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As mentioned in another thread, I've got a tele regret to do. It also occurs to me that despite how many acoustic jobs I've done, my electric experience is lacking.

I'm used to clipping the ends to fit inside binding, but what/how is the method to file the fret ends flush with the sides of the neck without gouging the wood/finish?

I have tele regret, too.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

dang autocorrect

Same way as an acoustic. File at an angle with a block to hold it. Then fine sand paper with a firm backing. No gouging will occur. I usually file/sand until a small bevel on the edge of the fretboard binding develops which obviously removes a bit of finish but that is to be expected and does not look bad.

A fret is a fret. Treat it accordingly. No regrets.

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

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Electric and acoustic the same for me,too.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

I'm talking about the tang on the edge of the board. On an acoustic with binding, the ends are clipped and you only have to d al with the fret above the surface of the board. With the electrics, there's the edge of the board too...

If you are asking how I handle bound fretboards - it doesn't matter if its electric or acoustic, I cut the frets to fit inside the binding and leave a little bit on top, which I file at an angle and then dress the edges





I have a refret coming up on a bound board with the little plastic nibs - following the advise of several people here I will file the nibs off and just do the standard over the binding.

I've done it a bunch of times with Unbound lacquered Edge fretboards electric or acoustic same diff. Actually a bolt-on is much easier because you don't have to work over the body. Anyways, I don't think you can do it without touching the Finish somewhat. The only way I have had success at keeping that edge looking good is to sand it through the grits until shiny.

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Pat

On unbound boards, after filing the fret ends flush with the corner of the board at the minimal angle, there will still be a tiny piece of tang protruding. For this I use a special file Hesh has often described. Here is a link to a discussion about it. On the second page I describe how I made mine using a new file and some 2500 paper. It's basically a very fine file, smoothed ever so slightly, glued to a holder. It's the bomb!http://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/fret-ends-vs-lacquer?id=2177249%3ATopic%3A169532&page=2#comments
If you use it gently on the tang nibs, it will slide on the finish but cut the metal flush. After that, sometimes a little 1000-1500 wrapped on an eraser and a little hit to the neck finish on the buffer. This is also the tool for knocking fret ends flush when someone's fingerboard has dried and the ends are poking out.


search results for "Skate" and "Hesh" as author. I'm sure there are pictures of it in there.http://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/fret-ends-vs-lacquer?id=2177249%3ATopic%3A169532&page=2#comments

Ed we teach this in our fretting and set-up classes.....

Seriously what the guys said above.

We undercut the tangs still using the Stew-Mac type tool but we take ours apart and flatten and polish the table and sharpen the cutter for less twisting and a better, more precise cut.

The fret is turned over and the remaining remnant of the cut tang is also filed, zip, zam with a few strokes of a well worn OO file smooth so that tit does not hold the end up.

We press our frets with the Jaws II and the caul set, custom made by Andy Birko to the radi that Dave Collins requested from Andy when we collaborated with him on the design of the caul set.

For undercut frets on a bound board when pressing and gluing we are sure to use a slightly tighter radius caul than the board so as to guarantee that the fret ends with no tangs are sitting absolutely flat on the board/binding. We very lightly wax the board with Howard's and then apply a very thin bead of very fresh, thin CA that wicks under the fret, into the tang and glues that sucker down.

Even on an unbound board where the slot ends have been visually filled undercutting the fret ends can preserve the end slot filling and make for a neater appearance.

Ends are squared off with the small, worn shop made fret ends files that we make for our own use and are prematurely worn so that they "skate" on finish but bite the fret ends until they are all uniform and flush. Fret ends are handled in accordance with the cone of silence... . Just kidding. I loved Get Smart back in the day.

We charge more for a bound board because we can an because it is a little bit more work with undercutting the frets.

In a popular text out here about fretting it's advocated to give the ends a little tonk with the hammer to be sure to seat them. Don't.... it rolls the fret top and you lose that valuable top fret real estate that we like to preserve and that better players even ask for not all that uncommonly.

I'm personally inclined to undercut each fret for each location so that the tang does go all the way to the binding but does not pressure it from the inside. The individually undercut frets are put in a block of numbered holes for later production pressing to speed up the process.

Lastly we don't charge more for stainless either it just goes with the territory for us. We are doing refrets/regrets nearly every day now.

Hee hee. You said tit.

Ahem, anyway...

Thanks, I've decided to cut the tang just a hair short and drop fill the side slots with GluBoost. Now I see why you charge nice money for it. Still, even if it takes an entire afternoon it still beats builders wages by a long mile.

Depends on wether or not you want a traditional Tele or something with a little more refined details.

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I actually like the look of the fret end coming right out and flush with the board edge so you can see it. So I just simply file it flush then go through a grade of sand paper till it's polished. Then I just use a rag doll and swipe a few coats of shellac over it.

Tele I just refretted with Jescar .051 X .100 stainless steel wire 9 degree bevel, give em all the fret that can handle