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Well, I learned something new this week. I don't bind my fret boards. I just file the fret ends flush with the side of the neck. I fretted my last instrument when the humidity was too high. I figured that I wasn't doing any cross grain gluing so that humidity wouldn't matter. Alas, that is not true. My fret bard shrank when the humidity dropped and now my fret ends are sticking out. I'm going to have to file them flush durning the low humidity and refinish the edge of the fret board.

I think that from now on I'm going to bind my fret boards. The fret tang is trimmed before you insert the fret and it can be slightly smaller than the width of the fret because it is completely hidden by the binding. The fret ends are individually shaped anywhay so I can make them ever so slightly smaller than the width of the neck.

Hi Mike, how about the same shortened fret tang method with no binding? You can always just fill in the fret ends with super glue/laquer burn in stick etc. If you prefer the unbound look this is a suggestion. I do this on alot of fret jobs particularly over the body of an acoustic. It keeps the filing down.

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Evan, what do you fill with, lacquer stick?

It really depends on the guitar I actually like to use super glue when possible, the black stuff works great for ebony.

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Mike,
Does that mean now is a good time to fret because of the low humidity?
Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

I did the same thing that Evan speaks of on my last 2 builds...nip off a small section of tang. I filled in the spaces with ebony dust and CA. Once the lacquer is on it's invisible.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

[QUOTE=Wade S.] Mike,
Does that mean now is a good time to fret because of the low humidity?
Wade[/QUOTE]
It better to do it now than when the humidity is high. You do run the risk that when the fret board expands that the finish on the fret end will sink into the side of the fret board. I'm inclined to think that is will be less of a problem, however.

I have a question for those of you who trim your fret ends a little short on unbound fret boards. How do you measure the length of the fret before you set it into the slot? My frets are bent to a smaller radius than the fret board and when I set the fret the fret flattens out to match the radius of the fret board. In effect the fret get a little longer and just might stick out too much. Do you trim a lot of the fret tang off and if so, is it still visible from the edge of the fret board?

Simple Hide the tang trick
     nip the fret tangs so the tang is about 1/32 short of the edge of the fret board. Once you are finished fretting . I drop fill ( ebony board only ) the slot and use this trick

   sharpie pen
Superglue
accelerator

use the sharpie and color the edge of the board
   spray with accelerator
   drop of super glue
   acellerator
   sand

What happens is the accelerator will take the lamp black out of the sharpei ink
the inck will go into the SG
the 2nd acell will set the color. It make a very nice and clean board
john hall
Black superglue is too black and shiney , this is just perfect

Great tip John, thanks!

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

John, Thanks for the tip, I'll try that next time if I remember to. I won't be fretting for a few months.