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Recently I picked up a regular size 1/2 ton arbor press for fretting after the board has been glued to the neck. Everything is going great until I approach the heel. Frets 10 through 15 will not fit under the press. Hammering these frets in is definitely not seating them as well as the others.

Scrounging through the archive I have everything else relating to frets/fretting, but this question. However I found that I think I will next try to fret the board off the neck, but I digress...

What are your methods for tackleing this area? Thanks

Maybe try switching to a drill press to press the higher frets in, hammering sucks. I made a block that is as high as the heel and as long as the fretboard overhang, that has a mortice cut into it to fit the tenon, that I can fit under the fret board to press those frets in.

Like Paul said, try using the drill press. But really, it shouldn't be too difficult to hammer frets in, as long as your fret slot is a good size. If it's too small for your fret tangs, it's going to be hard to get them to seat properly.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

I've done at least 30 refrets and at least 70 new fretjobs on new instruments and I always use a hammer. I've tried the pressing in thing but its not for me. Most importantly is to learn how much overbend you need prior to fretting so the ends won't pop up. If you don't have enough all of them will want to spring up on the ends. As for me 10-15 are above the thick part of the heel/headblock area and hammer in very easily with plenty of support underneath. For the ones out near the end of the fretboard I will sometimes file down the tang just a little and use a few drops of glue. One near each end of the slot and one in the middle. It does and will work. I support the top from underneath with my left hand only. I can cut/fit and hammer in a set of guitar frets with bound fingerboard in just over an hour if my 6 year old stays out of the shop. I think that would be quicker than repositioning the press and cutting and fitting, etc.

Best of luck.

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"We might not be big but we sure are slow"

Andrew buddy I always end up having to either hammer the upper frets or press them using a Jaws II from Stew Mac and not my Arbor press.

To hammer, as mentioned above, it's key to support the fretboard extension, and heel when doing these, very well. For me when I can't get a fret to seat with a hammer it is usually an issue of not having the neck or fret board supported well enough on something stationary and solid.

For pressing with a Jaws II make a jig as Paul suggested that has a mortise in it for the press to register off from for the remainder of the frets.

I use a #111 bit in a dremel and set it to just deeper than the fret tang .
Then with this I rout each fret slot so that the slot is widened & deepened evrywhere but the last 3mm on each end.
Then the wire is bent exactly to the f.b. radius and med. C.A. is applied to the slot and the fret seated with a couple of taps on the ends and usually one in the middle.
The fret seats great and flush with the f.b. and the ends are really secure in the slot.


Mike

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Mike Collins

Thanks for the tips guys. The mortice block and drill press were the missing link. Everything is now seated much better than my attempts with the fretting hammer.