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Well, snow storm today, so laid low and just spent an hour or so in the shop.

Clipped off the fret ends with a diagonal cutter and filed almost flush with the fretboard edge




Then I ran a crowning file over the tops to cut the rough edges


So I need to order some different crowning files before I finish cleaning these up. Then finish filing and beveling the ends. Then a bit of fret polishing and these are done

G

An amazing build blog, I really like what I see of you adjustable neck and your bracing pattern. I look forward to seeing this come together.

Looking real nice.

I know I saw some diamond fret files advertised somewhere...

Looking real nice Grant - good to see you back in the shop!

Garnet Rogers? Very nice compliment

Bill

Bilbert wrote:Looking real nice Grant - good to see you back in the shop!

Garnet Rogers? Very nice compliment

Bill

Thanks, I am hoping to get him to show up a stringfest one of these years.

G

Well, I did get the Beryllium Copper frets installed in the other neck today and leveled. I did not take any photos, since it was identical to the Phosphor Bronze frets. Only difference is that the frets went in in 15 minutes and were totally leveled in 20. think I am getting the hang of it

G

Well, did I say the beryllium copper frets were hard? The BC frets are VERY hard. Could hardly make a mark on them with standard nippers when I tried to clip off the ends. So I ordered up this:


Carbide jawed clippers with a compound action for more leverage. Supposed to cut 14 gauge hard metal, and the frets are a bit thinner than that. This should do the trick, right?


Wrong. Did make deeper marks, but not near enough leverage to clip off the fret ends. I tried making extensions on the handles for more leverage, but did not work either.

This is what finally did work:

And just barely. Not sure how much these cutters can stand.

One side done, and one left:


This batch of frets is obviously VERY hard. Much more than needed. So, I will change the heat treating schedule. Even at a tad softer, these should be "lifetime" frets....dress 'em once and forget it

Still waiting for my diamond crowning files and thinking about bending sides tomorrow.

Stay tuned,

G

Wow! That's hard. Maybe slip a couple of pieces of pipe over the handles? Like you say, it's definitely going to take some experimentation in the heat treating to get them "just right".