Very interesting. You can actually have neck relief with a flat neck - by adjusting fret height. I've never thought about that. Always nice to get your perspective on things. Thank you for the video.
Great video. I always do what your saying.....the other thing is if there is a bad hump...I'll use smaller frets from about the 9th fret up. Say medium .043.....then Gibson mediums .055 from 1 to 9. Do a basic level from 10 to end of fingerboard. Then use a file on the first 9 frets (Stainless to fret 9) to bring them down to about the height of the 10th to 20th frets......under tension...I'm bringing the 1-9 frets down to the possible humped frets....humps always come out over time and as you adjust the relief over time. I can never get the fingerboard perfectly level in the prefret stage...it accounts for those hidden humps. The 1st 9 frets will be higher then any humped frets at the 14th area. This seems to solve the buzzy capo problems also. I also put a slope from about 10 up. Why fish glue and not super glue? Don't you still use super glue for stainless frets....I just did a LL16 Yamaha with stainless....flooded the slots completely before I installed the frets....it is a pain in the butt but boy they're in there. I don't ever end up with low frets....or frets under .040
You _could_ use superglue and I wouldn't say anything, but I picked fish glue in this application because a) the fret slots were already tight, b) nickel/silver frets aren't gonna pop out, c) n/s are going to need replacing in 5-10 years, unlike SS or Evo, d) I wanted to fill the fret slots and didn't need an aggressive glue, e) fish glue is a great lubricant for pressing frets in. See these videos if you haven't already: ruclips.net/video/OIbqjfyaBFI/видео.html ruclips.net/video/LApd-YJniak/видео.html
I told Mario Proulx to use bottled hide glue for frets and the first thing he reported back was "wow.... it's a great lubricant for pressing them in!" I'd never really noticed because I'd just pretty much always used it, per the late great Frank Ford. I use fish glue now because I have it on the bench and need to use it.
How do you handle neck groves in the fingerboard behind the frets at the lower strings? That box is near 50yrs old it had to have groves in the fingerboard!
So? Do grooves cause problems? To me, they don't. You should be playing on the frets, not the fingerboard and grooves just make the frets act like slightly taller frets. The reason you GET grooves is because you have worn frets and have to press so hard to make a note or you have fingernails that have dug in. You're getting new frets so you should quit pressing so hard and you can trim your nails. If a customer _specifically_ requests doing something with them, there are a few options: 1) replace the fingerboard in the area of the wear. This could mean just replacing strips between the frets or it could mean replacing whole sections 2) tease the fibers up with steam and work superglue/dust _underneath_ the raised fibers. If I'm reshaping the board, like I did on this one, the grooves will automatically be reduced a little when I sand the shape.
BTDT. Believe me... I wasn't born knowing this stuff. :) If the grooves really _bother_ you, they can be dealt with, but I'd get fresh frets on there, make sure the nut height is set correctly, and try not to death grip so much. It takes awhile to develop a light touch but I learned.
Have you ever had a case where the guitar where the guitar only needed a partial refret and you ended up doing a full refret with EVO fretwire? Curious about your thoughts on that option.
Sure... that's mostly a financial decision because you'll have to do all the frets to switch to Evo. It'll probably be the last fret job you'll need, too. I've also done a few where I used Stainless for the first 7-9 or whatever and left nickel silver for the rest. There's a slight tone difference between N/S and S/S as I illustrate here, but it may or may not be an issue. ruclips.net/video/yXUZmRmQ030/видео.html
Very interesting. You can actually have neck relief with a flat neck - by adjusting fret height. I've never thought about that. Always nice to get your perspective on things. Thank you for the video.
Actually I am _removing_ relief.
Great video. I always do what your saying.....the other thing is if there is a bad hump...I'll use smaller frets from about the 9th fret up. Say medium .043.....then Gibson mediums .055 from 1 to 9. Do a basic level from 10 to end of fingerboard. Then use a file on the first 9 frets (Stainless to fret 9) to bring them down to about the height of the 10th to 20th frets......under tension...I'm bringing the 1-9 frets down to the possible humped frets....humps always come out over time and as you adjust the relief over time. I can never get the fingerboard perfectly level in the prefret stage...it accounts for those hidden humps. The 1st 9 frets will be higher then any humped frets at the 14th area. This seems to solve the buzzy capo problems also. I also put a slope from about 10 up. Why fish glue and not super glue? Don't you still use super glue for stainless frets....I just did a LL16 Yamaha with stainless....flooded the slots completely before I installed the frets....it is a pain in the butt but boy they're in there.
I don't ever end up with low frets....or frets under .040
You _could_ use superglue and I wouldn't say anything, but I picked fish glue in this application because a) the fret slots were already tight, b) nickel/silver frets aren't gonna pop out, c) n/s are going to need replacing in 5-10 years, unlike SS or Evo, d) I wanted to fill the fret slots and didn't need an aggressive glue, e) fish glue is a great lubricant for pressing frets in.
See these videos if you haven't already:
ruclips.net/video/OIbqjfyaBFI/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/LApd-YJniak/видео.html
That's interesting! Fish glue is a lubricant to push in frets.@@Bryankimsey
I told Mario Proulx to use bottled hide glue for frets and the first thing he reported back was "wow.... it's a great lubricant for pressing them in!" I'd never really noticed because I'd just pretty much always used it, per the late great Frank Ford. I use fish glue now because I have it on the bench and need to use it.
That's a very interesting approach. I like it. thanks for sharing.
Good advice, there is nothing more annoying than trying to play a guitar with flat frets, id rather have the divots than low frets
How do you handle neck groves in the fingerboard behind the frets at the lower strings? That box is near 50yrs old it had to have groves in the fingerboard!
So? Do grooves cause problems? To me, they don't. You should be playing on the frets, not the fingerboard and grooves just make the frets act like slightly taller frets. The reason you GET grooves is because you have worn frets and have to press so hard to make a note or you have fingernails that have dug in. You're getting new frets so you should quit pressing so hard and you can trim your nails.
If a customer _specifically_ requests doing something with them, there are a few options:
1) replace the fingerboard in the area of the wear. This could mean just replacing strips between the frets or it could mean replacing whole sections
2) tease the fibers up with steam and work superglue/dust _underneath_ the raised fibers.
If I'm reshaping the board, like I did on this one, the grooves will automatically be reduced a little when I sand the shape.
@@Bryankimsey 30yrs of play'n my 76' D18 to near death hours on end. wished I knew what I was do'n. How I know what needs to be done to fix it.
BTDT. Believe me... I wasn't born knowing this stuff. :) If the grooves really _bother_ you, they can be dealt with, but I'd get fresh frets on there, make sure the nut height is set correctly, and try not to death grip so much. It takes awhile to develop a light touch but I learned.
Have you ever had a case where the guitar where the guitar only needed a partial refret and you ended up doing a full refret with EVO fretwire? Curious about your thoughts on that option.
Sure... that's mostly a financial decision because you'll have to do all the frets to switch to Evo. It'll probably be the last fret job you'll need, too.
I've also done a few where I used Stainless for the first 7-9 or whatever and left nickel silver for the rest. There's a slight tone difference between N/S and S/S as I illustrate here, but it may or may not be an issue.
ruclips.net/video/yXUZmRmQ030/видео.html
@@Bryankimsey thanks!
I think your logic is sound here.