Fret Dressing

Collecting guitars is a trap many players fall into.  There's always thoughts of a "next guitar".  I'm likely no different.  The youngest of my first two sons (Steven Cimijotti) and I both agreed for years that the Fender Stratocaster sunburst finish was our favorite guitar style.  Neither of us did anything about it at the time, but I never changed my mind.

Fairly recently I came across one at a great price and decided it was my next guitar.  The neck was solid and straight.  The action was low and fast.  The finish was beautiful.  The one not so perfect element was the frets.  They were rounded nicely, but the cutoff ends were not finished well for a number of frets.  It was accounted for in the price and so I bought it, knowing one day I'd fix them.  That one day turned into many until our recent run of snowed in days.  It was time.

Let me say right off the start - I am not a luthier.  I have adjusted truss rods, replaced nuts and experimented with many different strings in making several guitars I've owned more playable.  However, I've never dressed frets before.  Never needed to actually.  So if you're using this as a guide, proceed at your own risk, but it did work for me.

There are lot of sites and videos that will show fret detail and dressing techniques for various repairs.  The problems I needed to correct were sharp edges on the bottom of multiple crowns where they'd been cutoff.  Also three frets where the tang was not flush with the neck.  Here are the steps I took to correct them.

Preparation

• Assemble the following:  micro file set,  painter's tape, wire cutters, polyurethane (optional).

Setup

• Relax and cutoff both E strings.  To keep tension on the neck during the work, I left the middle four intact, just removing what was needed for filing.
• Tape down each side of the neck, just below the frets.  Using blue painters tape insures that it will come off easily and be easy to see if hit with the file.
• Tape down in parallel to the frets, as close as possible without touching.

Dressing

• Pick a flat file that seems suitable, maybe one with a taper.  Starting roughly parallel to the fret, draw the file around the end of the fret and down.
• Start near the bottom, around 12th where still have some room, develop technique in a lesser played area.
• Use the flat side of a tapered file.  One direction, rolling motion, starting parallel to fret, rounding over end and down (end of stroke illustrated)

A couple of tips to keep in mind along the way:

• If you're tempted to not use tape - don't.  The tape, especially the blue tape which turns white when roughed up, provides a visual of when getting too deep.  Plus a thin margin of error for slips.
• Place the tape across the frets like laying out string for a setting a fence - as close as possible without touching.
• Near the body frets are narrower than the tape so you can't pre-tape the whole neck to do the job factory style.  There will be iterations of tape removal and resetting.  This is more craft anyway, take your time.
• Since the strat is a double cutaway, I was able to dress 16 on one side and 19 on the other side.  I never play further down the neck anyway, so risking the paint shop finish on the body (the main reason I bought the guitar) wasn't worth it
• Filing took about two hours, a slow and meticulous process, running my hand along entire neck many times as comparision for each one as it was being worked.

Completion

Overall, this was a great success and I'm glad that I did it.  The neck feels much better now when playing.  There are one or two spots where I should have stopped which resulting in a couple micro fine and very short grooves next to a fret.  They weren't enough to require any refinishing, therefore the polyurethane was listed as optional above, more as a warning.

The neck more than passes the 6x6 rule (visible at 6 inches, but not from six feet) which is good enough for me.  However, if you're really particular and/or have a very expensive guitar, finding a professional luthier to do the work for you might be less stressful.

The picture below (that I couldn't get the lighting just right on) provides some idea of what the finished product looks like, restrung and back hanging on the wall. 

For me, this project was probably as much about customizing the guitar as it was just trying something different to see if I could do it.  Looking back, I'd do it again without hesitation.

Now to take it back off the wall and enjoy.