# Fret Rocker



## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Great idea, but Stew-Mac wants $26.75 CDN, plus shipping and what ever you get tagged for duties and such. So, having more time than money, I took out the dremel, some files, some sandpaper and a piece of flat granite and made one. Took a couple of hours all together.










The dimensions are right on the stew-mac website so I just used a ruler and compass and laid it out on a piece of paper. I cut that out and used a bit of craft glue to glue it down. I also went the recycle route, been saving this for just this reason. It was doing more burning than cutting. Lots left over for other projects too.











I love saving money. I don't know what the total would be to buy it, likely close to $35. Now I gotta go do those frets on my buddies Tele.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Nice work Jim! ...always good to DIY and save some money for something else.

I had never seen/heard of these. This is for anyone else that is learning from you (like me).










Cheers

Dave


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## John Kingma (Jan 30, 2008)

Nice piece of work Jim. How long did it take you to make it?


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Nice job Jim, I got one from StewMac, I don't have your skills, or tools!

It's a handy unit to find those high frets.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Only took an hour, maybe 2. A little slow cutting with a dremel, and rough too, but I have a granite tile I paid $2 for because the colour was off, some craft glue to attach sandpaper to it, and you have a reference surface to make things nice and flat and even. Of course there was a bit of filing involved first to rough it out, but a fairly easy job.


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

An old credit card works pretty well too, without an modifications. Only the very last few frets get too little for it.


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

One can also go to a place like Fastenal and buy a few harden and ground dowel pins of various lengths (similar to the side lengths on Stewmac's fret rocker).


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## JeremyP (Jan 10, 2012)

Good one! I love to see people not giving stewmac their exorbitant prices, half the stuff they sell you can make for a tenth of the price they sell it for. Especially when they give you exact dimensions! :sFun_dancing:


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Well, I can't play the instrument all that well (my own fault), but I do love it and like to see them kept in good shape.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

That seems to work, another thing you can do is buy a good square, with a smaller one ($12.50) you’ll be able to use either leg to rock across any 3 frets... and you could probably find a few more uses for it besides fret work.


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## John Kingma (Jan 30, 2008)

JeremyP said:


> Good one! I love to see people not giving stewmac their exorbitant prices, half the stuff they sell you can make for a tenth of the price they sell it for. Especially when they give you exact dimensions! :sFun_dancing:


It all depends on how you look at things. Some people like "making" tools... and some people like "using" tools.

I prefer to build guitars... not tools. The Stew-Mac fret rocker is 25 bucks. If it takes me 2 hours to make it then I'd rather buy it. I've built 54 guitars in the last 10 or 12 years and have used my fret rocker on every one of them. If it's something you are only going to use once in a while and you don't mind spending a bit of time to make then that is fine... but if you are using it time and time again, year after year, then it's a pretty small investment.

YMMV


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Jimmy_D said:


> That seems to work, another thing you can do is buy a good square, with a smaller one ($12.50) you’ll be able to use either leg to rock across any 3 frets... and you could probably find a few more uses for it besides fret work.



"Buy" a good square????.....lol










I like building AND using tools. I have used these on every project since I made them.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Jim DaddyO said:


> "Buy" a good square????.....lol
> 
> I like building AND using tools. I have used these on every project since I made them.


Well it's really not that funny, is it?... I "bought" some real squares back in 1978 and still have them, they've produced so much work that the cost per unit can be expressed in thousandths of a penny, so cost is not a factor but what is a factor is that they are still 90 degrees, they remain unaffected by time/weather/use etc, in another 100 years they will be exactly the same...


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## epis (Feb 25, 2012)

I'm making my tools as well. I like what and how you did it. But that fret rocker thingie is more the toy than real tool. I could agree it's cool for average guitar Joe to check high spots, not something for guitar techs.
Long levelling beam, some fine sandpaper and sharpie work a lot faster and more accurate. http://www.cuicuica.co.uk/#!fretdress/c12zc


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

epis said:


> I'm making my tools as well. I like what and how you did it. But that fret rocker thingie is more the toy than real tool. I could agree it's cool for average guitar Joe to check high spots, not something for guitar techs.
> Long levelling beam, some fine sandpaper and sharpie work a lot faster and more accurate. http://www.cuicuica.co.uk/#!fretdress/c12zc


I agree with the leveling beam, but after you've checked the frets.
How do you find out if you even need to level them first?
That's where the fret rocker comes in, no?


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I have a friends tele with a couple of high frets, this will come in handy to check the frets as I work on it. No sense grinding them all down if only 1 is a bit high.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Great work Jim. I'm impressed and inspired. I have some reclaimed 1/4" aluminum plate I could use for the same. 

My neck support is straight out of the Stew-Mac pages. I made 3 for next to nothing. Scrap pine and cedar, cork, glue, urethane, all of which I had in the shop. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Thanks Mike, sometimes the results of a project is it's own reward.


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## epis (Feb 25, 2012)

sulphur said:


> I agree with the leveling beam, but after you've checked the frets.
> How do you find out if you even need to level them first?
> That's where the fret rocker comes in, no?


Well, you play it. Fret buzz or high action or worn out frets means frets need leveling. You'll never do just a few frets or group of frets. You level it all.

P.S.
Just to check it out, you can use very fine sandpaper 1000 grit, pass the beam just a few times back and forth,so no damage is gonna be done to frets.It's just gonna be polished. 
Doing just one or two frets never works well.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

We were addressing high frets, not worn frets.

If the frets are good, but there is a high fret, or two, I'll just address those.
If it doesn't rock after, they're good.


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## Erich (Apr 23, 2013)

Some guys like toys, some like tools, some like makin' tools to make toys, to each their own, who really cares?...

I for one will take any chance I can get to use my power tools! Whether for guitars, tools, building a deck, whatever... lol 

So thanks for sharing this thread! Gonna go make one myself now!.. Cheers!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Hey Jim, before you break out the files, I used a spreader clamp a few times to reseat a popped fret.
One of these...http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045...astercraft-spreader-clamp-reviews/reviews.htm

The first guitar I tried it on was a buddies Kijiji find, 
a basketcase Sparrow LP without pickups, that had fallen face first off of a guitar stand, onto the floor, obviously.
A few frets were high, unseating during impact, was my assumption.

A few good squeezes with this clamp and no fret rocking afterwards.
There's a soft rubber surface on the jaws of the clamp, so no marring.

That was a set neck guitar and it wouldn't work closer to the body,
but the Tele is a bolt on, if that's even an issue.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

a great tip sulphur...thanks!!


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