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Sometimes we have too many fret jobs to do and Dave Collins invented this tool that he calls the Fret F***** and it works great. I've already used it and can verify this.

StewMac is also interested in the tool since we used their diamond crowning files.

Now when we crown we are not generally dealing with new frets that were just leveled and may need a bit of crowning. We are often dealing with frets that have lost .015 - .020" in height to erase the divots and crowning is a very long..... hard.....slog and can take more than an hour just to crown.

This machine, the Fret F***** reduces the time on the hard jobs by 2/3rds and more and control remains excellent for highly precise work.

Again I can't get the YouTube link to work here (user error on my part) so if someone would please be so kind as to repost this here in this thread with the video showing from YouTube it would be greatly appreciated.

https://youtu.be/VIuMArEF9Sc?si=RlW6xe0IRbX3oE4I

The link works fine, Hesh. Good video... I like Hillbilly Plek for a marketable name...

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Hope that helps, Hesh.

You could also call it the FretBunny (IYKYK).

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

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Thanks Brad and Chris. It comes with a sheath to put over it for storage or.... repurposing.... but I'll leave that out of the discussion for now

So this device replaces hand jobs?

Tool bodging at it's finest

That little saw would have a lot of other uses and is not being permanently modified, so for the occasional fret job it still might be a practical tool to buy and a single diamond file to do the major work and then back to the less costly files to finish up - might be an affordable option for the amateur luthier.
With Dave's superior elocution the video is perfectly understandable at double speed, so can be viewed in under 15minutes as originally intended.

Hey Hesh,
Did you have a hand in this?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134658305666?h ... TEQAng6%2B

Yeah something like that.....

Not me but it seems that Bosch has some understanding what people are really doing with their tools

You guys.
Bunch a dirty old men.
Too proud of their "tools".

Great to see mad professor Dave inventing more cool stuff.
I want one!
Hesh, the new shop sounds echo-y in the video. It's hard to imagine you two living the rural lifestyle, without the downtown Ann Arbor Mayhem for stimulation, (to continue the theme).

I almost always prefer pulling frets, planing the wood, and re-installing them but it's not always possible.

When reducing pounds of wire to dust is required, I find HEAT can be the limiting factor. Sometimes I take turns on alternating frets to avoid melting binding, glue, and such. That's without power tools! Is that an issue with the new "toy"?

I started using a concave true "file" with teeth when I really need to go to town.
It's like one of those old Gurian crowning files. It rips off big shavings and seems to be much cooler running. Kind of like wasting wood with a chisel or plane instead of a belt sander. It leaves a nasty surface but is quickly cleaned back up with a diamond crowning file.
I wonder if the Bosch would have enough slow speed trigger control to chuck that bad boy in there.
Dave? More tang grinding in the name of science?

You guys.
Bunch a dirty old men.
Too proud of their "tools".

Great to see mad professor Dave inventing more cool stuff.
I want one!
Hesh, the new shop sounds echo-y in the video. It's hard to imagine you two living the rural lifestyle, without the downtown Ann Arbor Mayhem for stimulation, (to continue the theme).

I almost always prefer pulling frets, planing the wood, and re-installing them but it's not always possible.

When reducing pounds of wire to dust is required, I find HEAT can be the limiting factor. Sometimes I take turns on alternating frets to avoid melting binding, glue, and such. That's without power tools! Is that an issue with the new "toy"?

I started using a concave true "file" with teeth when I really need to go to town.
It's like one of those old Gurian crowning files. It rips off big shavings and seems to be much cooler running. Kind of like wasting wood with a chisel or plane instead of a belt sander. It leaves a nasty surface but is quickly cleaned back up with a diamond crowning file.
I wonder if the Bosch would have enough slow speed trigger control to chuck that bad boy in there.
Dave? More tang grinding in the name of science?

Mr. Nasty

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This is how I attached my SM fret file to my B&D recipro saw. I broke a worn out blade off and drilled a hole to match up with the hole in the handle of the fret file. The tie wrap was supposed to be temporary, until I could get another hole drilled in the handle of the file. The file handle was too hard and thick for my drill bits. Turns out that it works great, with the tie wrap, and I have never had the 2nd hole drilled through the handle. I don't like this particular SM file because it leaves a little of the "school bus top" on the fret. I may order one of the round nose diamond files, like Dave is using, to see if that gives a better crown. The orange tape on the fret file is to remind me not to use that side of the file, when I am using it manually.

Hey buddy I hope you are doing great!!!

We could not wait to get the hell out of the People's Republic of Ann Arbor..... Even though our own personal politics lean left socially Ann Arbor was a nightmare to try to do business in. Our overhead alone was north of $40K annually and we ran as you know a tight ship. Living or working in a 100% Democratic run city can also be a nightmare, it was for us. Regulation was impossible and the made up laws and rules for everything..... No thank You.

The drunks and bums smoking crack in the elevator that I had to use where I parked and countless other things made us want out.

Dave bought a home on 5 acres 3 miles outside of town with a separate shop building so he renovated that building and it's our new shop and we love it. I have a 25 mile all country road drive now to work which is great and no rush hour traffic.

As for heat it's not an issue and these are diamond files not that that takes heat out of the equation but they do cut in both directions. It may be that the heat will harm the bonding of the diamond particles but we have not experienced any wear on the files that we can discern yet. It needs to be watched for though you are right and we knew that too.

Interesting that you mentioned the trigger. Dave modified (aren't we glad he's on our side.... ) the trigger and I don't know the specifics but the OEM trigger had issues for our use.

Dave is going back to producing videos so expect more of them. I'm partly retired now so he's putting a rocking chair and banjo out front of the shop for me

Hope you are doing great Dave!!!

Very cool!!! In our experience any of the Stew Mac diamond files will leave a school bus roof crown so you have to rock the files slightly or simply when done hit each side of the fret about three times with a safed three corner file. I tend to slip off the crown when I work the diamond file and that can leave a big arse scratch and ruin my day. So I avoid the rocking even though Dave can pull it off and I follow up with the three corner. The three corner followup only takes several minutes to do the entire board and eliminates that hard ridge that you can feel with a school bus roof fret.

Good going on your innovation I'm impressed!!! We should get you and Dave together and give that poster Elon Musk some tech competition

This is one of those things that you think, how has no one thought of this before?

Freakin brilliant!

I can just see SM now selling the Fret F@#$ now lol.

BTW on another site I got killed in the comments section for not taping the fretboard off when doing a fret job. Nice to see I'm not alone.

People are way too tape-happy in general around guitars in my opinion. Tape presents the intrepid luthier with many opportunities to inadvertently damage finishes, especially priceless vintage finishes, and I’ve seen it happen even with tapes sold as “low tack” and for “delicate surfaces”. Even if the tape doesn’t take finish with it when removed, the chemistry of some tape adhesive can etch or mark some nitro finishes.

If you need mechanical protection for a task, leather, thin cork, shim stock etc are all safer options, not to mention the necessity to have developed the skills to wield the tool with minimal risk of oopsies.


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This is a great thread!

I very much hope to buy a commercial version one day.

Use tape or not - whatever it takes for YOU to do the job right is fine. I use tape but I spend the money to buy quality products and I've never messed up a finish with the tape. I have messed up a finish with a tool. There are some older guitars I won't put tape on.

As far as Dave's latest fret crowning machine - pretty cool!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

JF the commenters were posers.... We never tape unless... unless it's a maple board and we only tape maple to protect the finish because we use yet another Collins developed tool the Collins fret buffer. The fret buffer is a series of 4 3m abrasive wheels that replace all the 95% of the fret sanding but is too abrasive for lacquer finishes in maple boards.

Tape is for pussies......

Thank You Leo it makes my day when I know what we contribute here is of real value to folks, that's why I'm here.

Exactly everyone should do what they are most comfortable with.

Fret Banger.....
Thanks for sharing the link, and the cord/ height discussion was awesome.

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