Martin D-18 Golden Era: Set Up/Level Frets


1. A Set Up is necessary from time to time, in order to both counter wear and tear and customize an instru- ment's playability according to the needs of the individual player.	2. A Foscilized Ivory Saddle is standard equipment on Martin's Golden Era D-18 Sunburst. This saddle is a bit taller than the owner of this guitar would like.


3. Sharp Fret Ends like these will catch a player's left hand. Aside from feeling a bit uncomfortable, fret ends that aren't adequately rounded over will slow down the fretting hand.	4. Worn Frets result from contact with the strings. As the frets wear, fret buzz and poor intonation start to become problematic.


5. A Foscilized Ivory Nut. This nut has a bit too much excess mass above the strings. This will only become more problematic after I level the frets as the nut slots will have to be cut even deeper. I've delicately removed the nut for ease of shaping after I've completed the fret-work.	6. Lubricating the Truss Rod Nut with white lithium grease only takes a moment. While I'm at it, I'll adjust the truss rod so the neck is straight for the fret leveling procedure.


7. Filing the Frets at the fretboard tongue is perfectly safe since I've protected the top with a cork-lined sheet metal shield. I'm also using a mill file with rounded corners to further guarentee this instrument's safety.	8. Leveling the Frets with 400 grit, 3-m sandpaper wrapped around our shop's dead-flat, aluminum sand- ing bar. Sanding the frets with a bar like this both removes any pit- ting in the frets and levels the frets. Leveling the frets like this will fasc- ilitate low action with no fret-buzz. I will sand the frets at the body end of the neck with a shorter sanding bar. This will create a secondary plane which, will counter the dispro- portionate distribution of string ten- sion caused throughout the length of the neck that is due to the neck's increased stability by the neck/body joint. This is called "planned fatigue".


9. Re-Crowning the Frets is necessary since the sanding bar left the tops of the frets flat. A crowning file makes quick work of the fret- crown.	10. Dressing the Fret Ends will reduce friction on the fretting hand allowing for a faster, more comfortable performance.


11. A Properly Crowned and Dressed Fret.	12. Sanding the Frets with 600 grit sandpaper wrapped around a small, metal rod will sand out any marks left by the crowning file.


13. Polishing the Frets begins with #0000 steel wool and is continued through the series of micro-mesh sanding pads. I'm using these abrasive pads to polish the frets through 12,000 grit.	14. Cleaning and Sealing the Fretboard is necessary to protect this unfinished, ebony fretboard from the elements. I've cleaned the ebony with naptha and am currently sealing the hardwood with mineral oil.


15. Cleaning up the Glue at the Nut's Seat. A sharp chisel safely removes the glue used by the factory to hold the nut in its seat.	16. Filing Away the Excess Ivory from the nut will make the nut both look more aesthetically pleasing, and ensure ease of tuning. This is esp- ecially the case with the wound strings.


17. Oiling this Guitar's Waverly Tuners with sewing machine oil will keep these gears working smoothly for some time to come.	18. The Truss Rod is the first aspect of an instrument to be addressed during the adjustments phase of a set up. Martin guitars require a 5mm allen wrench for truss rod adjustments.


19. Filing the Nut Slots so they are nice and low will make playing (especially in the first position) much more comfortable. A small hook safely gets the strings out of the way of the nut slotting files.	20. A Small Amount of Graphite in the fret slots will fill any microscopic gaps left by our nut slotting files. This further ensures ease of tuning. Pencil lead is commonly used for this purpose, however, the binders used in pencil lead are proprietary. Therefore, we use powdered graphite just be sure that no added chemicals degrade the integrity of the nut.


21. Lowering the Action at the Saddle. I could have removed the saddle to achieve this, however, this saddle was glued into the bridge making removal risky to this some- what tenuous piece of foscilized ivory. I've protected the top of the guitar and the bridge to ensure that our rounded corner mill file doesn't damage the top of the guitar in any way.	22. An Adjusted and Polished Saddle have contributed to this Martin's easy playability.


23. An Adjusted and Polished Nut also contributes to this guitar's playability. Notice how the wound strings protrude from the top of the nut? This fascilitates ease of tuning. I left a little more material than ne- cessary at the top of the nut. This way, a future repair person can fill and recut the nut slots should the nut slots have to be raised during the course of a refret.	24. This Guitar is Golden!