Fret Dressing and Set-Up for Classical guitar

Ron Fernandez shows how to level, file and polish frets on a classical guitar. He also shows how he shapes the saddle and checks nut adjustment. Read more about how Ron dresses frets at www.fernandezmusic.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Fret
• repair
• guitar
• building
• luthier
• RonFernandez
• FernandezMusic

[musicofz]

ronfernandez: ok, I thought that one on d video had a truss road.i run a little guitar repair/set up in one of my rooms mostly electrics sometimes I get acustics and like you mentioned sometimes d buzz comes from loose braces.saddle or truss road vibrating in its channel under the fretboard.thnks for your great video im in westminster ca.would b nice to know why OVATION GUITARS usually crack at the top.

[FernandezMusic]

@musicofz I suspect that some Ovations have a tendency to crack on the soundboard when there is low humidity because the body is too rigid to allow for the sides to move along with the shrinking of the soundboard. According to Jose Oribe's book the Fine Guitar, a spruce soundboard of a classical guitar expands across the lower bout by 3mm when the humidity changes from 25% to 95%; a western red cedar soundboard expands by 2mm.

[musicofz]

hi ron: that was great tecnique to file and level d frets.another technique is to tighten the truss road all the way an then use a C clamp at the headstock with a little piece of wood in between.now clamp it and tighten the C clamp until you get the neck straight(this way you are simulating string tension on d neck in real playing position).

[FernandezMusic]

@musicofz. Thanks. Since I deal with hand made Spanish classical and flamenco guitars that technique will not work because we do not use truss rods. The Spanish integrated neck-body construction (also called the Spanish foot method) is very strong so truss rods are unnecessary. In the Spanish method, the neck is carved, then the sides are inserted into slots in the neck, the face is added and then the back is glued on with the "foot" of the neck glued directly to the inside back of the guitar.

[ie666death]

How to know when it's time to change the frets? You can't just always sand down them to equal height. Also if buying new frets which height should I consider? How does height/width of frets change the sound/playability of the guitar?

[FernandezMusic]

@ie666death. I do not have simple answers to your questions. Your technique, string choice, and style (classical, flamenco, folkloric, jazz, etc.) and other factors somewhat determine the choice of fret wire. But, as a starting point i suggest that when you cannot get a clean sound you should show the instrument to a good professional repair person. If you measured fret height on most standard classical guitar you would find them to be about 1.5mm.

[RobertoStampini]

Another superb video.

[ie666death]

@FernandezMusic. So that means that it's OK to have a little wear on the frets as long as it doesn't buzz? That's just what i wanted to know , thank you!

[FernandezMusic]

@craigeymac Hi Craigeymac, I cannot diagnose the problem without seeing the guitar. However, normally the first thing I would check is whether the next fret (the 12th) is significantly higher then the 11th fret. You can do this by using a straight edge. I use a metal straight edge but you could use the edge of a credit card. Place the card's edge on the the 11th, 12th and 13th fret. If it rocks then the 12th fret is too high. In any case you should have a good repair person look at the guitar.

[craigeymac]

I have a dead fret on my classical guitar, its the 11th fret. Will raising the bridge slightly eliminate this problem?