Hey Mr. Next Project (sorry don’t know your name!) - that was a great demo of the way I level frets. On a point of accuracy, I bought the Katana (rather than got it free to evaluate) and loved it. The only reason I don’t use it today is because the maker unfortunately made it impossible. I raved about it in my videos until the maker of said tool went crazy and super-aggressive; demanding that I used these but not those words to describe it; that I shouldn’t show it in detail because the Chinese were stealing his copyright etc etc. I tried really hard to gently point out that I was positively promoting it out of good will and that I really didn’t appreciate being insulted and threatened with legal action (!!). Anyway to keep it short it was so unpleasant an experienced that there was no way I was going to use that tool on my videos… but the method made complete sense and for those who care, I’ve always given credit for the method to the Katana but it’s difficult to explain why I don’t use it without re-telling this story every time! So I just improvised and found that it was pretty effective. I jokingly referred to it as the ‘Banana’ because it rhymed with the original tool which, by the way, now sits unused on a shelf. There are some subtleties and other advantages about the method that I’ve learned over the years and these days I tend to use the slightly stiffer U channel rods these days (which can require a little preparation). it’s worked really well for me over the last 8 or 9 years so I continue to use it :) Thanks for the shout-out and credits and to ranman for pointing you at my stuff 😊
Mr. Deeks! Thanks for watching and the reply/comment too. Sorry I didn't point out that you had purchased the Katana, hopefully everyone who watches your videos will pick up on that. Ranman (Randy) mentioned that he is also using a U-channel trussrod, and I believe he stated that he borrowed that from you as well. Based on that, I had thought of purchasing a U-channel, but then figured I'd try what I had on hand. Thank you for sharing the process (which I greatly glossed over), I'm seeing it as a great addition to my projects, process and bag of tricks! I'm glad I was able to share your process and hopefully others will find it helpful as well. Be safe and take care, John D. (Mr. Next Project - that's funny, I like it!)
1:50 .... This is why your videos are the best!!! 🤣🤣🤣 I spewed my coffee, laughed and laughed (outloud!), the dog started barking, my wife: "what are you watching?" 🤣🤣🤣
Hey Man, good to hear from you and thanks for watching this comedy channel! Glad you enjoyed the video, I try to keep things light hearted. It's good to laugh, and bark too! Be safe and take care!
Thanks for taking the time to watch, and the kind words, greatly appreciated! This was a fun learning project for me. I always like putting something new in my bag of tricks - just call me felix the cat (if you're old enough to know the reference). Be safe and take care my friend!
Dude, I'm so stoked to see you using the suggested idea. I've now been involved in a few of these. One guy I asked to share his experiences with not having lessons for many years and then one year after having them. Was a great video. Landon Baily is his name. Cheers mate! This will catch on! I hope people can see that thry can have way better action ehivh will make their playing better. Yes, its tedious but theres a learning curve and that makes it difficult for some.
ranman, good to hear from you and thanks for pointing me to Sam's site. The timing was perfect, as I've been looking at the StewMac neck jig, the Katana... trying to figure out how to re-invent everything to fit my needs. Then your message popped up with Sam's truss-rod idea. Everything just clicked at the right time, perfect! I think this process should come in handy on some projects. Thanks again, be safe and take care!
William, thanks for watching and letting us know of your success with this process. It seems like a great addition to fine-tune the fret prep process. Good stuff! Be safe and take care!
Jens, good to hear from you and thanks for watching! I'll be trying this process as an addition to flat-leveling in the future. So far, I think this process will help catch little irregularities that may only appear when the neck is strung up with relief. Very promising experiment! Hope all is well. Take care!
Forest Fifer, good to hear from you again and thanks for watching! Glad I used the right words, in the right order...and you broke the code. Well done sir! Hope all is going well for you, take care
Achim, thanks for watching! Now take a nap, lol. I'm going to keep trying and modifying this process. I think a regular "flat" level will still preceed this process, but I was in a hurry...it still worked well. Take care my friend!
Interesting approach! And you're onto something with that wiper idea, an existing mechanism that follows the contour of a curved surface -- just need to test how much pressure is needed to abrade metal, rather than just squeegee water aside!
Hey Mark, thanks for watching! I was trying to re-invent this thing as I was trying out the process. I've looked at the Katana and a few other ideas, everything is expensive and either over-engineered, or under-engineered. I had just replaced some windshield wipers and the lightbulb lit up! The way the arm branches out to distribute pressure seems perfect. Now to refit it to this purpose - somehow. The 3mm x 6mm ( 1/8" x 1/4" ) carbon fiber rod seems to have the perfect stiffness, yet flexibility. It slid effortlessly over the frets and did a great job of bridging just on the high frets, on this test case. I'm now looking at some 2mm x 8mm, and 2x10 carbon rod... more testing in the future. Hope all is well, take care man!
11:26 a string off fret level would only remove more fret material, If you get action that is suitably low and without hint of slap or choking out that's the only "fret repair" needed.
womplestilskin, thanks for watching! What I meant by "fret repair", would include verifying the seating of all frets, gluing in any loose frets, possibly a re-level as necessary to remove divots or excessive/uneven wear. Sometimes removing fret material is necessary to fix a bigger picture. For this test I did none of that. I just pulled the strings out of the way ran the action down pretty low (too low perhaps) and tried this process to see if I could remove the high spots and improve playability. Not an ideal test, nor a worst case senario. In general, it did a surprisingly good job. Definitely a trick to have on hand. I've since tried it a couple more times and tweaking my process. Interesting stuff, at least to me. Hoe all is well, be safe and take care!
Matt, good to hear from you and thanks for watching! I like the novelty of the "fret wiper", could be a gimmick that actually works, or not. LOL Have a great weekend, take care my friend!
I was hoping you were going to first level the frets with the straight carbon rod and check the fretting action. Next use a sharpie pen on the frets and hit them again using the banana, so you could see if any additional fret material was removed then re-check to see if the action was maybe improved further. Hence, determining whether the curved or the straight "understring method" gives the best result ?
Thanks for watching! I hear ya, and completely understand. Flat leveling will be my typical approach, and I think I'll use this method as a finishing step before crown and polish in the future. For this 'test", I didn't really want a perfect situation to start with. So, I didn't fix fret issues, such as raised frets, nor irregular heights. That would make way to much sense, lol. I just jumped in to see how the tool handles, what to expect and if either method actually solved a problem. I'm pretty pleased with the out come of both. The ease of the carbon fiber is attractive, but I question if it will want to over-sand. More testing and procedures adjustment is needed. Stay tuned! Be safe and take care!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems like considerably more work for what I can only assume is minimal improvement--to be clear, improvement on the previous method, not on where this particular Strat was at before you started. Thanks for the morning vid.
OldManZen, good to hear from you and thanks for watching! That's a great question, and the answer may vary project to project. For this particular guitar, I did skip the traditional flattened fingerboard, flat leveling step - just to offer a worst case scenario of sorts. Once I got the set-up close, the frets had a lot of little areas that needed work, especially on the treble side from the 10th fret up. A flat leveling may have fixed most of those issues. This process test really showed me how this process can get rid of those trouble areas and any potential fall-away area issues. So, maybe some spot leveling done this way can resolve issues without a full flat-leveling, or simply catch small issues that appear only under string tension with relief in the neck. This is probably more likely a problem on necks were the fingerboard surface hasn't been corrected before a re-fret. I think I'm talking/thinking in circles now. Hmm. Again, this was not an ideal comparison of one process to another, just a - jump in the pool and swim around kinda test. Not scientific at all - that's me. I really do see this as being useful on necks that are flat-leveled, strung up and still have some fret-out or buzz issues. I'll be doing more testing of such issues soon, and if I find a better sample or process I'll share that too. I like the idea of this process, and will add it to my bag of tricks - if I remember. Hope all is going well for you, take care!
@@theNextProject Yeah, I can see how this would be useful in situations where it's just one bad spot on the board, and you can do a (reasonably) quick fix.
Hey Marty, good to hear from you again and thanks for watching! The little yellow handled nut files are MusicNomad brand. They sell a number of file sets, and also individual files. They are diamond grit, so you need to clean them as you go. I'm currently using one of those "block style" pencil lead erasers. Take care!
Katana filing a fretboard under tension is not a novel concept a Pleked guitar is scanned under string tension then the frets are modified to that scan to allow smooth playing without choking, so anyone using that concept is not stealing that basic idea of filing under tension.
K Ft, thanks for watching, and the comment too. Agreed, Pleking frets is a way of getting the neck precisely playable when it is under string tension, but I'm not comparing this test to Pleking frets. Thought I mentioned this test is borrowing the concept of a tool such as the Katana, which is a handheld manual process, not a computer driven device. If I said "stealing", then I misspoke, sorry if that is the case. This test costs about $10-$15 dollars, or what ever the cost of a truss rod might be. For me, it was free. Plek work seems to range from $250 - $400, likely depends on the shop and location I'd guess. Anyway, this was a test, or proof of concept process for me. I hadn't used this method previously, but have used it a handful of times since. While using this method on a current project, I'm amazed by how well the fretwork can be "adjusted" by this method. The fretwork is allowing a .75mm action with out fret buzz. However, this is an unplayable action, as the oscillation of a plucked string can easily be beyond .75mm. So, I may not get fret buzz, but there is string "jangle". I'm still testing and learning, always looking to improve the work I do, without investing in a Plek machine, or sending my work out to be Plek'd. Hope all is well, be safe and take care!
I tried this method but unfortunately it is not precise. When I saw how curved the truss rod (HOSCO brand) actually is ( I using the Veritas straight edge) this explained the inconsistent results. For me the better method is to use a fret rocker to find the problem frets and then with a suitable file or sandpaper to fix them. Тhe most important thing is to have precise tools. ...аslo I found that the most of the StewMac "STRAIGHT" tools is not straight at all, inclusive fret rocker.
Alexander, thanks for watching! I've had many fret rockers that aren't flat too. A simple tool that is very inconsistent. I've done more testing with this style of "relief" leveling, where the neck is bowed under string tension. Finding it interesting how each neck has special spots where it compresses or deforms slightly differently. I love a challenge! Hope you are doing well, be safe and take care!
I don’t know why you are confused about the StewMac and similar devices. You tune your guitar. Then adjust the truss rod so the neck is straight. You only slack the truss rod with the strings lose. Not that’s not “under tension”, is it? The idea, which goes both back to a product in the 70s called the “Thomas & Ginex Fret Leveling system” in which you use a small metal bar at the nut to raise the action a bit, then you tuned up your guitar and adjusted the neck straight. Then you ran a metal plate with sandpaper under the strings to level the frets. That’s how the new StewMac tool works. Also Dan Erlewine neck jig, which allowed the neck to stay in the same shape as under string tension. The idea in all cases is the neck might not stay totally flat under string tension. Wood is non uniform. So this lets you level the frets while under string tension. Old idea, with newer techniques.
David, thanks for watching! I understand what you mentioned and that's not what confused me regarding the SM fret bar. Depending on what advert/video of theirs you see, SM at one time claims the fretbar is used under string under tension, but as you mentioned the neck needs Zero "0" relief, to use that style leveling device. As I mentioned, this is a similar method/process as used by the WudTone UTFL device. I see this type of leveling as under-compression, basically a step up from flat-leveling. The SM marketing seems to basically throw everything in with the kitchen sink, saying under tension leveling, showing flat use leveling without strings, showing leveling if frets without the neck jig...just marketing. As for leveling with a flat plate from the 70s, yep gotcha. The WudTone is basically that. Lowe's sells C channel for about $10, basically the same if using the under-compression (flat neck) process. The process I was testing here is under-tension, under-compression with relief. I found the process using a truss rod, and also a piece of carbon fiber rod to work really well. No need for an expensive tool or neck jig. That's my takeaway. This is also the basic process used with the MR Katana, but it gets under elevated strings, from what I gather. But the Katana is a very expensive tool. Anyway. I get what your saying, and I understand the purpose of the neck jig too. Had planned to build one, then basically realized I don't need it for my projects at the moment, but maybe someday. Sorry for mistyped/ misspelled words, in this reply. I'm on my phone...can't type well. Ha! Thanks for your explanation. Hope all is going well, take care!
This seems pretty pointless to me, and a lot of work. You still had to remove the strings to crown the frets, so why not do this at the start, then straighten the neck and level them properly?
1man, thanks for watching! I agree that a proper, or standard fret level should take place before this type of process. This was largely a test to see what outcome I could expect from using this method to correct fret buzz or choke. Basically a worst case scenario. I do see value in understanding this method, as there are some necks that even with leveled frets, can develop high and low spots when strung up under tension. So, while flat leveling is an ideal strat, it may not be a perfect solution at all times either. Good to experiment and have a way to fine-tune if and when needed. Sam Deeks video does a more thorough job of demonstration and explanation. Hope all is well, take care!
@@theNextProject I see what you were thinking then. That's an interesting point about necks changing under tension, so I can see why this approach might work in some situations.
Hey Mr. Next Project (sorry don’t know your name!) - that was a great demo of the way I level frets. On a point of accuracy, I bought the Katana (rather than got it free to evaluate) and loved it. The only reason I don’t use it today is because the maker unfortunately made it impossible. I raved about it in my videos until the maker of said tool went crazy and super-aggressive; demanding that I used these but not those words to describe it; that I shouldn’t show it in detail because the Chinese were stealing his copyright etc etc. I tried really hard to gently point out that I was positively promoting it out of good will and that I really didn’t appreciate being insulted and threatened with legal action (!!). Anyway to keep it short it was so unpleasant an experienced that there was no way I was going to use that tool on my videos… but the method made complete sense and for those who care, I’ve always given credit for the method to the Katana but it’s difficult to explain why I don’t use it without re-telling this story every time! So I just improvised and found that it was pretty effective. I jokingly referred to it as the ‘Banana’ because it rhymed with the original tool which, by the way, now sits unused on a shelf.
There are some subtleties and other advantages about the method that I’ve learned over the years and these days I tend to use the slightly stiffer U channel rods these days (which can require a little preparation). it’s worked really well for me over the last 8 or 9 years so I continue to use it :)
Thanks for the shout-out and credits and to ranman for pointing you at my stuff 😊
Mr. Deeks!
Thanks for watching and the reply/comment too.
Sorry I didn't point out that you had purchased the Katana, hopefully everyone who watches your videos will pick up on that.
Ranman (Randy) mentioned that he is also using a U-channel trussrod, and I believe he stated that he borrowed that from you as well. Based on that, I had thought of purchasing a U-channel, but then figured I'd try what I had on hand.
Thank you for sharing the process (which I greatly glossed over), I'm seeing it as a great addition to my projects, process and bag of tricks!
I'm glad I was able to share your process and hopefully others will find it helpful as well.
Be safe and take care,
John D. (Mr. Next Project - that's funny, I like it!)
1:50 .... This is why your videos are the best!!! 🤣🤣🤣 I spewed my coffee, laughed and laughed (outloud!), the dog started barking, my wife: "what are you watching?" 🤣🤣🤣
Hey Man, good to hear from you and thanks for watching this comedy channel!
Glad you enjoyed the video, I try to keep things light hearted.
It's good to laugh, and bark too!
Be safe and take care!
And we have another exceptional video. Thank you for the hard work and dedication getting these videos out here. Stay Safe!!
Thanks for taking the time to watch, and the kind words, greatly appreciated!
This was a fun learning project for me.
I always like putting something new in my bag of tricks - just call me felix the cat (if you're old enough to know the reference).
Be safe and take care my friend!
Dude, I'm so stoked to see you using the suggested idea. I've now been involved in a few of these. One guy I asked to share his experiences with not having lessons for many years and then one year after having them. Was a great video. Landon Baily is his name. Cheers mate! This will catch on! I hope people can see that thry can have way better action ehivh will make their playing better. Yes, its tedious but theres a learning curve and that makes it difficult for some.
ranman, good to hear from you and thanks for pointing me to Sam's site.
The timing was perfect, as I've been looking at the StewMac neck jig, the Katana... trying to figure out how to re-invent everything to fit my needs.
Then your message popped up with Sam's truss-rod idea. Everything just clicked at the right time, perfect!
I think this process should come in handy on some projects.
Thanks again, be safe and take care!
@@theNextProject , awesome! I just love it when a plan comes together! A-Team!
I've used Sam' banana method on three gutars. Worked a treat.
William, thanks for watching and letting us know of your success with this process.
It seems like a great addition to fine-tune the fret prep process.
Good stuff!
Be safe and take care!
Thank You for doing the experiment for us! I'm curious to see if this method will catch on with you.
Take care
Jens
Jens, good to hear from you and thanks for watching!
I'll be trying this process as an addition to flat-leveling in the future. So far, I think this process will help catch little irregularities that may only appear when the neck is strung up with relief.
Very promising experiment!
Hope all is well. Take care!
Thanks.
flub29, thanks for watching.
Be safe an take care!
I saw thw title of video and the first person i thought of was Sam Deeks...saw him doing this a while ago.
Forest Fifer, good to hear from you again and thanks for watching!
Glad I used the right words, in the right order...and you broke the code. Well done sir!
Hope all is going well for you, take care
Thumbs up.
It was fascinating to see this.
But now I'm tired, though it's only before 2 pm.
Achim, thanks for watching!
Now take a nap, lol.
I'm going to keep trying and modifying this process. I think a regular "flat" level will still preceed this process, but I was in a hurry...it still worked well.
Take care my friend!
Hey it’s Anthony! Nice to re-discover your work ?
Anthony, thanks for watching and glad you found us again!
Great work as usual. Take care.
Hey Steve, thanks for watching!
I think this process looks promising.
Have a great weekend, take care!
Those musicnomad nut slot files are amazing, love them
Betterl8, thanks for watching!
I've just started using them, and so far I'm liking 'em too!
👍
Very interesting...
dugbert, thanks for watching!
Yep, I like trying new things like this. Gets me thinking in different directions.
Be safe and take care!
Interesting approach! And you're onto something with that wiper idea, an existing mechanism that follows the contour of a curved surface -- just need to test how much pressure is needed to abrade metal, rather than just squeegee water aside!
Hey Mark, thanks for watching!
I was trying to re-invent this thing as I was trying out the process. I've looked at the Katana and a few other ideas, everything is expensive and either over-engineered, or under-engineered.
I had just replaced some windshield wipers and the lightbulb lit up! The way the arm branches out to distribute pressure seems perfect. Now to refit it to this purpose - somehow.
The 3mm x 6mm ( 1/8" x 1/4" ) carbon fiber rod seems to have the perfect stiffness, yet flexibility. It slid effortlessly over the frets and did a great job of bridging just on the high frets, on this test case.
I'm now looking at some 2mm x 8mm, and 2x10 carbon rod... more testing in the future.
Hope all is well, take care man!
11:26 a string off fret level would only remove more fret material, If you get action that is suitably low and without hint of slap or choking out that's the only "fret repair" needed.
womplestilskin, thanks for watching!
What I meant by "fret repair", would include verifying the seating of all frets, gluing in any loose frets, possibly a re-level as necessary to remove divots or excessive/uneven wear. Sometimes removing fret material is necessary to fix a bigger picture.
For this test I did none of that. I just pulled the strings out of the way ran the action down pretty low (too low perhaps) and tried this process to see if I could remove the high spots and improve playability. Not an ideal test, nor a worst case senario.
In general, it did a surprisingly good job. Definitely a trick to have on hand. I've since tried it a couple more times and tweaking my process. Interesting stuff, at least to me.
Hoe all is well, be safe and take care!
Another great video.
A fret wiping system, that could work,
Matt, good to hear from you and thanks for watching!
I like the novelty of the "fret wiper", could be a gimmick that actually works, or not. LOL
Have a great weekend, take care my friend!
I was hoping you were going to first level the frets with the straight carbon rod and check the fretting action. Next use a sharpie pen on the frets and hit them again using the banana, so you could see if any additional fret material was removed then re-check to see if the action was maybe improved further. Hence, determining whether the curved or the straight "understring method" gives the best result ?
Thanks for watching!
I hear ya, and completely understand. Flat leveling will be my typical approach, and I think I'll use this method as a finishing step before crown and polish in the future.
For this 'test", I didn't really want a perfect situation to start with. So, I didn't fix fret issues, such as raised frets, nor irregular heights. That would make way to much sense, lol.
I just jumped in to see how the tool handles, what to expect and if either method actually solved a problem.
I'm pretty pleased with the out come of both. The ease of the carbon fiber is attractive, but I question if it will want to over-sand.
More testing and procedures adjustment is needed.
Stay tuned!
Be safe and take care!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems like considerably more work for what I can only assume is minimal improvement--to be clear, improvement on the previous method, not on where this particular Strat was at before you started.
Thanks for the morning vid.
OldManZen, good to hear from you and thanks for watching!
That's a great question, and the answer may vary project to project.
For this particular guitar, I did skip the traditional flattened fingerboard, flat leveling step - just to offer a worst case scenario of sorts.
Once I got the set-up close, the frets had a lot of little areas that needed work, especially on the treble side from the 10th fret up. A flat leveling may have fixed most of those issues. This process test really showed me how this process can get rid of those trouble areas and any potential fall-away area issues. So, maybe some spot leveling done this way can resolve issues without a full flat-leveling, or simply catch small issues that appear only under string tension with relief in the neck.
This is probably more likely a problem on necks were the fingerboard surface hasn't been corrected before a re-fret. I think I'm talking/thinking in circles now. Hmm.
Again, this was not an ideal comparison of one process to another, just a - jump in the pool and swim around kinda test. Not scientific at all - that's me.
I really do see this as being useful on necks that are flat-leveled, strung up and still have some fret-out or buzz issues. I'll be doing more testing of such issues soon, and if I find a better sample or process I'll share that too.
I like the idea of this process, and will add it to my bag of tricks - if I remember.
Hope all is going well for you, take care!
@@theNextProject Yeah, I can see how this would be useful in situations where it's just one bad spot on the board, and you can do a (reasonably) quick fix.
Ho John, I do that as well but one fret at a time... interesting. I've noticed very neat nut files. Could you please share the brand. 🙏
Hey Marty, good to hear from you again and thanks for watching!
The little yellow handled nut files are MusicNomad brand.
They sell a number of file sets, and also individual files.
They are diamond grit, so you need to clean them as you go.
I'm currently using one of those "block style" pencil lead erasers.
Take care!
Katana filing a fretboard under tension is not a novel concept a Pleked guitar is scanned under string tension then the frets are modified to that scan to allow smooth playing without choking, so anyone using that concept is not stealing that basic idea of filing under tension.
K Ft, thanks for watching, and the comment too.
Agreed, Pleking frets is a way of getting the neck precisely playable when it is under string tension, but I'm not comparing this test to Pleking frets.
Thought I mentioned this test is borrowing the concept of a tool such as the Katana, which is a handheld manual process, not a computer driven device. If I said "stealing", then I misspoke, sorry if that is the case.
This test costs about $10-$15 dollars, or what ever the cost of a truss rod might be. For me, it was free. Plek work seems to range from $250 - $400, likely depends on the shop and location I'd guess.
Anyway, this was a test, or proof of concept process for me. I hadn't used this method previously, but have used it a handful of times since. While using this method on a current project, I'm amazed by how well the fretwork can be "adjusted" by this method.
The fretwork is allowing a .75mm action with out fret buzz. However, this is an unplayable action, as the oscillation of a plucked string can easily be beyond .75mm. So, I may not get fret buzz, but there is string "jangle".
I'm still testing and learning, always looking to improve the work I do, without investing in a Plek machine, or sending my work out to be Plek'd.
Hope all is well, be safe and take care!
I tried this method but unfortunately it is not precise. When I saw how curved the truss rod (HOSCO brand) actually is ( I using the Veritas straight edge) this explained the inconsistent results. For me the better method is to use a fret rocker to find the problem frets and then with a suitable file or sandpaper to fix them. Тhe most important thing is to have precise tools.
...аslo I found that the most of the StewMac "STRAIGHT" tools is not straight at all, inclusive fret rocker.
Alexander, thanks for watching!
I've had many fret rockers that aren't flat too. A simple tool that is very inconsistent.
I've done more testing with this style of "relief" leveling, where the neck is bowed under string tension. Finding it interesting how each neck has special spots where it compresses or deforms slightly differently.
I love a challenge!
Hope you are doing well, be safe and take care!
I don’t know why you are confused about the StewMac and similar devices.
You tune your guitar. Then adjust the truss rod so the neck is straight. You only slack the truss rod with the strings lose. Not that’s not “under tension”, is it?
The idea, which goes both back to a product in the 70s called the “Thomas & Ginex Fret Leveling system” in which you use a small metal bar at the nut to raise the action a bit, then you tuned up your guitar and adjusted the neck straight. Then you ran a metal plate with sandpaper under the strings to level the frets.
That’s how the new StewMac tool works.
Also Dan Erlewine neck jig, which allowed the neck to stay in the same shape as under string tension.
The idea in all cases is the neck might not stay totally flat under string tension. Wood is non uniform. So this lets you level the frets while under string tension.
Old idea, with newer techniques.
David, thanks for watching!
I understand what you mentioned and that's not what confused me regarding the SM fret bar.
Depending on what advert/video of theirs you see, SM at one time claims the fretbar is used under string under tension, but as you mentioned the neck needs Zero "0" relief, to use that style leveling device. As I mentioned, this is a similar method/process as used by the WudTone UTFL device.
I see this type of leveling as under-compression, basically a step up from flat-leveling.
The SM marketing seems to basically throw everything in with the kitchen sink, saying under tension leveling, showing flat use leveling without strings, showing leveling if frets without the neck jig...just marketing.
As for leveling with a flat plate from the 70s, yep gotcha. The WudTone is basically that. Lowe's sells C channel for about $10, basically the same if using the under-compression (flat neck) process.
The process I was testing here is under-tension, under-compression with relief. I found the process using a truss rod, and also a piece of carbon fiber rod to work really well. No need for an expensive tool or neck jig. That's my takeaway.
This is also the basic process used with the MR Katana, but it gets under elevated strings, from what I gather. But the Katana is a very expensive tool.
Anyway. I get what your saying, and I understand the purpose of the neck jig too. Had planned to build one, then basically realized I don't need it for my projects at the moment, but maybe someday.
Sorry for mistyped/ misspelled words, in this reply. I'm on my phone...can't type well. Ha!
Thanks for your explanation.
Hope all is going well, take care!
Thomas Ginex system actually worked pretty well for most DIY guitarist. I got good results.
Hang onto the TG system, they are a rare find these days.
Always good to have multiple ways to accomplish a task.
Take care!
@@The_Macaroon Yes I used mine quite a lot.
This seems pretty pointless to me, and a lot of work. You still had to remove the strings to crown the frets, so why not do this at the start, then straighten the neck and level them properly?
1man, thanks for watching!
I agree that a proper, or standard fret level should take place before this type of process.
This was largely a test to see what outcome I could expect from using this method to correct fret buzz or choke. Basically a worst case scenario.
I do see value in understanding this method, as there are some necks that even with leveled frets, can develop high and low spots when strung up under tension. So, while flat leveling is an ideal strat, it may not be a perfect solution at all times either.
Good to experiment and have a way to fine-tune if and when needed.
Sam Deeks video does a more thorough job of demonstration and explanation.
Hope all is well, take care!
@@theNextProject I see what you were thinking then. That's an interesting point about necks changing under tension, so I can see why this approach might work in some situations.