Did my first fretwork yesterday

[ReWind James]

...and I'm glad to say I feel successful.

Fretwork has always been something I've been apprehensive about. I finally bought the tools and grew the balls to have a go at taking care of some exposed fret ends on a Strat.

I used a 6" fret leveling file to knock off the bulk of the exposed ends, then cleaned up each one with about 5 passes on each side of each fret end with a fret end dressing file. Finished up with a series of micro-mesh pads, ending in a wet sanding with 12000 grit. This was perfect for this Strat as the rosewood fretboard is factory buffed and very smooth.

The pictures are pretty awful, but the guitar went from uncomfortable to play to wonderful feeling to me. I couldn't be happier with my first go at some minor fretwork.

Feel free to tell me everything I did wrong though, I'm all about learning. I have a Jazz bass that needs the same work done next.

The camera makes that 22nd fret look like it short or something. That's just the photo. It's fine.

 

[bfcg]

Congratulations on facing your fears
Thats a 2010 guitar neck?
Man you must be a Rock Machine.

 

[BrianGT]

Well done mate!

I know how scary it is to begin with! I went from that to finally refretting a Strat neck and although I sh**t myself it turned out fine!

One step at a time mate......

 

[antz]

Nice one mate!
I remember my first refret turned out terrible on my strat but it did give me good practice at levelling and filing the ends down before i ripped them out and started to re-fret it again.

Ive just finished a full level on my mates strat. well happy with the outcome and I made £10 from it!

 

[ReWind James]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! I'm really glad I took a dive into doing this work myself. Now I feel much more confident at having a go at bigger fret jobs. I'll get on those poky bass frets next.

 

[TKOjams]

Congratulations on facing your fears

That's a major step dude.

 

[KevinB]

Nice job.

For leveling and crowning take a look at Ron Kirn's sticky on TDPRI.

There are (obviously) many ways to do this, and not everyone agrees this is the best way, but it works for me and Mister Kirn certainly knows his stuff.