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Precise fret bending anyone?

#4
Musiclogic said:
Sorry Alex, that will never happen, even in the most advanced factories. The properties of steel and wood cannot support this idea, as both are not 100% static, thus there is always leveling needed, and nothing is ever perfect.
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I'll tell you why I'm asking this...

Last week I visited a bass luthierie where they do NOT level their frets. I tried 4 of their basses and they had the best fretwork I've seen on a bass guitar, and just as a reference, I own 5 Foderas, 3 Celinders and have owned several Sadowsky's throughout the years. There's not a mark of sand paper or file in their stainless steel frets and the action is just incredibly low. I asked ***? He said he does a conical board and precisely bend the frets to match the different radius through the board... He said "no leveling whatsoever, ever"... Pretty amazing... Here's a few videos... I'll put subtitles when I get a chance...

YouTube - MLaghus Luthieria - Parte 5

YouTube - MLaghus Luthieria - Parte 1
 
#5
nice sounding bass, but I am not sure why you would expect file or sanding marks in the frets, any competant luthier will not leave file or sanding marks in any fretwork unless they are a hack. I would love to see the machines employed by this "luthier" to precisely bend his fretwire to the exact radius, and mill his fretboards to that exact same spec, and how this wire is perfectly inserted, as there are specific techniques to fretting that this approach leaves out.

Frets bent to the same radius as the slot they enter will lead to frets popping, especially with stainless, as stainless needs to be overbent in a specific manner to seat properly, much like nickle but to a lesser extent. Not sure how this is accomplished in brazil, but nobody has it here yet.
 
#7
BTW, I can easily tell the difference from a virgin fret to a fret that has been leveled. A leveled fret is slightly flat at the top if you look from an angle... I grabbed a new fretwire and compared to the frets on his basses and there were no differences...
 
#8
allexcosta said:
BTW, I can easily tell the difference from a virgin fret to a fret that has been leveled. A leveled fret is slightly flat at the top if you look from an angle... I grabbed a new fretwire and compared to the frets on his basses and there were no differences...
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Beware, a properly crowned fret, in the right hands can fool you, or even the most skilled luthier.
 
#10
allexcosta said:
BTW, I can easily tell the difference from a virgin fret to a fret that has been leveled. A leveled fret is slightly flat at the top if you look from an angle... I grabbed a new fretwire and compared to the frets on his basses and there were no differences...
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This is the second funniest thing I have read all day. Flat spots indeed, you have never seen a properly dressed fret then, or you have been hanging around somebody playing luthier with no experience.
 
#14
allexcosta said:
Sure, I guess the frets on my Foderas, Celinders and custom shop Fenders were not properly dressed...
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I won't say it isn't possible, but as many Fodera's as I have worked on, I have never see a new one or even lightly used one with flat topped frets, I don't believe Vinny would let it out of his shop if it wasn't done properly. Due to the C.U.P. Here, I cannot comment on the others, but there are plenty of threads on TB about any and all brands. If you buy $5K basses with flat top frets, that would be your fault, I do this for a living, and have for a very long time, and I know more professional repairmen and builders than you could name drop. I talked with 32 builders and repairman since you posted this yesterday, and 1 said he has seen flat tops on a highend instrument in their recent memory, and do not leave flat crowns on instruments leaving their shops. All I can say is you need to head into Lauderdale, talk to a couple of music stores and find out where the good luthier is, they will all know who is the best there, and go get your frets redressed, because your frets need work if they are all flat tops.
 
#16
Musiclogic said:
I won't say it isn't possible, but as many Fodera's as I have worked on, I have never see a new one or even lightly used one with flat topped frets, I don't believe Vinny would let it out of his shop if it wasn't done properly. Due to the C.U.P. Here, I cannot comment on the others, but there are plenty of threads on TB about any and all brands.
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Well, since pics are worth more than words, here's my Custom Shop Reggie Hamilton, max playing time about 5 hours, never leaves the case...

Fender1.jpg


Fender2.jpg


Fender3.jpg


I surely can tell the difference between these frets and untouched frets...

All I'm saying is that on all of this guy's that you call "luthier" with quote marks the frets are untouched and still leveled. In 25 years playing bass I couldn't ever find a bass with frets that truly looked untouched. Find it funny if you want to. It's my experience...
 
#18
Welcome to the world of production basses Alex. In case you didn't know, even the "Custom Shop" Fenders are still made in Fenders factory, and then prepped to fit the Signature model. Why they look like that, I have no idea, but that is common to Fender basses.

This is what frets look like comming out of my shop, leveled, crowned, and ready for polish today before being shipped tomorrow. Do you see flat spots? NO, do you see file marks? NO, do you see sanding marks? NO This is what frets comming out of a custom luthiers shop should look like(but add a polish), if they dont, and you buy it, it is your fault and you should have avoided it. If you are telling me Vinny Fodera is putting out frets like you have pictured, I would be more than happy to relay this info to him and maybe he could respond in kind, and discuss it with you, as I don't believe fretwork like that would ever come out of his shop, as for Celinder, I cannot comment as it would be against the rules.
IMG_0310.gif

IMG_0309.gif

IMG_0315.gif
 
#19
^ Thanks for taking the time to post pictures... Nice fretwork indeed...

Fodera's fretwork is flawless. I probably didn't make myself clear. I didn't mean that Fodera or Celinder basses come with flat top frets like Fenders, but I still can tell the difference from virgin frets, same thing with yours. You may find it funny, but I can easily tell that your frets were crowned.

I'm not trying to argue this over and over nor saying there's a best method. I'm not even an instrument builder for God's sake... I'm just posting a question that popped up when someone who's been building basses for 28 years told me that he doesn't level stainless steel frets and I happened to try his basses with extremely low action and no buzz... Just thought he might be into something...
 

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