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The frets were down to the point I couldn't crown them any more, so they had to go. I was dreading it because the FB is old ebony and my past experience with ebony was it is like talc. . . but the tip I picked up here was HEAT. Thanks for that. I got all 20 fret out pretty cleanly with 6-8 small chips to fill.

I am taking this opportunity to level the fingerboard while the frets are out. After a few swipes with 320 grit I have about enough relief between the 6th and 14th frets to slide a piece of paper under the straight edge. When I put in the new frets I am thinking I will get a little bit of back bowing (does this sound right?). Do you leave a little relief before fretting or go for dead straight. It has pretty inlays so I think if I take it down any more the inlay will need to come out, so I am not keen to do that.

Additional information the neck looks to be a 5 of 7 ply (like a '30's Washburn) and from removing the nut, it looks like it has a fixed truss rod, with a thick ebony slab fingerboard, so it is pretty stiff.

Thanks.

GS

The fit of frets has to be pretty tight to back bow a stiff neck.
Sometimes you may want a slight back bow unstrung.

Clues about what will happen include:
How much relief was in the neck strung before removing the frets?
what size was the tang and barb of the old wire?
what size is the tang/barb of the new wire?
What size are the fret slots now?
Stringing it up with no frets and seeing how much relief you have will tell you something about how stiff the neck is.

Thanks - replies inline


[Great idea]

Thanks