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That's a great tip. Thanks!


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I didn't go as low was 1/32 but am confident there would be no issues. At 1/16 there was no suggestion of choking out. I actually impressed myself here, but it just goes to show that if you take your time and listen to what the instrument is telling you then there's no reason you can't get it spot on.

There's just under 1/64 of fall away too (by design) on the last few frets which I suppose helps.


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Hesh, could you post some pictures of what you consider your ideal fret ends just as a point of reference? Cheers



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Yeah I would be happy to the next time we have an ax that's getting them in the shop but you may have misread my statement. I also want to see what the fret ends look like on the 1870's Martin that we have in the shop with bar frets. I suspect that we won't see the radical bevel but have to wait until tomorrow to get back in the city.

Yesterday there were over 11,000 protesters right outside my shop.... The streets were shut down and half the city couldn't move for hours. These people sure get pissed when you don't have Saturday hours.... Kidding of course and remaining apolitical.

To me there is No "ideal" style for a fret end. There are lots of great styles that in my view meet the criterial of function that I appreciate seeing and using. Not sharp, not beveled overly (this is also a function of neck profile and if it has rolled edges or additionally rolled edges), shows a deliberateness of craftsmanship AND a uniform appearance, scratch free, glass like feel, ALWAYS completely seated and firmly attached (glued for me, glue choice can vary but ep*xy is not a good choice IME...). When I sight the edge of the board are all fret ends in the same plane? Is the precision of the overall fret work capable of industry norms for setting action, there are some specs out here for this, set-up specs say from Martin, Fender, G*bson, etc. Can your work exceed these specs and since the f*ctories do lousy work this is not at all hard to do.

So no ideal specification if you will Bosco but lots of things that are welcome in great fret work.

Food for thought. Would most players notice special fret ends if they were not pointed out to them? I don't think so. But they would notice their hands bleeding (maybe an exaggeration....) or at least notice sharp frets if they encounter them.

So maybe we take this a bit far in our criteria which makes me have to remember function and it's importance from time to time. What is it that they say, form follows function...

I'm not sure where the disagreement is, unless you interpreted my saying "properly beveled" as meaning over-beveled. To be clear, over-beveled fret ends is one of my pet peeves. I learned long ago that it's not necessary to bevel and smooth the fret ends nearly as much as a factory job, and preserving lateral wiggle-room is one of my top priorities when beveling and shaping the ends. On some guitars this is very critical. Most notably on vintage strats and teles which have a very wide string spacing at the bridge. On those guitars, I'll keep the ends as vertical as possible towards the end of the neck, and I'll gradually taper the frets into a slightly more pronounced bevel near the nut. In all other cases, the bevel angle remains consistent along the length of the neck.

I took some pics of a D-28 I just finished refretting (also made the nut), doing my best to show the bevel:


Since you mentioned comparing an 1870's Martin's fret ends, I happen to have one in my shop awaiting restoration. As far as I know, the ends have not been messed with. They're poking out quite a bit, so they will need to be smoothed. Here's the bevel on an antique Martin 2 1/2-17 parlor:


And for comparison, here's the bevel on the D-28 I just did:

Thanks, Christopher. This is really interesting. The parlour guitar frets are so straight on the sides and seem to sit slightly proud of the edge of the finger board. Maybe this is just an illusion in the photo though. Your Martin refret is lovely. Incredibly neat and consistent. My acoustic fret job has a similar profile, only somewhat less perfect!

Thanks. The frets of the parlor guitar are sticking out quite a bit. The fingerboard has shrunk over the last 150 years. This guitar has the old style bar frets, so that's why the profile looks different. If you look closely, the edges of the frets are beveled, actually at a slightly steeper angle than the fret job I posted.

Christopher my mistake and misunderstanding, thanks for the additional postings. Much appreciated.

You know what they say, if ya want something done right do it yourself! Good job. Yikes! That was terrible. Honestly, as a self taught repairman, pre-Internet days (Gasp!), I'm sure the first few fret jobs I did would probably have ended up on an Internet forum being criticized too but geesh not that bad