I use something almost identical. I use a piece of hardwood. I put a spare fret into a slot on a piece of wood. Glue a piece of sandpaper over it and form the slot by sliding the tool over it as though I was polishing a fret. It makes a perfect copy of the fret. Add sandpaper to the tool and you're ready to polish
After levelling (with fine wet & dry paper taped to a spirit level) I mark the fret tops with a sharpie, and use a three-square file with safe edges to take the crowns down to a thin line. Then I'll use either 0000 steel wool, or 2000 grit paper to take out scratches, before polishing with Brasso. I would have thought that using 400 grit paper with the tool in this video would risk making the frets uneven, as that grit is still quite coarse. My method probably takes longer, but I believe the results are worth the extra time.
You are a wonderful guitar builder. You also think up ideas that make building easier. Great shop skills, I noticed you making straight strokes with the file, not rocking like a violin bow. In my shop I would have milled the grooves on the cnc with an 1/8" ball nose mill. Then do the bends. Great tool, I may make one this week.
This is a great idea and Ive never seen this before! Absolutely hate sanding the tops of the frets as well, makes me cringe when I watch every other luthier take 320 right to the tops of the frets after so meticulously perfecting the levelness. I wonder if I could achieve the same thing by using as old crown file, using a Dremel to remove all the actual cutting material and just use sandpaper with it to achieve the roundness...maybe even run a small piece of thread straight down the middle to prevent the very tops of the frets from being touched...I don't know if that would work or not but Im just throwing ideas out because I don't have the tools or materials to make a tool like you did.
I do the same thing showed here, but I don' need an extra tool. Just use your regular fretfile and hold the sandpaper with your fingers. To attach it with a clamp is not necessary because you'll have to change the sanding paper several times (each two frets or so).
Great idea for that tool. Was thinking before how to make one out of a old screwdriver or a 2” long piece and 1,5mm thick sheet of steel with a hand grip. Had the same thought of a V shaped groove, to take less material off of the top of the frets. Your clamping style should work fine. Thank you!👍🏼
Nice trick! Thank you for sharing. I’m pushing 67; which means my body reminds me every day that the ergonomic stressors, after so many years of doing this work professionally with a “lo-tech / hands-on” approach, are taking their toll. The chickens do, and have, come home to roost! Especially so when it comes to burnishing crowned frets by hand. It can a real knuckle buster on the digits. So anything I can do to relieve the physical stress, and pain, of doing lutherie, while still keeping my game high-craft, potentially extends my life at the bench. And that’s a win, since I am completely retired now and crafting purely “for the love” of it in my garage shop. Thanks for all your informative and inspiring tips and “how-to” videos. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 🙌🏼 🤝
Glenn Arnold, I'm already there and my body screams at me 364 days a year after 40+ years of plain good old hard physical work. The chickens came home and roosted a decade ago so I know what you're going through.
Hey thats a great idea. Its always better to make your own tool if you have the capability. This way the tool is exactly what you want verses buying something that is sort of what you want. 👍👍
this looks like a good idea if you are in a crunch,,but if you need two sheets of sandpaper that cost one and a half dollar each then after you have done 30 guitars you could have bought a pretty descent fret file tool that would still be usable..might be better to make a temporary tool out of hardwood that has similar design if one wants to fret dress a couple of their own guitars
Thanks for the video. I liked your previous video with the straight (non ergonomic) tool. But this is a nice improvement. I struggle with getting the scratch marks out, something like this would greatly improve that task. And improve the cramps in my hand from trying to hold sandpaper against a block, or loose, or whatever. Thanks!
Just saw the news about the fires out there in CO. Hope you and the family are safe. So sorry this has to happen. Happy New Year and thanks for another year of great videos and education!
Most excellent tool. May I suggest that you could also make it out of a hard rubber or plastic. I, myself have thought to drill a hole in a piece of wood, then splitting it to basically make the same thing. Then glue in the sandpaper.
I think fret erasers would be a better choice for people who dont want to go through of the process of making the file. But to make this one better I would suggest rather than cutting the sand paper in square use a longer sand paperand just keep losingt he clip and rotate the sand paper to bring a fresh side into the groove. The clip at the moment is on the back side of the file to hold the sand paper. put the clip on the smaller side of the file and you can now insert a longer sand paper and just lose the clip and rotate the sand paper..
Fret erasers are okay if you're only doing one or two guitars. If you're doing a lot of guitars, they have to be trimmed frequently because the groove that forms eventually looses contact with the surface of the frets. Also, the tip you offered won't work with the type of clip I use.
(Easier and faster than which other method?) I'm a little confused.. A crowning file doesn't polished surfaces that might touch the fretboard. Since the sandpaper surrounds this tool, the fretboard is exposed to the sandpaper.. bad, right? No?
Great seeing another of your tools evolve. I see a lot of sanding along the neck over the frets to get scratches out perpendicular to how they were created. It might get the scratches out quicker but it'll touch the top of the frets after crowning is done. Is that why you sand them parallel besides giving every fret just as much as needed instead of moving across all of them?
@@HighlineGuitars When you level the frets the scratches are oriented along the neck. With the crowning you move perpendicular to the neck and you got scratches from your crowning file along the length of the frets while you removed those from leveling. With your sanding tool you also move in the same direction to remove the scratches. Usually scratches are quicker removed when moving perpendicular to the direction of the scratches. After the crowning is done some use flappy or rubbery objects to wrap the sand paper around it and drag it all along the neck across all frets. That's why I was asking if you do it like you do now without touching the very top of the frets while individually removing scratches a bit slower perhaps.
@@onpsxmember My guess is that this would be done after running the flappy sanding block with 400 wrapped around it. Then it would be this tool with 400, 600, 800, 1000, etc.
@@ronmorey3475 That makes sense for alternating direction and getting the worst tool marks out first. But that flappy block takes away from the tops, that's why I thought he is using just this method since he mentioned that the sandpaper won't touch the top of the crown based on the V-notch with enough space for the frets.
@@JimmyKay1976 I use a die grinder with a 2~ inch polishing wheel. I'll tape off all the fretboard with masking tape and use an xacto knife to get any extra off the frets. After that I usually will use some steel wool to conform to the fret edges and clean off any loose gunk. I jump straight to trizact 3000 grit which has a foam backing pad on the sandpaper and aggressively scuff out the frets until they have a uniform dulled finish and go over it with polishing compound, rub the excess off, and pull the tape. Works really quickly for frets that aren't already worn down badly, as 3000 really won't affect the fret shape at all.
Great tips as always. Curious about the stainless steel fretmask though, i’ve never seen one pre-radiused and with a handle before. That is super handy, where could I find that?
Do you do all the crowning in this manner or do you use a crowning file first and use the tool you made in the vid to get rid of the marks from the fret file? Thanks.
Aluminium bends easy I.e choose unalloyed Aluminium and check with your source it is 1200 not 6082 or another engineering alloys which are more common on eBay . Beautiful guitar by the way !
@@HighlineGuitars This is why the small business can't do things like that. A big company would have them mass produced for a few dollars and then turn around and make an 80 to 90 percent profit and be able to sell them for 60 to 80 bucks. I understand the time and labor problem for a one person shop. and then you would have to spend all your time making them and no time to build guitars, the thing you love doing.
I use something almost identical. I use a piece of hardwood. I put a spare fret into a slot on a piece of wood. Glue a piece of sandpaper over it and form the slot by sliding the tool over it as though I was polishing a fret. It makes a perfect copy of the fret. Add sandpaper to the tool and you're ready to polish
Ur a absolute pure einstein of the guitar world!! Ur just a legend
After levelling (with fine wet & dry paper taped to a spirit level) I mark the fret tops with a sharpie, and use a three-square file with safe edges to take the crowns down to a thin line. Then I'll use either 0000 steel wool, or 2000 grit paper to take out scratches, before polishing with Brasso. I would have thought that using 400 grit paper with the tool in this video would risk making the frets uneven, as that grit is still quite coarse. My method probably takes longer, but I believe the results are worth the extra time.
This is brilliant! The fact the tool is not sanding the top of the fret is amazing. Thank you so much.
You are a wonderful guitar builder. You also think up ideas that make building easier. Great shop skills, I noticed you making straight strokes with the file, not rocking like a violin bow.
In my shop I would have milled the grooves on the cnc with an 1/8" ball nose mill. Then do the bends. Great tool, I may make one this week.
This is a great idea and Ive never seen this before! Absolutely hate sanding the tops of the frets as well, makes me cringe when I watch every other luthier take 320 right to the tops of the frets after so meticulously perfecting the levelness. I wonder if I could achieve the same thing by using as old crown file, using a Dremel to remove all the actual cutting material and just use sandpaper with it to achieve the roundness...maybe even run a small piece of thread straight down the middle to prevent the very tops of the frets from being touched...I don't know if that would work or not but Im just throwing ideas out because I don't have the tools or materials to make a tool like you did.
Brilliant ! You should market this tool !
In today's video, I will address why I don't market tools.
I do the same thing showed here, but I don' need an extra tool. Just use your regular fretfile and hold the sandpaper with your fingers. To attach it with a clamp is not necessary because you'll have to change the sanding paper several times (each two frets or so).
I hate getting rid of the scratches after recrowning too. It's the worst! I can't wait to make one of these!
Great idea for that tool. Was thinking before how to make one out of a old screwdriver or a 2” long piece and 1,5mm thick sheet of steel with a hand grip. Had the same thought of a V shaped groove, to take less material off of the top of the frets. Your clamping style should work fine.
Thank you!👍🏼
Nice trick! Thank you for sharing. I’m pushing 67; which means my body reminds me every day that the ergonomic stressors, after so many years of doing this work professionally with a “lo-tech / hands-on” approach, are taking their toll. The chickens do, and have, come home to roost! Especially so when it comes to burnishing crowned frets by hand. It can a real knuckle buster on the digits. So anything I can do to relieve the physical stress, and pain, of doing lutherie, while still keeping my game high-craft, potentially extends my life at the bench. And that’s a win, since I am completely retired now and crafting purely “for the love” of it in my garage shop. Thanks for all your informative and inspiring tips and “how-to” videos. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 🙌🏼 🤝
Glenn Arnold, I'm already there and my body screams at me 364 days a year after 40+ years of plain good old hard physical work. The chickens came home and roosted a decade ago so I know what you're going through.
What a simple, smart design! Wish I'd seen this prior to buying a fret crowning file. Thanks 😎
Hey thats a great idea. Its always better to make your own tool if you have the capability. This way the tool is exactly what you want verses buying something that is sort of what you want. 👍👍
Wow awesome, I’ve done something similar with a tooth brush! Thanks for all your tricks of the trade!
this looks like a good idea if you are in a crunch,,but if you need two sheets of sandpaper that cost one and a half dollar each then after you have done 30 guitars you could have bought a pretty descent fret file tool that would still be usable..might be better to make a temporary tool out of hardwood that has similar design if one wants to fret dress a couple of their own guitars
Great instrument! I should definitely try it! Thanks a lot for the idea🙏
Nice, cool tip! Always lookin for a way to make boring chores go faster but still do a good job. 👍
So true!
looks like with coarser paper and a little rockin side to side it coul recrown as well
Thanks for the video. I liked your previous video with the straight (non ergonomic) tool. But this is a nice improvement. I struggle with getting the scratch marks out, something like this would greatly improve that task. And improve the cramps in my hand from trying to hold sandpaper against a block, or loose, or whatever. Thanks!
Man, you'd sell a load of those if you found a way to mass produce them. That looks like a great design.
Wow, creative solution.
Well done sir.
I'm so happy to see this great tool. Now, off to make one of my own. Thanks! Just subscribed.
Thanks for the sub!
Great idea and great tool, too! Thanks for sharing this!!
Looks simple enough.
I'm not a luthier or metal fab guy, but cranking out an equivalent wooden tool should be fairly trivial. Thanks.
Nice work yet again. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎
Sweet, brilliant idea. thanks for showing
Really Great Content thank you...Lot of tips and very thorough description
Just saw the news about the fires out there in CO. Hope you and the family are safe. So sorry this has to happen. Happy New Year and thanks for another year of great videos and education!
I'm about 50 miles south of where the fires are. Got another video dropping this morning.
Most excellent tool. May I suggest that you could also make it out of a hard rubber or plastic. I, myself have thought to drill a hole in a piece of wood, then splitting it to basically make the same thing. Then glue in the sandpaper.
I prefer aluminum.
StewMac just disliked this... 😁
Great idea…I’m going to try making one, out of a curved toothbrush. 😁
This luthier is genius 🎉😂❤
Great work!! Could you maybe grind that groove with a triangular file ???
Yes, absolutely
Very good idea 😁💡
very interesting thanks for sharing
I think fret erasers would be a better choice for people who dont want to go through of the process of making the file.
But to make this one better I would suggest rather than cutting the sand paper in square use a longer sand paperand just keep losingt he clip and rotate the sand paper to bring a fresh side into the groove. The clip at the moment is on the back side of the file to hold the sand paper. put the clip on the smaller side of the file and you can now insert a longer sand paper and just lose the clip and rotate the sand paper..
Fret erasers are okay if you're only doing one or two guitars. If you're doing a lot of guitars, they have to be trimmed frequently because the groove that forms eventually looses contact with the surface of the frets. Also, the tip you offered won't work with the type of clip I use.
@@HighlineGuitars why wont it work with that type of clip? you just have to put the clip on the side which is perpendicular to the fret wite.
Extremely helpful!
You might want to mention to use a "fret level checking" tool to make sure you don't take off too much of the fret as you go.
Thanks Cliff Clavin!
(Easier and faster than which other method?)
I'm a little confused.. A crowning file doesn't polished surfaces that might touch the fretboard. Since the sandpaper surrounds this tool, the fretboard is exposed to the sandpaper.. bad, right? No?
Holding the sandpaper with your fingers.
Awesome
Excellent. I use a used fret rubber for this but this is a great idea. Off to the workshop...
II have a drawer full of fret rubbers. Worthless.
@@HighlineGuitars What I meant was I use a used fretboard rubber with a piece of sandpaper over the groove in it. Not as nice as your tool, though
thank you what a great idea
awesome thanks
Could you just clip sandpaper into a fret crowning file (if available) instead of making the thing?
Well, if you have to ask...
@@HighlineGuitars weird flex but ok
Hi, all i do is take a fret eraser, made sall groove, cut sanding strips the width the eraser same as this tool but not having one more tool.
It’s still a tool. And it’s a tool that doesn’t work very well on stainless steel frets (to rubbery).
Great seeing another of your tools evolve. I see a lot of sanding along the neck over the frets to get scratches out perpendicular to how they were created. It might get the scratches out quicker but it'll touch the top of the frets after crowning is done. Is that why you sand them parallel besides giving every fret just as much as needed instead of moving across all of them?
Huh?
@@HighlineGuitars
When you level the frets the scratches are oriented along the neck. With the crowning you move perpendicular to the neck and you got scratches from your crowning file along the length of the frets while you removed those from leveling. With your sanding tool you also move in the same direction to remove the scratches. Usually scratches are quicker removed when moving perpendicular to the direction of the scratches.
After the crowning is done some use flappy or rubbery objects to wrap the sand paper around it and drag it all along the neck across all frets. That's why I was asking if you do it like you do now without touching the very top of the frets while individually removing scratches a bit slower perhaps.
@@onpsxmember My guess is that this would be done after running the flappy sanding block with 400 wrapped around it. Then it would be this tool with 400, 600, 800, 1000, etc.
@@ronmorey3475
That makes sense for alternating direction and getting the worst tool marks out first. But that flappy block takes away from the tops, that's why I thought he is using just this method since he mentioned that the sandpaper won't touch the top of the crown based on the V-notch with enough space for the frets.
@@onpsxmember True, but I always thought that 400 was not enough grit to effect the crown.
Great tool, Great channel!
I've heard sanding from side to side can ruin the neck radius. Or is that fret leveling
Any sanding stroke can ruin a fretboard or the frets themselves if you don't have a good feel what's going on.
@@HighlineGuitars What do you think about using a Dremel to polish frets? Does that remove much fret material? I like the idea. Super polished frets
@@JimmyKay1976 I use a die grinder with a 2~ inch polishing wheel. I'll tape off all the fretboard with masking tape and use an xacto knife to get any extra off the frets.
After that I usually will use some steel wool to conform to the fret edges and clean off any loose gunk. I jump straight to trizact 3000 grit which has a foam backing pad on the sandpaper and aggressively scuff out the frets until they have a uniform dulled finish and go over it with polishing compound, rub the excess off, and pull the tape.
Works really quickly for frets that aren't already worn down badly, as 3000 really won't affect the fret shape at all.
Great tool!
Great tips as always. Curious about the stainless steel fretmask though, i’ve never seen one pre-radiused and with a handle before. That is super handy, where could I find that?
eBay.
Music nomad makes them
@@kmatax9237 That’s it! Thanks!
Great idea!
Do you do all the crowning in this manner or do you use a crowning file first and use the tool you made in the vid to get rid of the marks from the fret file? Thanks.
I use a diamond fret crowning tool. 150 and 300 grit before I use this tool.
@@HighlineGuitars - Thanks....that's important to know...
start the groove with a hacksaw?
Exactly my tought
Aluminium bends easy I.e choose unalloyed Aluminium and check with your source it is 1200 not 6082 or another engineering alloys which are more common on eBay . Beautiful guitar by the way !
My bar was 6062. It took some elbow grease to bend it, but it did so without cracking.
@@HighlineGuitars that's not so bad . You can actually heat that a little and it will keep its set when cool. Great job .
you can homemade it if your home is a workshop.
Hello! Can you tell how long portions are on your sanding file and what angles about it's bent? Decided to cut a few of theese with cnc😊
Why not use a 3 corner file to make the groove?
Because the only one I have has the edges ground flat.
Those fret markers are crazy cool. What are they?
Luminlay
I like it
Why wouldn't a piece of shaped hardwood work the same ?
Did someone say shaped hardwood wouldn't work?
I know what I’m making this week!
Great idea! I would use a worn out diamond crowning file.
You should sell those.
Nice tool but that’s 96! changes of sandpaper
waaahhh
I prefer an angle grinder with some 30grit disks and my”eyecromiter” as my depth gauge!……you are welcome!
Awesome! Where can we buy one of your masterpieces?
Awesome !!! 🤣🤣🤣
Make them and sell them to us.
No money in it unless I charge $195.97 each.
@@HighlineGuitars This is why the small business can't do things like that. A big company would have them mass produced for a few dollars and then turn around and make an 80 to 90 percent profit and be able to sell them for 60 to 80 bucks. I understand the time and labor problem for a one person shop. and then you would have to spend all your time making them and no time to build guitars, the thing you love doing.
Nice tool but Guitar How To's covered this 2 years before you. His is made of wood and is easier to make than using metal.
I made my first one out of wood and it wore out too fast.
FYI: I made my wood fret crowning video 6 years before Guitar How To's made his. ua-cam.com/video/tLL8vbDhluo/v-deo.htmlsi=Q2cAikuvON5my2kJ
looks like music nomad just stole your idea...hmmm
it is not homemade, but workshop made.
My workshop is in my home, so homemade.
Great idea !