# Fret Leveling and Crowning - what tools?



## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

Curious as to what you guys use for fret leveling and crowning? My old '87 Kramer could use a bit of work and I want to do it myself as I quite like to do that kind of work.

I have been looking through the Stew-Mac catalogue and there are a lot of variants of the different tools. Is there ones I should avoid and/or ones that are worth the extra money? 

The examples that come to mind are;

- what length of leveler should I get? There are 4" and 8".,....I would assume the 8" give a more uniform flatness across a longer range of fret?

- should the leveler be flat or is it easier/better to get one with the proper radius? Luckily all 4 of my guitars are 12" other that the Kramer which is 14"

- diamond or metal file? Should you get the different grits or is just one okay? 

- Lastly in finishing the frets after recrowning do you get into using all the different grits or steel wool? Are the new Stew Mac erasers any good?

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated!


----------



## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

i use

flat bastard file- regular hardware store type.
cut into 4 and 8 inch lengths, tangs removed and edges ground smooth.
several carberundum stones- those big square knife sharpening stones- they have two grits, one per side.

black dollar store markers for gauging the tops.

i like a flat levelling tool.

i once took one of those long aluminum bubble levels and cut it into pieces- used it as a sanding block, wrapping sandpaper over its flat side.
worked great- lost them at some point.

for crowning, stew mac fret crowning files. im using the metal type, but diamond would be nice.
that is how i will go when mine wear out.
also a few small triangular files, regular hardware store type- edges ground smooth.

combinations of 1500-2000 grit wetsanding paper and 0000 steel wool for polishing.

not that these are the best tools for the job, its just what works for me.


----------



## YJMUJRSRV (Jul 17, 2007)

gone fishing


----------

