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Alrighty, I put all my frets in this weekend. I had some fun there, ended up cracking some of the inlay in the 12th fret, but got it all patched up. Got the frets leveled and beveled, and it's not looking too shabby.

I peeled the masking tape off, and the tang still overhangs on the sides of the neck, by of course, the thickness of the masking tape. The sides of the neck are finished, and I'd rather not run the risk of doing it without masking, since I don't want to do any unnecessary scratching. I mean you could try to play it like this but your hand would end up tattered...

Is there a trick to getting the frets flush with the sides of the neck? Thanks guys.

None of what I'm going to tell you is going to help you now, but it will for next time.

The proper way to do it is to install the frets before applying a finish. Use a file to nicely flush up the frets to the neck. You will remove a little wood, but thats ok. Go back over the edges of the fretboard with some 220 grit sandpaper. This will also help to remove the file marks from the fret ends a bit.

At this point, file your desired bevel into the fret ends. Fill any fret slot gaps with super glue and fretboard dust if necessary.

I do not do a level crown or polish at this point. I do that after the guitar is finished and the lacquer has cured.

Tape off the fretboard and use a razor blade to flush the tape up, leaving the sides of the fretboard oxposed. You will apply finish over the sides of the fretboard and encase the sides of the fret ends into your finish.

After your finish has cured, go back over your fret bevel with your file to separate the finish from the tape and the beveled part of the fret ends. The unbeveled ends of the frets will remain nicely encased in finish.

At this point carry on with your full level crown and polish.

What to do in your position now? You're going to have to file the fret ends flush and you will mar up your finish no doubt about it. Hopefully you will not wear down to bear wood. Go over the file marks in the finish with increasingly high grit sandpaper and polish it all back to new.

Since my training is all old school machinist stuff, I use a "safe file" I made back in the late 70's at my first tool & die job. The trick is to use an old, worn out file instead of something new. We usually threw old, broken files in a box to remake into other tools. I grabbed part of a single cut file about 3.5 inches long, and "safed" the edges and ends by rounding over on a grinder, and then polished with a belt sander. When I was done I had a lozenge-shaped tool, rounded on the ends, and all around the edge.

Worn out files will only cut any metal proud of a flat surface, which make them excellent for fixing ridges or dents on tool surfaces. They also work great for leveling a single high fret, or fret tangs. Since they are worn out they won't mar the finish of the smooth wood or a smooth piece of metal.

Maybe other folks will chime in with their techniques.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Yeah, I had a feeling that I would end up having to scuff the finish. Gah, this sucks. And that's a good idea, about having the ends of the frets sort of encased in finish so it's nice and smooth.

So, for the ends of the frets, I can put some CA glue in after masking so it would have the same effect as the finish being applied after fretting?

I was also thinking, there's got to be a way of carefully doing it, beveling the fret edges I mean. Like, if you had an old Gibson that needed to be re-fretted or something, so you could avoid causing any damage to the finish.

That's a really good point. Maybe someone else will chime in and give you some tips. I think that it's just to be as careful as possible. You will end up wet sanding and buffing some of the finish though, that's just part of it.

If you don't have one, I'd alter a file to give it some safe edges and glue it to a peice of wood like this one. Just a random picture I grabbed off google. Mine doesn't look nearly that purty, but gets the job done just the same.

I've got a file like the one pictured, so I can go that route. I've also got a T-bar sanding block, that would also work I think. Would 320 sandpaper do the trick? That way I wouldn't go too coarse a grit and chance taking off too much.

Also, I can always put more finish on and blend it in so to speak, in case I do go down too far, although there is a fair amount on already, so it shouldn't come down to that. These are the things you learn for next time!

I'll give it a go tomorrow when I get out of work, and any other thoughts are always appreciated.

You've already gotten your answer. I've got nothing to add there. Just wanted to chime in and say "sweet looking guitar!".

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thanks very much!

Bevel the fret ends first, the use one of these: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_su ... elers.html to flush the tangs to the laquer. Then you only need to use the 1500 grit paper to get rid of the file marks. Buff the finish to a gloss.

I do this all the time on refrets.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

This looks like a more bulletproof option, than trying to do it by hand filing or any other more abrasive method.

I'm assuming you used the 800 as the "coarse" and then went to 1500 grit paper after?