Question about cutting fall-off

[chunger]

I've been sortof winging it when cutting my fall-off when leveling frets and since I haven't been able to find good information elsewhere, I figured I'd ask.

Does fall off correlate to the neck pocket location? Or is it a general thing from ~the 14th fret back? Basically, should I reference from the nut side or the bridge side when determining how much I should cut?

Is it better to have a gradual fall off (rounded curve) or a precise change in angle?

How much is typically needed? I've been shaving quite a bit off the 20th fret to achieve optimal playability. . . is this common?

I've been basically placing a .011" - .013" shim on the 11th fret and cutting fall-off until it reaches the 15th fret. . . I think I need to dial back slightly on the shim height. I find it difficult to precisely measure what I'm doing and thus difficult to replicate the optimal settings. Here are a few pics of recent fall-off cuts.











I'm trying to find a better method than cutting a little, re-stringing, playtesting, unstringing, slack the truss rod, cut a little more, re-string, re-tension truss rod, play, unstring, slack truss rod, cut a little, etc. etc.

[Jim C]

At the rate your going bro, I suspect a used Plek machine is just around the corner!

[202dy]

Don't over think this. The tools are flat. They make it easy to create flat surfaces in a reasonable time. It is difficult enough to get this right without attempting to introduce a longitudinal radius into the playing surface. A few thousandths per fret of fall away in an even plane will make for a great playing neck in the upper register.

Adjust the last fret nearest the bridge first. This is the low point in the slope. Adjust the fret where you want the fall away to start. Blue the frets (multiple times) and tie the surface together with the file. The file selected should be long enough to span the entire slope. Smooth, crown, polish, and restring.