RESTORINGANORIGINAL
1921 Martin O- 18, Pt. 6
It’s nice to have you back for another adventure in Restoring an Original. Last month
we began the re-fretting process by taking
relief measurements with and without string
tension to equate the flex/density difference
of the neck. This equation would guide us
in compression fretting, helping us to determine whether to increase or decrease the
compression of each fret. The frets were then
heated up using my fret iron and extracted
with a fret puller.
out, it has now become one of my favorite
tools. Throughout the day, I literally walk
from bench to bench with this tool. Stew
Mac now has a second version of this tool,
part #2004, that I would like for the shop as
well. It rests on the frets and the indicator
dial gives you the relief measurement. I really
need more than one relief gauge or a holster
to strap one around my waist.
Jaws
For this month’s restoration, I used the following tools, available from stewmac.com:
I used Jaws, Jaws 2 and Jaws 3 with a 16”
radius brass insert and a flatter brass insert
for most of the fret installation on the upper
section of the neck. These tools were developed by Dan Erlewine. Knowing his involvement, I knew I couldn’t go wrong adding it
to my arsenal of fretting tools. Pressed-in
frets are less likely to have loose ends and
uneven heights, because there’s none of the
recoil produced by hammer blows. It gives
you finer control over the pressure needed
to seat a fret into the slot – you can actually
feel it seating!
Relief Gauge #5253
FretBender #0345
Fret Cutter #0619
Fret Slot Cleaning Tool #4870
Fretting Hammer #4895
Jaws Fret Press Deluxe Set #4274
If you wish to go back and enjoy past installments of Restoring an Original, please check
out premierguitar.com or brownsguitarfac-
tory.com Here’s hoping you’re having a fantastic summer!
-John
With the frets gone I wanted to take another
relief measurement at the sixth position.
I was looking forward to trying out a new
tool that I heard about and saw online. Erick
Coleman from Stew Mac squeezed in a little
time with me while he was doing last minute preparations for the Guild of American
Luthiers Convention, where I spoke to him
about measuring the relief in a neck using
the notched straightedge and feeler gauges
that I demoed in last month’s installment.
These tools worked well, but I told him that
I was looking for the convenience and precision of the latest and most innovative tool
out there. I ended up choosing the new neck
relief gauge, which I believe is designed by
Don MacRostie at Stew Mac. After trying one
Bar Fretwire
When I received the bar fretwire from
Martin it was somewhat curved on its flat
side and needed to be straightened. For
this I used my FretBender. Once the roller
wheel is adjusted to the right gap, you simply turn the handle and the fretwire feeds
through – it’s that slick! Once the flat side
of the bar fretwire was straight, I was able
to pre-bend the fret to a slightly tighter
radius than the 16” fingerboard radius. This
discourages the frets from springing up on
the ends when seated – I use a radiused
wooden block for this.
The bar fretwire I selected was slightly oversized, so it needed to be thinned out about
.002”-.003”. I used an 8-ounce hammer to
mash the fret on the flat section of hardox
tool steel – a unique formulation manufactured in Sweden – while going back and
forth to check the fit. When the fret began to
slide into the fret slot with thumb pressure,
I then used the plastic head of the fretting
hammer, tapping square to the fret from
one end to the other, positioning the fret on
the very top portion of the fingerboard slot
before seating it in the next step.
John Brown
John Brown, of Brown's Guitar Factory, is the inventor
of the Fretted/Less bass. He owns and operates a full
guitar manufacturing and repair/restoration facility, which
is staffed by a team of talented luthiers. He is also the
designer of guitar making/repair tools and accessories
that are used today by instrument builders throughout
the world.
brownsguitarfactory.com
info@brownsguitarfactory.com
