Exciting..... and frustrating!!!!

[PBA]

Good job!
From the photos, the file marks look a bit coarse. Not a problem but that might explain why you have struggled to remove it all. I'd suggest trying medium wet or dry sandpaper on your spirit level as a final levelling step. However - everything else looks fine.

[Jondog]

Awesome! I need to get some files and leveling beam. Recently bought a rosewood All Parts neck for my strat that needs some dressing. Frets are all pretty level. Have a Warmoth Tele neck that came with awful frets. Most of them uneven, and its back bowed. Barely flat with the tension loose. Quite disappointing considering the Warmoth was twice as much $$ as the All Parts. Currently have a Maple All Parts neck on my strat that came pretty well perfect other than needed dressing, which I did with sand paper. Neck has been good to me, just decided I want to try rosewood Its always kind of been a project guitar.

I was surprised too, with the price they charge, to read the a warmoth neck might need levelling. It isn't what you'd expect at that price.

I'm not sure what you mean be back bow jondog, but I think what you mean is that with the rise rod loosened, you still have some relief?

With my guitar, what i described as back bow is different - I get both relief and then from the 4th or 3rd fret some twisting away backward. I'm pretty confident the levelling will make it a great player again, but I'm I'll do a final full set up later, when I'll have repolished the fret correctly.

Im hesitant to buy from Warmoth again. I feel like they grabbed a neck off the
shelf that was close to what I ordered. I like fat baseball bat like necks which the All Parts is, and is perfect. I irdered Warmoths "Fat Backk" which has the same Profile more or less. What they sent me is a large V neck more like their Boat Neck profile.. I dont mind it, but pretty sure not what I ordered. I have two All Parts necks now, both very nice. Just dont get the custom options. Frets came level on both, just not finished on the ends.

[Mystic38]

For sure the small MFD in the asat classic vs the tele sounding alnico is a huge difference (grit, mids and balls), and I hear that the big MFD in the special are like P90 on steroids..is that fair?

shame about the frets.. but you have a keeper when done!

have had a couple of Tribute G&L.. an SB-2 bass and an Asat Classic... both were really great.. certainly no issues with the setup but the pickguard in both cases were a little off, and clearly hand made, but i have yet to be bothered to make new ones..

the Asat Classic with the MFD is just great..just does not get enough attention.

I absolutely love the tone coming out of the ASAT Special Tribute. The jumbo MFD pick up are really really great, and the bridge is a great unit, very comfy to play.

It might become a major player in my collection once the frets are sorted.

But the fret work on mine was pretty shocking really. No sharp fret ends, all nicely polished, but to have 8 or 9 raised frets, some so much that I had to raised the action like crazy to stop not only fret buzzing, but on some frets the fret next tonit totally killing the note played!!!
Really really poor.

But the axe is worth keeping.

[Les Paul Lover]

Chickenpox can be quite nasty. My son is mostly ok with it, just a bit poorly, but my daughter is having a terible time of it.....

So I stayed home again today...... and couldn't resist the urge!!!!

Manage to free myself from kids entertainment duties for 1h, took the bridge out (saving the strings - I'm a cheap skate!!!!), tape up the neck again and started with 400 grit this time. Actually stayed on 400 grit quite a long time to take out all the visible tooling marks. Then, 600, 800, couldn't find the 1000 so jumped to 1200 grit, found the 1000 grit ( typical!!! Skipped it!) 1500, 2000 and finally 2500 grit, then micro mesh.

The result was visibly better, and I'm very happy now. The strings glide over the frets now - it's a very very good finish!!!



Now, I've run.out of 400 grit, so I'll order some more before to work on the G&L.

I'm very pleased now. I'll have to give it a full set up and see how it plays soon!!!! But the action is already very good!!

I've been very surprised though. The tool marks I could see were tiny, and I couldn't feel them with my finger or my nail, but with the plain strings, it was like grit on the frets, bending was horrible!!!
Funnily, not impact on wound strings, they were quite happy with the frets before.

Anyway, that's been fun!!

[Les Paul Lover]

Your skills are good! The first fret are really worned, I think I would have refretted instead of leveling.

To be honest hubaxe, I was going to. I was trying to measure the fret size to order something similar to the originals, and when I placed the a straight ruler on top of them, I realised that whilst the groove is wide and looks very deep, it's only around 1/4 or 1/3 of the fret deep - so a levelling was appropriate.

What I hadn't counted on though was the back bow starting around the 4th or 3rd fret. Frets 4 to 8 have been filed bery low now, probably .5mm high. I definitely won't do a another levelling on that guitar!!!

If I ever refret it, I'll order some extra jumbo so I can have a totally flat fret line across the neck after levelling, as I can't get that from the neck itself.

[Les Paul Lover]

Good job!
From the photos, the file marks look a bit coarse. Not a problem but that might explain why you have struggled to remove it all. I'd suggest trying medium wet or dry sandpaper on your spirit level as a final levelling step. However - everything else looks fine.

Yeah, i started again from 400 grit, and made sure all tiny weeny tools marks were gone. Just a matter of patience really.

All the frets are buttery smooth now!!!!

[Les Paul Lover]

Awesome! I need to get some files and leveling beam. Recently bought a rosewood All Parts neck for my strat that needs some dressing. Frets are all pretty level. Have a Warmoth Tele neck that came with awful frets. Most of them uneven, and its back bowed. Barely flat with the tension loose. Quite disappointing considering the Warmoth was twice as much $$ as the All Parts. Currently have a Maple All Parts neck on my strat that came pretty well perfect other than needed dressing, which I did with sand paper. Neck has been good to me, just decided I want to try rosewood Its always kind of been a project guitar.

I was surprised too, with the price they charge, to read the a warmoth neck might need levelling. It isn't what you'd expect at that price.

I'm not sure what you mean be back bow jondog, but I think what you mean is that with the rise rod loosened, you still have some relief?

With my guitar, what i described as back bow is different - I get both relief and then from the 4th or 3rd fret some twisting away backward. I'm pretty confident the levelling will make it a great player again, but I'm I'll do a final full set up later, when I'll have repolished the fret correctly.

Im hesitant to buy from Warmoth again. I feel like they grabbed a neck off the
shelf that was close to what I ordered. I like fat baseball bat like necks which the All Parts is, and is perfect. I irdered Warmoths "Fat Backk" which has the same Profile more or less. What they sent me is a large V neck more like their Boat Neck profile.. I dont mind it, but pretty sure not what I ordered. I have two All Parts necks now, both very nice. Just dont get the custom options. Frets came level on both, just not finished on the ends.

Blimey. With some strings on, can you get a little relief?

[Les Paul Lover]

For sure the small MFD in the asat classic vs the tele sounding alnico is a huge difference (grit, mids and balls), and I hear that the big MFD in the special are like P90 on steroids..is that fair?

shame about the frets.. but you have a keeper when done!

have had a couple of Tribute G&L.. an SB-2 bass and an Asat Classic... both were really great.. certainly no issues with the setup but the pickguard in both cases were a little off, and clearly hand made, but i have yet to be bothered to make new ones..

the Asat Classic with the MFD is just great..just does not get enough attention.

I absolutely love the tone coming out of the ASAT Special Tribute. The jumbo MFD pick up are really really great, and the bridge is a great unit, very comfy to play.

It might become a major player in my collection once the frets are sorted.

But the fret work on mine was pretty shocking really. No sharp fret ends, all nicely polished, but to have 8 or 9 raised frets, some so much that I had to raised the action like crazy to stop not only fret buzzing, but on some frets the fret next tonit totally killing the note played!!!
Really really poor.

But the axe is worth keeping.

They aren't quite like P90. P90 are quite middy, and those jumbo MFD have quite a fat low end and lovely bright highs too.

But they sure don't sound like a telecaster!!!!
And yes, P90 is the closest pick up I know next to it. I wouldn't say the jumbo MFD are hotter, they just have a broader soundscape, not as focused on the mids.

[Hubaxe]

Your skills are good! The first fret are really worned, I think I would have refretted instead of leveling.

To be honest hubaxe, I was going to. I was trying to measure the fret size to order something similar to the originals, and when I placed the a straight ruler on top of them, I realised that whilst the groove is wide and looks very deep, it's only around 1/4 or 1/3 of the fret deep - so a levelling was appropriate.

What I hadn't counted on though was the back bow starting around the 4th or 3rd fret. Frets 4 to 8 have been filed bery low now, probably .5mm high. I definitely won't do a another levelling on that guitar!!!

If I ever refret it, I'll order some extra jumbo so I can have a totally flat fret line across the neck after levelling, as I can't get that from the neck itself.

The back bow can be fixed heating the fretboard (eg near a fireplace) and pulling the neck in place for hours. The fretboard glue will soften and allow a slight move. I did that with success already.

The other trick is to unfret, and level the fretboard before refretting. That works only if the back bow is not pronounced. Do not forget to recut the fret slots deeper.

[Les Paul Lover]

Your skills are good! The first fret are really worned, I think I would have refretted instead of leveling.

To be honest hubaxe, I was going to. I was trying to measure the fret size to order something similar to the originals, and when I placed the a straight ruler on top of them, I realised that whilst the groove is wide and looks very deep, it's only around 1/4 or 1/3 of the fret deep - so a levelling was appropriate.

What I hadn't counted on though was the back bow starting around the 4th or 3rd fret. Frets 4 to 8 have been filed bery low now, probably .5mm high. I definitely won't do a another levelling on that guitar!!!

If I ever refret it, I'll order some extra jumbo so I can have a totally flat fret line across the neck after levelling, as I can't get that from the neck itself.

The back bow can be fixed heating the fretboard (eg near a fireplace) and pulling the neck in place for hours. The fretboard glue will soften and allow a slight move. I did that with success already.

The other trick is to unfret, and level the fretboard before refretting. That works only if the back bow is not pronounced. Do not forget to recut the fret slots deeper.

I'd be worried to try that on this guitar. Below the ebony fret board, there's a 5 piece maple / walnut neck.... trying to soften the glue to bend it could have unwanted sideways results if without a jig that I cannot conceive of the top of my head.

Good to know though. I'll see how the guitar is after a full proper set up.
Then only will unknown if it's good, or still needs a refret.... or a back bow remedy!!!!

[Les Paul Lover]

Alright.....

Got some 30mns tonight and gave my aria pro II RS X80 a set up.

It's the best it ever played!!! I'm really pleased! The frets now even are the smoothest I've ever played, a real higlight for me, as i wasnt expecting that.

The strings are literally gliding over the frets in a way I've never experienced before.

Now that I know I can do that, I will probably do that even to a guitar that doesn't need any fret work per say, just as an improvement. A couple of goes with 800 to 2500 grit then micro mesh, and I'll have extremely glidy frets across my guitar stable!!!! That wont take any fret thickness away, just make them as smooth as mirror.

Back to my guitar, I've been able to set the action at the 12th fret to 1mm on the high E, 1.5mm and the low E.

A couple of things to note - the neck back bow around the 4th fret means that I still get slightly too much neck relief, around .75mm. If I set less, as I would like to do, notes played on the 1st 2 frets fret buzz too much. I couldn't level them all enough to eliminate that effect without having around 4 frets filed down to almost fret board level, so whilst I compromised, the result is very good.

Can't complain too much - I'll seldom play a guitar hanging in shop that plays as well as this, but I know it could be marginally better.

[PBA]

...Back to my guitar, I've been able to set the action at the 12th fret to 1mm on the high E, 1.5mm and the low E.

A couple of things to note - the neck back bow around the 4th fret means that I still get slightly too much neck relief, around .75mm. If I set less, as I would like to do, notes played on the 1st 2 frets fret buzz too much. I couldn't level them all enough to eliminate that effect without having around 4 frets filed down to almost fret board level, so whilst I compromised, the result is very good...

That's remarkably low action given the back bow issue. Relief at 0.75 is not so good - but at least it plays! Maybe this one is destined for a re-fret further down the line?

Guitar fettling can become addictive can't it? Personally, I try to avoid proper abrasives unless I'm doing more involved fretwork. A quick rub with fine wire wool can make a huge difference though and I do that sometimes when I change strings. I also oil fingerboards most string changes. Other folk will suggest oiling fingerboards should be a once a year task. You should be free to make your own choices, safe in the knowledge that very few terrible things can happen!

[Les Paul Lover]

Very addictive indeed!!!

I've gotten my G&L almost readyblast night, removed the strings and straightened the neck..... soon..... soon, it will play fantastically!!!! A very mouth watering thought!!!!

I played my Aria Pro II RS X80 tonight for real with my R30. Gosh, I really did it good.

Ok the set up isn't the optimum set up, but it plays fantastically!!! It's really amazing.

I was worried because of the slight back bow, but that fret level, whilst it hasn't totally sorted it out, had almost totally sorted it out - it's a non issue now.

I've really enjoyed working with the fret levelling file and the fret crowing file from Chris Alsopp - some really great tools. It makes doing the job really easy.


As I was playing my aria pro II, I was eyeing up my ASAT Special Tribute.... thinking soon.... soon it'll be your turn!!!!

[Les Paul Lover]

I had some time last night, so prepared the G&L neck for the fret level.

With the neck of the body, I rehammered a couple of frets too, as I struggle to hammered them in properly last time with getting some marks of the body.

It took about...... 5mns to level...... And perhaps 15mns to recrown.

Really fast procedure compared to my Aria Pro II RS X80 were I had to remove a lot of material. If think I spent about 20mns levelling there, and then recrowing was pretty difficult on some frets, around 40mns.

I learnt form the Aria Pro II RS X80, I went straight to 400 grit, then 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 and then micromesh.

I'm incredibly pleased with the result. Really really pleased.

With those tools, it's really pretty easy. Just time consuming. Between prepping the neck, levelling, crowing, polishing, cleaning, reassembling, stringing, setting the action and intonation, it was around 2h30 / 2h45.

Time very well spent.

I complained to the shop who sold me the ASAT Special Tribute, and got a £20 refund (also had the choice to send it back) but with the refund, the guitar cost me £238 as B stock and now has perfect fret work. Happy camper now!!!!

[Hubaxe]

Well done Ant,

It's always good to be able to work by yourself on guitars, save a lot of £ and give the satisfaction of achievement.