Rôckhewer
Commercial User
- Feb 28, 2015
- 2,922
- 9,028
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder- RockHewer Custom Guitars LLC
You actually made my day with that... thanks.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
The Hossenfeffer III Build
- Thread starter Gilmourisgod
- Start date
That thing is turning out effin amazing.
Just gorgeous work. Wow!
Congratulations on winning best thread of 2021 too. It’s been a blast to see this beauty being crafted. Thanks!
Uggggggghhhhhhhh........ Had one of those days when Nothing Goes Right, bummer too, my next to last day of vacation. I carefully fret-tang nipped all the frets to go over the binding, which took a couple hours, then checked the fret slots and realized.... a hair too shallow! I'm surprised, since LMI cut the slots and radiused the board. I would have thought they'd be standard depth but... nope. So, more hours of deepening the slots with my little Hosco Japanese fret slot saw, during which I managed to slip and scratch the board
.
Another hour of sanding to fix that, then had to deepen the slots again..... you see how this is going.
FINALLY get to hammering in frets and..... the fret ends won't lay flush now matter how hard I hammer, they spring back up about .004-.006" on both ends. I put the first 4 frets in and .... bravely Fled before I make things worse.
I checked the fret slots, they mic to a consistent .023". The frets are Fender Standard Bass, which I guess means medium jumbo. I buy the pre-radiused bag-O'-Frets bent to 9.5", I've used them on three basses without issue.
I think I may have been over-zealous cutting the tangs back at the fret ends, so I don't have barbs close enough to the ends to hold them. I cut them a hair too long on my first Ric build and popped some binding loose hammering them in, so I guess I was gun-shy about doing that again and overcompensated. I think I left about 1/32" clear inside the binding each end. The fret ends can be pressed flush to the board with hard finger pressure, so I know the slots are deep enough, but they won't stay flush on release. I have a cheap non-swiveling 10" radius caul I chuck in my drillpress that has worked fine on previous builds, but it isn't helping here.
Sigh.
I'd rather not pull the 4 frets I have in, they seated well across the rest of the board, just not the ends. Need some advice here:
Option 1
Pull the 4 frets I have in, make new ones and try again (not liking this one much)
Option 2
Glue the fret ends on the 4 I have in, and make new frets with less tang-nip for the rest. If they still go in loose at the ends, glue them in.
Option 3
Keep going with frets I have and glue all of them in with CA.
If there's a good Option 4, please School me! I'm leaning towards Option 2, but maybe I missed something obvious.
.Another hour of sanding to fix that, then had to deepen the slots again..... you see how this is going.
FINALLY get to hammering in frets and..... the fret ends won't lay flush now matter how hard I hammer, they spring back up about .004-.006" on both ends. I put the first 4 frets in and .... bravely Fled before I make things worse.
I checked the fret slots, they mic to a consistent .023". The frets are Fender Standard Bass, which I guess means medium jumbo. I buy the pre-radiused bag-O'-Frets bent to 9.5", I've used them on three basses without issue.
I think I may have been over-zealous cutting the tangs back at the fret ends, so I don't have barbs close enough to the ends to hold them. I cut them a hair too long on my first Ric build and popped some binding loose hammering them in, so I guess I was gun-shy about doing that again and overcompensated. I think I left about 1/32" clear inside the binding each end. The fret ends can be pressed flush to the board with hard finger pressure, so I know the slots are deep enough, but they won't stay flush on release. I have a cheap non-swiveling 10" radius caul I chuck in my drillpress that has worked fine on previous builds, but it isn't helping here.
Sigh.
I'd rather not pull the 4 frets I have in, they seated well across the rest of the board, just not the ends. Need some advice here:
Option 1
Pull the 4 frets I have in, make new ones and try again (not liking this one much)
Option 2
Glue the fret ends on the 4 I have in, and make new frets with less tang-nip for the rest. If they still go in loose at the ends, glue them in.
Option 3
Keep going with frets I have and glue all of them in with CA.
If there's a good Option 4, please School me! I'm leaning towards Option 2, but maybe I missed something obvious.
Last edited:
I think I'd CA them. And on top of that, I'd clamp each one, one by one while gluing until they dried. 
@Beej
What's the best method for gluing them, wick in some water thin CA? I guess I could use my 10" radius sanding beam as a caul. I've read that you need to grease the board a little with waz or something to keep the CA from sticking on the board. Use accelerator, or not?
What's the best method for gluing them, wick in some water thin CA? I guess I could use my 10" radius sanding beam as a caul. I've read that you need to grease the board a little with waz or something to keep the CA from sticking on the board. Use accelerator, or not?
I believe I heard that some folks give the ends a little extra bend after cutting back the tangs. That way they lay flat and tight to the board once pressed in.
I'm wondering if maybe cutting back the tang relieved some stress and the ends straightened out a bit? Or maybe heat from grinding them off?
I'm wondering if maybe cutting back the tang relieved some stress and the ends straightened out a bit? Or maybe heat from grinding them off?
I left the ends overhanging the binding by about 3/16" on each side, figuring tapping the overhang would bend them down flat but... nope. I'm guessing here, but I think I just tang-nipped them too short and Screwed The Pooch. If I remake them, I guess I'll have to make sure I get a barb as close to the end as possible, though that may not work on at least a couple frets depending on length. Just ordered some more frets and some water-thin CA with the little glue-whips included.
Check the radius of the frets you are installing. If the ends won't stay down the fret is probably just a hair too large radius. I've had that once in a while myself if I don't check. That is likely the most likely issue. I usually radius mine a little tighter so when you lay the fret on the top of the board there is a hairs breadth space at the center. I usually don't glue frets in.
Rôckhewer
Commercial User
- Feb 28, 2015
- 2,922
- 9,028
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder- RockHewer Custom Guitars LLC
For the 4 you don't want to rip out ... yeah.
On fresh frets if needed I use medium or thick visc.
Easier to apply a minimal micro bead in the slot
With a pipette... gotta have that pipette.
I feel your pain.
Last edited:
I think I figured out my problem here, the 10" radius board I ordered from LMI.......isnt. I think they cut it to some custom radius, maybe I got somebody else's board? The fret scale is as-ordered, 32". It never ocurred to me to check, but I put my 10" radius caul on it, and damned if it doesn't match 10" radius! The edges fall away from the caul slightly, so its got to be less than 10", maybe 9.5? That's the next common size down. At this point I don't see much point in going Nuclear on some hapless LMI phone operator, I guess I own it, hard lesson learned! I don't own a set of radius gauges, so I'm printing out some paper templates to try to figure out what this is. Once that's determined, maybe I can make a custom radius wood caul to glue these frets down. I ordered another set of 9.5" radius Fender medium jumbo, guess I'll have to return them unless I can custom bend them by hand to something slightly less than the current radius. Is there a rule of thumb for how much less the fret radius should be than the fingerboard? In other words, if it's a 9.5" radius, should I be looking for 7.25" radius frets?
You can see here from the photos that I can "rock" the 10" radius caul a little left or right, pivoting on the board center, which should not be possible if this is a 10" radius board.
You can see here from the photos that I can "rock" the 10" radius caul a little left or right, pivoting on the board center, which should not be possible if this is a 10" radius board.
I was going to mention checking the fretboard radius but you thought of it before I had a chance. Kudos. That looks like less then 9.5 even and really explains why it didn’t work. You can hand radius the fret wire but it’s a bitch. I used to do it a long time ago before I got a proper tool. I know it’s more sanding but could you fix the fretboard radius?
. That looks like less then 9.5 even and really explains why it didn’t work. You can hand radius the fret wire but it’s a bitch. I used to do it a long time ago before I got a proper tool. I know it’s more sanding but could you fix the fretboard radius?
I thought of that, but i think I'd sand through my inlays grinding it down to 10" radius. I might have to get some fretwire and either buy or build a fret radius roller. Sigh. Big setback. First step is to figure out what the hell they cut this to. Not real happy with LMI today.
Found this fret bender for $29 on Etsy of all places, looks like glass reinforced plastic. Since I already have another batch of 9.5" radius frets on the way, maybe I'll just bend them to whatever custom radius LMI did here, plus a little over-bend? Still in the "thrashing around ineffectually" mode trying to figure out best way to dig out of this hole.
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed
Looks like there’s several colors and two materials. For $29 I’d probably order one also. Anyone know which material is “better”?
PETG. Realistically shouldn't make much of a difference whichever you chose.
If you keep it in a garage that gets hot in the summer PETG might be better. If you keep it on your car's dashboard in the middle of summer it might not matter much.
I wonder what sort of wall thickness and infill it's printed with. I've been burned on purchases of 3D printed tool parts in the past where the part was way too flexy and weak for it's intended purpose because the seller printed it with thin walls and minimal infill, presumably to save cost.
