How to dress frets on an acoustic guitar: Martin D-41

Graham Parker Luthier takes you through the process of honing and re-profiling the frets on a Martin D-41. He explains the techniques, tools and materials that he uses

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Martin D-41
• fret dressing
• guitar fret crowning
• Martin fret repair

[grahamparkerluthier]

I’m using the fret-file at a slight angle to take off the leading edges of the fret as I file along the length of the fret. I then used the file in an upright position to achieve a curve across the width of the fret. This is where the correct fret-file profile is important as its concave cutting edge needs to match the width of the fret.

I have used this method and the same set of fret files since buying them in 1979, so this method is pretty entrenched in me. Some Luthiers use Mill files

[OsceolaLongBeard]

great vids

[nigelstrat]

Graham - my Tanglewood needs the frets dressed - have got the stone but not what appears to be specialist files as you use in your video.

Can you describe what you are doing with the file - are you putting a curved profile on the fret? Should I steer clear of this without the correct tools ?