Starting my own little setup business

[Bass]

I made a fret levelling tool out of a 10 inch flat file and a 1x2 block. Glue the wood to the file to act as a handle. Straighten the neck and cover the fingerboard with masking tape. Color the frets with black marker. Run the file the length of the neck and notice where the marker is removed.

Disclaimer: I'm no pro, I just did this a few times with g**tars.

[Hambone]

Originally posted by Groovecenter
Hambone, could you give some info on that fret leveling tool? Im dieing to learn how to level frets (have a jazz bass that is in desperate need of some fretwork.)

A picture and description of parts as well as how it works would be awsome. Thanks in advance.

This tool ranks as one of the simplest you'll ever use - no moving parts! It's essentially a flat (gound flat) aluminum extrusion that won't bend. I attached sandpaper grits to it's face and run that along the frets. You can do the same with any structurally inflexible material - some folks have even used bubble levels with good success.

[pkr2]

Old wood planes make great tools for fret leveling. I mean planes made to cut wood, not wooden planes. They can be found at flea mkts and yard sales for pretty cheap. If you can find them with the bade missing you can get them almost free. Sizes are made all the way from a block plane to a jack plane.

Just use self adhesive sandpaper on the sole and you're good to go.

Don't forget that the frets will require recrowning after leveling.

Fret leveling is the most overlooked part of setup. It shouldn't be because no instrument will set up to its full potential if it has fret probs, and to some extent, most low to mid range priced basses do have probs. Most don't even have the frets leveled before they leave the factory.

[Stu L.]

Originally posted by embellisher
Wouldn't a Dremel work pretty good for filing nut slots?

It has for me. I used the cut off wheel attachment. Worked fine too, that's how I slotted the graphite nut on my Harris (before I had nut files )