refretting a Fender stratocaster PART 17 (leveling the frets)

Jason from The Musician's Den in Evansville, IN walks you through a complete refret on an '04 American Deluxe Stratocaster. In part 17 we level our newly installed frets.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• file
• fret end
• refret
• guitar
• The Musician's Den
• luthier
• lutherie
• fretwork
• Fender
• American Deluxe
• Stratocaster
• repair
• rosewood
• fingerboard
• fret
• Evansville IN
• filing
• 3M
• masking
• tape

[CemetaryGatesML]

dude, use wet-sand paper, that way you can wash it out and unclog it, just remeber to dry it out before sanding again. and ( i dunno if you ever tryed this ) but put tape on the sides of the frets, use 00 fine steel wool to give the fret a crown , then use 0000 fine to polish the frets.

[smbstressfest]

@CemetaryGatesML I have tried every tool, technique, and style of abrasive sheet I could find over the years including the wet dry silicon carbide papers. The way I do these jobs now is a distillation from years of trial and error. I go with the 3M gold papers now because their dry performance is way beyond the non-stearated silicon carbide sheets.

Have you tried the 3M gold backed fre-cut sheets?

[JgHaverty]

@smbstressfest why do you use worn out sandpaper instead of higher (4-600) grit sand paper?

[smbstressfest]

@JgHaverty The higher grit papers tend to clog or "corn" faster. Plus, I find that the well worn 320 works the frets down at about the same rate (perhaps a little faster) and leaves nearly as smooth a finish as a relatively fresh 600 grit abrasive sheet would.

[7ibanez7]

Im not a expert of this but ive noticed your very professional and "picky" which is obviously good for the customer ;) But how much does this cost?

[smbstressfest]

@7ibanez7 I don't answer questions of price in the comments section. If you want an estimate, send me a PM describing the guitar and what you want and I'll be happy to get you a quote.

[grubitania]

T-Shirt ftw

[seasonedtoker]

@JgHaverty using a worn sandpaper is something completely different than using a fresh piece with finer grit

[DyslExiCKiDtheBAND]

Emery cloth should be used on metal.

[nblax41]

Nice shirt

[CemetaryGatesML]

@jacka94 ur message is pritty old, but about 120$ is what it costed me. but i only recomend doing a complete fret job if the guitar itself is worth it, if its a cheaper guitar, bring the frets to life. but a fret shapping tool of ebay for 40$ and some steel wool ( 0000 fine ) to bring the fretd back to life.