Fender Strat: Level Frets and Set-up

Related Topics: Refret | Fender Strat: Neck Joint Failure | Nut

Note: The Fender strat photo-documented here belongs to Bob Keefe. Aside from being a great Ithaca, NY based guitar player and teacher, Bob also does fine repairs to tube amplifiers. You can reach him at Bob's Repair Shop: 607-279-WOTL


1. The Venerable Fender Stratocaster. This one, manu- factured in 1999, suffers from "fret- board tongue lift", which is a fancy way of saying that the end of the fret- board "ski-jumps" up. This occurs be- cause the neck is more stable where it becomes fatter near the neck pocket.	2. Fret Wear causes fret buzz and throws off intonation. Nothing that a fret leveling and set up can't fix on this strat.


3. The Erlewine Neck Jig will play a central role in the process of level- ing the frets on this guitar. We use this tool to aid with just about every fret leveling and fret replacement job that comes through our shop. In Stew Mac's (the distributor's) own words, this jig allows for simulation of "normal string tension when the strings are removed from the in- strument". This translates into faster fretwork with tighter tolerances.	4. Simulating String Tension. I've adjusted the peghead to simulate string tension. The little jack at the end of the peghead pushes up on the neck while the strap wrapped around the neck just beyond the end of the fretboard pulls down on the neck. I'll adjust back and forth between the jack and the strap until the dial indicators both read zero (I set them to zero after strapping the guitar into the jig but before I removed the strings). The neck will now exhibit the same com- pression it did before I removed the strings.


5. Self Adhesive Sandpaper attached to a flat sanding bar will level the frets of this guitar. Be- cause the frets are pretty worn, I'll begin sanding with 80 grit sand- paper.	6. Leveling the Frets. This sanding bar is a bit longer than the fretboard, which makes it perfect for leveling frets. After I've sanded away the majority of the fret-wear I'll switch to 320 grit sandpaper to minimize the sanding marks I'll have to polish out later.


7. Recrowning the Frets goes quickly with the shop's diamond fret crowning file. This file has rounded ends which are not only great for working on acoustic fretboard tongues but they also come in really handy for any spot filing necessary to tighten up the peak of the crown.	8. A Properly Crowned Fret has a thin strip of sanding marks down the center of the crown's peak. This ensure's proper intonation and a good, quick feel.


9. Sanding and Polishing the Frets is necesary to remove the filing and flat bar sanding marks. After sanding the frets with 220, 400 and 600 grit sandpaper I began polishing the frets with 00, 0000 steel wool. Now I'm using micro-mesh polishing pads to give the frets a 12,000 grit shine.	10. Cleaning and Sealing the Fretboard with naptha and mineral oil will protect and enhance the appearance of this rosewood fret- board.


11. Adjusting the Truss Rod is the first step in adjusting a guitar. I'll adjust this neck so it exhibits .006" of relief. It should be noted that neck relief is subjective. Most folks like relief to fall somewhere between .003-.006", however, some players prefer the relief to fall any- where between dead straight and .012". To each their own!	12. Adjusting the Nut Slots. I'm filing the slots with nut slotting files to compensate for the loss of fret height caused by leveling the frets.


13. Adjusting the Saddles to accomodate the client's specific pref- erances in action is done with a small allen wrench and a 150mm steel ruler. I like to set the saddles so the strings follow the same radius as that of the 12th fret. Rather than adjust the strings so their tops or bottoms conform to the radius, I adjust the saddles so that the radius passes through the center of each string. For more information on adjusting saddles visit the adjusting electric guitar saddles page.	14. Adjusting the Saddles Cont. I adjust the strings to a center-line radius because it makes the action feel more even because you're making a compromise between the distance your left hand feels from the top of one string to another and the resistance your hand feels when pressing down on the strings. Two popular ways of adjusting electric guitar saddles is to set the e string heights as measured from the 12th fret, then set the height of the other strings by matching them up to either a radius gauge set on top of the strings at the bridge or an under-string radius gauge.


15. Intonating with a Strobe Tuner, or, in this case, Peterson's virtual strobe tuner called the "strobo- flip", is very accurate. Intonating is necessary because the scale length of each string depends upon a number of factors, including: the scale length of the guitar, the gauge of the strings and the amount of relief in the neck.	16. Intonation Cont. By comparing the harmonics of each string at the 7th, 12th and 19th frets with the fretted notes at each of those frets we can tell whether the saddle needs to be moved back to increase the string length (if the fretted note is sharp) or shorten the string length if the fretted note is flat (when com- pared to the harmonic).


17. Adjusting the Pickups is a good idea as it can balance out the volume from string to string and pickup to pickup. I typically lower the pickups before intonation then bring them back up and give them their final adjustments after the guitar is intonated.	18. Level Frets have allowed me to set up this guitar with low action.

19. All Done.