Fret pressing at heel transition

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

I’m going to go outside the lines on this one a little.

I press frets in in the drill press and I use a fairly standard neck rest. One thing I do that is different is I tap on the arbor . This winds up requiring much less force from the actual pressing action and as a result much less need for fancy support, although it still comes up. For instance on this fingerboard extension, I had a jack and a caul between the back and the top.

On the subject of gluing down fret ends. Fret ends are usually up because the radius of the fretwire is flatter than the board, or the board rolls off on the edge. Either way, in my experience, no adhesive is up to the task of keeping something metal, glued to something wood under that kind of tension.

If there are just a couple of sprung fret ends, I pull the frets, reshape them to the board and reinstall them. Sometimes using glue, but with no tension on the fret. If there are a ton of sprung ends, I just refret or decline. It winds up being as much work as a refret and never as good in my opinion.

One more thing, some drill presses have a quill lock, that can be useful for glueing in a recalcitrant fret in a tight spot. Also a radiused sanding block can be used to bridge over a weird heel that you cant get a clamp onto. Perhaps the time has come to look at a 3d scanner for making crazy cauls ?

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Ian Davlin on Instagram: "Some tap, some press. I prap. Or tress. Or Frapp. Say, that's put me in the mind of a frappucino. #loothing #frappuccino"

353 likes, 26 comments - ianhatesguitars on September 6, 2024: "Some tap, some press. I prap. Or tress. Or Frapp. Say, that's put me in the mind of a frappucino. #loothing #frappuccino".

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

Also, do you have a pic of a neck your dealing with Nigel ?

[Nigel Martin True Notes UK]

Cheers Ian.

It was just a general enquiry on what everyone else is using.

I use the following

-I made the old school jig idea from the “fret work” book.

-Janky rocker jig with adjustable height.(similar concept as the fret book one, but slightly quicker to use, unfortunately not as sturdy)

-moulding putty for les paul style transition( can’t remember the name of this stuff, but it’s really useful for making quick parts on the fly and is reusable)

– then probably the most useful but longest set up time is the UK based fret pressing system.

I like the idea of a 3d scanner for this job alone

[Nigel Martin True Notes UK]

Janky adjustable height rocker jig

Magnet and strap help to keep the caul in position

[Nigel Martin True Notes UK]

Moulding putty for les paul style

[Nigel Martin True Notes UK]

UK based fret pressing system, with 3d printed caul to add a little more stability.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

This is a cool whip, doesn’t look crazy to make. I think I reached out to the inventor for an interview at one point. Not sure what happened.

[Nigel Martin True Notes UK]

Yes GMC luthier tools is the name.

I always forget it because I associate that name with the American Trucks.

It’s a very handy tool to have though and makes fret pressing very safe and repeatable once it’s set up to the guitars body tilt and neck angle.

I bought it second hand. Price was too good to not try it out at least.

But I like it.

And speaking of hands, I have just done a 3d scan of my hand with a free 3d scanner app on my iPhone 16.

Haven’t imported into CAD yet, but oh my I think this is going to be a right game changer for caul and jig making!

It rendered very quick and exports with many different file types.

I’ll have a play around and report back ASAP