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So after absorbing all the information from here and a couple of other forums with regards to my fretting problem on the mili-tele build, I knew what I had to do. I went home after work yesterday, pulled my frets and began the work on getting my fretboard leveled and prepped for the new frets.

Using my straight edge, I noticed that my board definitely was not flat, so I adjusted the tr (double acting) to get it as flat as possible and then proceeded to sand using my 3' level. As you may recall, I have a piece of granite that a friend milled for me as a leveller, but someone else had mentioned that they too have a piece of granite milled to use as a leveller, but found that it wasn't true, so I checked mine. Sure enough it wasn't nearly flat enough, so I scrapped the idea of using it to sand.

Anyway, after sanding for quite a while, it didn't seem that anything was getting better. As a matter of fact, it appeared to be getting worse. I'm at the point where I think I don't have the proper room/tools/knowledge to get this thing done as it should be, so if anyone wants to make a fb for a telecaster, I'm willing to pony up. I'm just really disheartened right now, and I don't want this to ruin my enthusiasm for the project... but it's starting to.

Get a good straightedge and a radius block. Sand it one direction, not back and forth and check it often. Stop before you get to the truss rod.

Ok Mike. I've got both of those. I'll give that method a shot before I scrap this fb. Got nothing to lose, and I'm really wanting to do this myself instead of having others do it for me. Having others walk me through it step-by-step is different hehe

The first time I did fretwork it was a ich, and I tried to hire it out because it frustrated me so much.
You only need a few passes with a fret leveler, in one direction. After that you need a fret rocker from stew mac to find all your high and low spots, the fret leveler just isnt going to level them all, they will all have their own little divots and crowns.
After that tape the fretboard, and rock your rocker all over all the frets and where there is a big rock I put an x, where there is a small one I put a dot. Some people use a file to go over the areas, and I did the first time, it works fast, but I had some gouging in there. I bought a fret dressing stick from stew mac and use that now. After that recrown and check it all over again and repeat til you have no more rocks, your frets will be level then.

Thanks for the replies. I just spent several hours working on my fretboard, and I'm fairly confident that it's flat now. I used my radius block and did as was suggested above. I went one direction, but I added another step as was suggested elsewhere. Once I did 10 strokes from heel to headstock, I reversed and went 10 strokes from headstock to heel. It seemed to work really well.

After I finished that, I checked my fret slots to make sure they were deep enough. After re-sawing, I put a slight bevel on the corners of the fret slots. I then sanded methodically with 320 grit on my radius block.

Once that problem was addressed, I re-worked my fret bender so that I would have a consistent radius. It turned out much better this time, and I could dial in the radius I wanted. I'd read that you want a slightly tighter radius on the wire than you have on the board, so I bent it accordingly and decided to try re-fretting.

I made sure to have good support under the neck, and I hammered the frets by working back and forth from the ends to the middle. My problem now is that I'm having to hammer pretty hard to get the frets completely seated. I put in about 6 frets, and on each of them, I can slide a piece of paper in somewhere along the length on one or both sides. This is after hammering too hard to attempt to get them seated. Any ideas on what's going on here?

Your radius is off.

Sounds like either/or ur kerf is too narrow, ur slots are too shallow, or they need to be cleaned out. Also, it can help to lube the fret with a bit of glue and hamering them in while its still wet. If the slot is too narrow, it will back bow the board and that can be a problem. The frets should drive hope without belting the crap out of them, just sharp and consistent is the way, if you need to follow through with a strike to get them in then something is wrong.

Cheers

Kim

You nailed it, Kim. I just went and researched my saw and wire, and my wire is .024" while my saw is only .015", so there's a big discrepancy there. The saw is something I borrowed from a friend, and it never occurred to me that this would the issue. Instead of ordering a new saw and waiting for it to arrive, I'll be near a Woodcraft tomorrow. Is there a good substitute?

I would wait for the right saw.
I did get a back saw from the hardware store,
and took the set out with a vice until it cut the right sized kerf,
but it was hard to cut without set in the teeth.
Worked though.

Hi Roger - the frustration will always be there - just keep plugging away bro - you'll get it! I also put a slight bevel with a triangular jewelers saw into the slots - they seem to go in much easier - try on some scrap wood first for practice

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