Collings 000: Level Frets and Set Up


1. Collings Guitars makes some fine instruments.	2. A Set Up is necessary from time to time on any guitar that's put into use. This instrument exhibts some fret ware. Par for the course on a player's guitar. In most cases, a fret leveling to both eliminate fret ware and counter any distortion in the neck is a pre-requisite for a dialed in set up.


3. Action is certainly subjective. The action on this guitar is a touch high for the owner's liking. After I complete the fretwork I'll adjust the nut slots and the saddle to bring the strings down a bit closer to the frets.	4. Marking the Frets for Leveling isn't necessaary but it sure speeds things up. I'll lay down some black marker on the crown of each fret. This will allow me to more easily (and quicly) see when the frets are level.


5. Sanding the Frets in the neck jig with a flat sanding bar equiped with 80 grit self-adhesive sandpaper "roughs-in" the frets. A few passes will reveal the problematic areas of the neck. This neck jig sold by Stewart McDonald simulates the guitar's string tension.	6. Spot Filing the Frets with a modified mill file speeds up the process. Just a couple of passes with the file then I switch back to the sanding bar. I'll go back and forth between the two tools until the frets are pretty close to level. This file has rounded ends, sides and corners. and the only cutting surface is on the two faces of the file.


7. Final Leveling of the Frets with the long-flat aluminum sanding bar with 320 grit self adhesive sand- paper completes the leveling process.	8. Recrowning the Frets with a crowning file gets rid of the little fret plateaus that result from the leveling process.


9. Recrowning the Frets Cont. See the thin strip of black marker on the fret to the left? That's the recrowned fret. The fret to the right has a wide-flat crown. I finish re-crown- ing all of the frets before I proceed with the set-up.	10. Polishing the Frets with 9 steps of sandpaper starting at 1000 grit and ending with 12,000 grit make it fast and easy to buff the frets and fretboard on the buffing wheel.


11. Cleaning the Frets and Fretboard with naptha then oiling the fretboard with mineral oil will help protect and enhance the aesthetics of this guitar's fretboard. Although it won't damage the guitar or its finish, naptha is toxic so it should be used in moderation in a well ventilated environment.	12. Adjusting the Nut Slots is necessary because the process of leveling the frets lowered the frets by a few thousandths of an inch. The nut slots should be filed at an angle that's halfway between the plane of the fretboard and the angle of the strings from the nut to their resting point on the tuning machines.


13. Marking the Saddle for sanding allows me to get the action just where I want it without any trial and error. The dedicated mechanical pencil I use for this task has a blunt plastic tip (thanks to a sharp chisel) that I place against the bottom of the saddle. In this case, the lead protrudes 1/32" from the tip thus leaving a line 1/32" up from the bottom of the saddle. In essence, I'm using this pencil as a marking guage.	14. Sanding the Bottom of the Saddle on a dead flat granite slab on 180 grit sandpaper quickly eliminates the unwanted 1/32" from this bone saddle and makes it very flat. The squared bar of steel keeps the bottom of the saddle square.


14. An Adjusted Saddle is part of this guitar's set up. When it comes to the process of setting up a flat top guitar, I start with the truss rod, then the nut slots and complete the set up with a saddle adjustment.	15. Level Frets allow me to dial in this guitar's set up to the owner's specific precerences.


16. Moderately Low Action makes this guitar more fun to play. As measured at the 12th fret to the bottom of the strings: 1st (high, unwound E string) 2/32", 6th string: 3/32". This set-up is comfortable for fingerstyle and high enough off the frets for a moderate pick attack. I adjusted the truss rod for .006" relief.