Now restore the fret slot depth. By making the fingerboard radius the fret slots will have become less deep or will have disappeared near the edges. Recut the slots now and make them deeper wherever necessary (5).
Installing the frets
Before installing the frets remove any grease and other residue from the fretwire with a naphta-drenched cloth (6). Don't be surprised if the cloth gets all black.
Now chamfer the edges of the fret slots with a small threecorner file. This will make it easier to install the frets later and will also make it possible to remove frets without any wood splintering off.
Bending fretwire
The radius of the fretwire used should always be slightly smaller than the fingerboard radius. Fretwire supplied in sticks has to be bent before installation. Fretwire supplied in rolls may already have the right radius, but might just as easily not. In any case it is advisable to take the trouble of building a jig for bending fretwire. Such a jig will produce very good results in no time at all. I've got one made of wood (7), with a wheel that can be raised or lowered to set the required radius. Adjusting the proper radius is kind of trial and error, but once set you can radius fretwire on and on by simply pushing the wire into the rotating wheels. When doing so, make sure the fret wire tang faces upwards. If both lower wheels are the same height, the fretwire will remain, or become, straight. By fastening a washer between the two narrow wheels that make the top wheel a slot in which the fret tang can be guided is created. Each of the three wheels is fastened with a bolt and two nuts. Tighten the two nuts on the board so that the wheels can
turn without moving sideways. What diameter you choose for the wheels is not
important. You can either use an adjustable circle cutter or
a hole saw for making them.
With both tools you will automatically get the center-
hole for the bolt.
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Washer of fret tang (incl. barb) thickness
Adjustment of the bending radius
Photo: Stewart-MacDonald's Guitar Shop Supply
Pressing in the frets
The method most commonly used nowadays by guitar manufacturing companies is to press the frets into the slots with special arbor presses and cauls whose bottom side is shaped to fit the fretboard radius.
Stewart-MacDonald's fretting arbor set can be used in a drill stand and comes with 6"-, 7.25"-, 9.5"- and 12"-radius fretting cauls (picture below). This useful tool allows easy and fret-friendly fret installation: gently hammer the bent fretwire into the slot on one side, place the neck in a concave neck support caul under the fret press, and press in the fret, taking care to install the frets perfectly square to the fingerboard.This set guarantees highquality installation of frets.
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Fretting
The traditional method of installing the frets is to gently bang them in with a hammer. This method, which is still as good as any, requires a hammer made up of some material softer than the fretwire to prevent any possible damage being done to the wire. A normal plastic hammer from a DIY store would be perfectly suitable for this purpose, but alternatively you could also use a brass head hammer or, better still, a special “deadblow” hammer with an oil/shot-filled head which allows for smooth but firm fret installation. With all hammers you have to take care not to make dents into the fingerboard surface.
As already mentioned, the fretwire should ideally be bent slightly more (have a slightly tighter curve) than the radius on the fingerboard. Start knocking in the frets at either end and then work towards the center (1). At both ends the frets should protrude slightly. Provided that the fret slots are the right size, the barb on the tang of the fretwire should ensure that the frets stay in their slots in the fingerboard. If the ends protrude and you press them upwards, the frets must not move; if they do, they need to be glued down. Some guitarbuilders put a bit of glue on the tang before knocking the frets in, the idea being that the glue will fill any existing hollow spaces in the slot and thus make the fret stay in place better. You could also just dip the ends of the frets in a bit of glue or super glue, or you could tilt the neck, put a bit of super glue into the fret slots and let it flow from one end to the other. On maple fingerboards you could put a drop of water into the fret slots before installing the frets. This makes the wood swell and holds the frets in the slots even more safely. If you use glue, remember to protect the areas around the fret slots by masking them with adhesive tape or by applying a coat of wax.
There are nearly as many approaches as there are guitarmakers around. I personally put thin hide glue into the fret slots (2) and wipe off any excess immediately with a damp cloth. Any hide glue film still remaining after fret installation can be removed with a damp cloth, too. I put the small dosage bottle into a hot water bath in between.
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The frets should be installed as tight as possible in the slots to ensure a good sound transmission onto the fingerboard. Glue fills hollow spaces and thus improves the transmission of sound.
When the frets have been fitted their ends are cut off with a special fret nipper (3). If you have pliers with two bevels, as I have, the front one will have to be removed to ensure the pliers cut right at the tip (4). For removing material I used a disc sander. When cutting the fretwire press the pliers downwards with the free hand to prevent the fretwire from being pulled up in the process.
For fretwire to fit over neck bindings a part of the tang has to be removed on either end of the fret (6). This can be done by hand and fret by fret using a file, or, if you feel like making a small investment, with a special fret tang nipper (5) that will do the job in a matter of seconds. Cut off one end and mark the other (7). The nipper undercuts the fretwire cleanly (8) and makes the fret ready for installation (9).
Undercutting the fretwire might even be appropriate on unbound fingerboards. The projecting fret ends can then be hammered in even further so that they will be bedded down into the fingerboard even more safely. This also helps to minimize any risk of the frets loosening while cutting their ends flush with the edge of the fingerboard.
Installing the frets from the sides
The frets can also be installed from the sides. In order for you to be able to do this in your own workshop the fret has to be held down with a block while you bang it in from one side with a hammer. This obviously has to be done very carefully. If the fret is not held down firmly enough, the fretwire will not be properly seated, and if you hammer too hard, it will bend.
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Using epoxy
Some guitarbuilders also use epoxy for fixing the frets in place. For this method the fret slots have to be made wide enough to allow pressing the frets into the slots with one finger. If necessary, the frets can then be removed again easily and without the fingerboard splintering. Use 24-hour epoxy with an open time of about 20 minutes. The two components of the epoxy glue have to be mixed together very carefully: put them on a sheet of glass in two parallel and equally-long lines and keep mixing them until an evenly grey color emerges. Rub some wax all over the fingerboard and mask the areas to the left and right of the fret slots with adhesive tape. Then use a small spatula to put a small amount of glue into each slot, making sure not to put in too much as this would make it difficult or even impossible to press in the frets later. After that remove the strips of adhesive tape and press in the frets, which have obviously already been prepared and cut to the right dimensions earlier. When you have pressed in the frets place one iron rod at either edge of the fingerboard and put one wooden clamping caul on top of them (a). Tighten the clamps only lightly so that the fret crowns lie flat on the fingerboard. If the frets are slightly overbent, they will be pressed flat onto the fingerboard. If, however, they are strongly overbent, they will be higher in the middle. Remove any excess glue the next day with a chisel.
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Removing frets
Mask the fingerboard to the left and right of the fret, heat the fret with a powerful soldering iron, adding some solder to better spread the heat. Then remove the fret with special pliers whose jaw faces lie flat on the fingerboard so that they can “bite” under the fretcrown without damaging the fingerboard. Be careful when removing frets to not cause any wood to splinter off. If this should happen none the less, glue down the splinters.
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Using super glue
The frets can also be glued in with cyanoacrylate glue (super glue). For masking the areas between the fret slots you can use teflon tape because super glue does not stick to teflon. Then press in two frets at a time, using a clamp and a wooden clamping caul (its underside must be concave for a radiused fingerboard). If you use super glue, the fret slots should be cut slightly less wide than for epoxying them in place.
If for some reason a fret should be loose, apply a bit of thin super glue under it and clamp the fret down for five minutes. Before you apply the glue cut the frets to the right length and have them ready at hand in the right order.
You can also use 5-minute epoxy in place of super gluess.
The fret ends are cut flush with the edges of the fingerboard with a fine file. I use a fret file with glued-on handle for this job. Keep filing the ends until the file makes contact with the side of the fingerboard and until there is no gap left for any light to shine through.
Bevel the ends of the frets by holding the file at a slight angle towards the fingerboard. This is necessary to ensure that any jagged fret ends do not foul the player's fingers. The angle should not be below 70 degrees, as the smaller the angle is, the less space there will be for the strings. Stop filing when the file touches the edge of the fingerboard (1).