frets and leave the board wavy. The upper frets on the bass side would need to be sanded extremely low, but the owner said he never played the up there anyway.

 This jig uses a strap and jack at the peg head to re-create the stresses of string tension after the strings have been removed. I adjust the truss rod to get the neck as straight as possible with the strings on.  Then I set the dial indicators to zero, remove the strings, and adjust the strap and jack until the indicators read zero again.  Now the neck is straight, and the truss rod is still tightened,  so there will be no surprises when the strings go back on later. 

The strings are off and the jack and strap are set. Next the four support rods go up to keep the neck perfectly flat during leveling.

I mark the tops of the frets with a festive color so I can see how the sanding is coming along.

I usually start with 120 grit sand paper, on a straight bar. Then I mark the frets again and go over everything with 220.  When all the color is gone the frets are level. 

I mark the frets again and use a radius block to make sure each fret has the original radius.

Looking good.

The frets that had to be sanded lower now have flat tops, so it's time to crown them with crowning files and sanding sticks.  I mark them again and round the tops until each fret is left with just a thin line of color in the center.  If I took off all the color I'd be changing the heights and have to start all over. I have a video of the crowning process posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPypJb8h8Fg

Nice. Cleaned, oiled, and ready for new strings and a set up.  

Now the action can be lowered to a comfortable level ... ready to get back on the bandstand. (This guitar belongs to Matt Trimboli's,  guitarist and music director for the local big band Swing Shift.)