Leveling frets on a bound fretboard

[K-man]

A question for the luthiers:

Is there anything special I need to do when leveling/dressing the frets on a bound fretboard? The binding goes over the ends of the frets.

Thanks.

[Schroeder]

No. Happy hacking!

Just kidding.

Tim always masks the fingerboard regardless of whether it's bound or not, to protect from any file gouges, etc.

One time saving trick of the trade is to run tape down the side of the neck lengthwise first so that when it's time to unmask, you can simply lift the long piece of tape and all of it comes off at once.

That said, frets are a pretty serious undertaking. I'd be lying if I said that it doesn't worry me a little that this is one of the first topics in the DIY thread!

Charles

[K-man]

I've leveled frets on a couple of maple boards before that came out great (I took a class on building a parts guitar at my local luthier, so I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing). This is the first time I've had to do it on a bound rosewood board.

What do I do to the binding that wraps over the fret ends? Just level and recrown the frets right over it like it was part of the fret?

[Schroeder]

When we do refrets at the shop, we put the binding on before putting the frets in. So the binding is levelled with the fingerboard, then using fret tang nippers we trim off part of the tang of the fret, so that the top of the fret extends to the edge of the binding. (This also maximizes playing surface.) The finished product looks beautiful and you don't have to deal with those annoying gibson style 'nubs' that extend up to the top of the fret.

Charles