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1. Articles, Lessons, and How-to Guides on Lewis-Riggs Guitars
GUITAR SHOP 101 c2006 Barry Lewis FRET LEVELING HOW-TO A common request of a repair person is a setup with "low action, no buzz". However, as the action goes lower on any guitar, the buzz increases, so the standard reply could be "which do you want more?". There is a tradeoff for low action, and it is increased buzz. The action goes lower, the buzz increases, and at some point, you cross a line where the buzz becomes problematic, and this line varies from player to player. The ultimate determiner of how low the action can get before buzz becomes a problem is the degree to which the frets are level. By this we mean level relative to each other, so if you put a straightedge on the neck (positioning it so that it in the "lie" of one of the strings), it would make contact with the top of every fret. (Don't be confused with the issue of forward bow, or relief, here. When leveling, we want no relief, we want level. Relief comes into play subsequently, during setup.) When the frets are perfectly level, as a string is fretted, it barely clears the adjacent fret. When the frets are not level, as a string is fretted against a fret that is lower than its neighbor, the string no longer clears the neighboring fret, and so it buzzes against it. The buzz may be fairly minimal, so that you can still clearly hear the note, or it may be so severe that the note is completely choked, or it could be anywhere in between. These are often referred to as dead spots. So it becomes clear that a guitar that has uneven frets will buzz more in some areas of the fretboard than others. On the other hand, on a guitar with level frets, if you lower the action enough so that the guitar becomes buzzy, the buzz will be pretty consistent across all the frets. If your guitar has dead spots, or areas where the buzz is noticeably worse in some areas than others, then you will benefit from a fret level, assuming you have enough height left in the frets to accommodate leveling (more below). Fret unevenness is caused by poor installation/leveling to begin with, wear, movement of the frets due to dimensional instability of the fretboard (which changes with fluctuations in humidity, assuming you have a wood fretboard), and other reasons. Fret leveling involves abrading the tops of the frets until they are all level with each other. The idea is to take down all of the high spots until they are even with the lowest spots. This can be done with abrasives or files, but as mentioned, there must be enough fret material left to allow you to remove some and still have enough left after leveling for the guitar to feel good. If there's not enough material for this, then a refret is required. New frets can usually be leveled once or twice, depending on their height. Some wire, such as Dunlop 6100 or 6105, is very tall, and will accommodate more levelings than shorter wire, such as Dunlop 6130 and 6230. At Acme, we level frets with a 24" long piece of 1" x 2" box-section steel that has had the 1" edges surface ground (a very precise method for flattening a surface). One of the edges was then coated with industrial diamond abrasive. Because the bar is long enough to contact all the frets simultaneously, and because the two skinny edges (one plain, one diamond-coated) are extremely flat, leveling is simply a process of marking the tops of all the frets with a marker, and then hogging away with the diamond-coated edge until the marker is removed from the tops of all the frets, indicating that the bar is making contact with every fret. This is an over-simplification, but is basically accurate. There are additional steps, such as adjusting the truss rod where we want it first (varies depending on the situation), and locking the neck in place to minimize deflection as we are hogging off the fret tops (a crucial step). One key point in our minds is the use of an abrasive device that is long enough to contact all the frets simultaneously, as opposed to using something shorter like a 10" mill file. The long bar is effectively surface grinding the tops of the frets, a proven technique for getting something flat (like some of the internals in your car's engine). Anyway, this removal of the high spots results in a neck where the tops of all the frets are level, flat (no longer rounded), and have big scratches on them (a problem); but we are going to talk about the next steps: crowning and polishing in the next article: “Fret Crowning How-to“. c2006 Barry Lewis FRET CROWNING HOW-TO When we left off last month, we had a neck where the tops of all the frets are level, flat (no longer rounded), and had big scratches on them (yikes!). If you played the guitar at this point, it would feel like the frets were made of sandpaper, so obviously this situation needs to be addressed. The fact that the frets are flat on top isn't good either. Assuming the frets are .050" - .100" wide, having them flat on top could alter the string length by .025" - .050", which is enough to throw off your intonation. Hmmm... does this require additional explanation? Yes? Okay, let's discuss scale length. Scale length is the length of the "vibrating portion" of your strings (from the fretboard-side of the nut to the saddle). On a Strat, this is 25.5 inches before intonation compensation. The width of each interval on the fingerboard is calculated based on this measurement, to 3 or 4 decimal places, using a logarithmic formula: 25.5 / 17.817 = 1.431" (width of first interval, or fret) 25.5 - 1.431 = 24.069 (remainder of scale) 24.069 / 17.817 = 1.351" (width of second interval, or fret) 24.069 - 1.351 = 22.718 (remainder of scale) 22.718 / 17.817 = 1.275" (width of third interval, or fret) 22.718 - 1.275 = 21.443 (remainder of scale) etc etc etc. Sleeping yet? The reason the fret placement is calculated so precisely (and the fret slots cut correspondingly precisely, at least on good guitars) is because you would hear if they weren't. The guitar would be out of tune to the degree that the fret placement was off. Even a small amount, like .025" (25 thousandths of an inch) would be noticeable, you would hear the notes beating against each other. Beating is that "throbbing" you sometimes hear between two notes, especially with distortion. The accurate fret placement is only effective if the top of the fret corresponds to the position of the slot itself. If the fret is round on top, the string makes contact in the middle of the fret, in line with the middle of the slot. Hog off the top of the fret so it is flat on top, and now the edge of the fret where the string "breaks" is off from the centerline by up to .050". As you move up the fretboard, this error is compounded because the .050" or whatever becomes a larger and larger percentage of the remaining string length. So it's important that the frets remain round on top. But our frets are flat on top. So we need to round them. We can do this with abrasives or files. The idea is to round the shoulders of each fret WITHOUT REMOVING ANY MATERIAL FROM THE TOP. Let's qualify this by saying that we are only concerned with the section down the middle of the top (where the strings will ultimately make contact), because we spent so much time leveling the tops last month. The last thing we want to do at this point is remove material from this section. The easiest way to do this consistently is with markers and crowning files. If we mark the tops of the frets with a marker, we can see at a glance if any material gets removed from them. Then we can use a crowning file to remove the shoulders (the square edges) while monitoring the marked tops to make sure that the marker is not removed down the center of the tops. A crowning file is one who's narrow edges have a groove milled or formed in them. This groove has teeth cut in it (or is coated with industrial diamond), so that it will leave a convex edge on a surface as it cuts. As the file is passed over a fret, this groove begins to knock off the corners, turning the top from a flat surface back to a rounded surface. Careful monitoring of the marked tops and an experienced hand will result in frets that have the merest sliver of marker remaining down the center of each fret, ensuring that they are nearly perfectly rounded, but that the tops are still level. c2006 Barry Lewis FRET POLISHING When we left off last time, we had finished leveling and crowning the frets. At this point, the tops of the frets would all be level with each other, and the tops would also be rounded (crowned). However, you'll recall that the initial leveling left the frets with scratches in their tops, and this would make the guitar uncomfortable to play, especially if you bend the strings. The guitar would feel all "scratchy". So at this point, we need to get the scratches out, and this step is typically called polishing. Here's how abrasives work: As you sand something, the abrasive particles scratch the surface you’re sanding. The sanding may make the surface "flat" (a relative term, as we shall see), but it also scratches it. If you sanded with 120 grit sandpaper, you would have relatively large scratches, and if you looked at a photomicrograph of the surface, you would see that it didn't look flat at all. The scratches would look like huge valleys. You would then follow up with the next grit, like maybe 220, and this would also scratch the surface, but because the abrasive particles are smaller, the scratches would be smaller than the 120 grit scratches. The idea with sanding is to obliterate the larger scratches from the previous grit with smaller scratches from the current grit. As you move up through the grits, each time completely obliterating the larger scratches from the previous grit, the scratches will get smaller and smaller with each successive grit until you can no longer see them with the naked eye. Surface flatness is something of a science. There are actually gauges made to measure this, and they come in various types and with different levels of accuracy and expense. There are machines that will measure surface roughness in millionths of inches, so you can see that "flat" is indeed a relative term. One simple type of surface roughness gauge is a cylinder with graduations on the side. You set it on the workpiece, and then look at its reflection in the workpiece. The flatter the workpiece, the less distortion in the reflection, and the more of the graduations you can read. The highest graduation that is readable indicates the degree of flatness. If you want to see something really flat, open an old computer hard drive (you know, one of those old 20G drives) and look at the platter(s). Now that is flat. To get the frets really shiny (meaning that the scratches are really tiny), the final steps may be done with buffing compounds. Some repair people finish with 0000 steel wool, which is pretty fine, but won't leave a finish as shiny as buffing will. You'll recall that at Acme, we use a surface-ground bar to level frets. One edge is coated with industrial diamond (which is fairly coarse: 220-320), and the other side has no coating. After crowning, we use various grits of sandpaper adhered to this uncoated edge (using the bar in the same way it was initially used for leveling), and finish with 600 grit paper. The final step is to mark the tops of the frets one last time, with the neck still held in the jig to prevent deflection, and use the 600 grit paper to remove the marker from the tops. This leaves the tops with very small scratches, while ensuring that everything is still level. The final step is to buff the frets. A buffer is just a felt or muslin wheel that is "loaded" with very fine abrasive. This abrasive usually comes in a stick form (in various grits, all of which are very fine), and the stick is pressed against the rotating wheel to load it with abrasive. The guitar neck is then passed across the face of the wheel, back and forth, until the scratches from the 600 grit paper are obliterated. Acme has two buffers, each with a coarse and a fine set of buffs. One buffer is dedicated to polishing metal and the other buffer is set up for finishes (like lacquer). The frets are first buffed using the coarse abrasive, which obliterates the 600 grit scratches, and then the fine abrasive obliterates the scratches from the coarse abrasive. And at that point, the frets look like little pieces of sterling silver jewelry. And the final steps are cleanup, restringing, and setup. We discuss setup in the next article: “Guitar Setup How-to; Part 1 & Part 2”. c2006 Barry Lewis GUITAR SETUP HOW-TO (PART 1) Okay, the last few columns dealt with fret-leveling. I stated then that a guitar's ability to play well is dependent on the frets being level, but once they are level, then the setup is critical. Level frets are only half the equation, the setup is the other part. A setup means an overall adjustment and servicing. Different shops give you different things with their setups, but you should expect that it will include adjusting everything that is adjustable, and making sure that the guitar is as mechanically functional as it can be. Since everyone needs their guitar setup from time to time, we'll take the setup process from the top. Acme's list includes cleaning the electronics with DeoxIT, cleaning the fretboard, tightening any loose hardware, adding the proper washers to the input jack (if not already there) and tightening it to make sure it stays tight, restringing, and then adjusting the truss rod, nut slots, string height, and intonation. Let's start at the beginning: Take the old strings off and throw them away. There is no reason to keep them. Throw them away, they are trash. Okay, next step: Clean the electronics. The best stuff I know of for this is Caig Chemical's DeoxIT. This stuff is squirted or sprayed into the pots, on the switch contacts, and into the jack. The component is then "worked" a couple of times (the pots are rotated back and forth, etc), and voilà, no more crackling when you turn the pot or work the switch! This stuff is amazing at cleaning corrosion from electrical contacts, and is available in different strengths (5% and 100%), and with different types of applicators. The sprays are convenient, but messy, and you don't want the overspray all over everything, especially plastic parts and your paint. I use a little bottle of the 100% solution with a needle applicator that is sometimes difficult to get into tight spaces, but it puts the stuff only where you want it. DeoxIT is available online directly from Caig. If the component is still crackling after using DeoxIT, replace it or have it replaced, unless it was made before 1965, in which case you can sell it to your favorite vintage dealer and go on a short vacation with the proceeds. Next, we use 0000 steel wool to clean the fretboard/frets, except on maple fretboards, where we use it to clean the frets only (we tape off the wood with masking tape). Steel wool does a great job of removing corrosion from the frets, but there are drawbacks. You want to avoid steel wool that has oil in it, if possible, and you want to be careful not to scratch your finish. Tape off the body around the fingerboard with masking tape (low-tack drafting tape might be the way to go on an old finish), and tape off the pickups while you're at it. You don't want the steel fibers that break off to work their way into the windings (it is a fact that the steel fibers will be attracted to those sexy pickups). Run the steel wool up and down the neck, and clean the corrosion off the frets. Don't worry that the wool is going at right angles to the frets, this is a non-issue. After cleaning with steel wool, vacuum off the steel wool fibers that remain, remove the tape, and clean the fretboard with naptha. If you don't have naptha, you should go buy some at Home Depot, or you can buy Ronsonol lighter fluid at a 7-11 or somewhere (this is 100% naptha). Naptha can be squirted on a guitar without fear of hurting anything (just don't light a match!), it is really pretty safe in terms of not damaging your guitar, including plastic and paint (even nitro). This doesn't mean soak your guitar in it, but a little here and there won't hurt anything, and it evaporates really quickly (make sure you have good ventilation). It is a great degreaser, and also really good at dissolving gummy label glue, etc. Handy around the house too, for these sorts of applications. It will clean your fretboard right up, use a white paper towel and you will see that it turns black from the steel wool, so you want to degrease after using steel wool. This will also dry the fretboard, and you can oil it if you want, but I never do. Ebony can almost be considered to be non-porous, its pores are so small, so I don't think oiling it gets the oil very far past the surface; rosewood on the other hand is very oily to begin with. Maple is a non-issue, since it's normally finished. Fretboards pick up oils from your skin as well. Tighten the jack. Wait, add washers to it first if needed, then tighten it. You want a star washer (internal-tooth lockwasher) on the inside, between the jack and the jackplate, and a flat washer on the outside, between the nut and the jackplate. The fact that Fender doesn't use a flat washer indicates that they have no one on staff who has ever studied bolting technology. That's why their jacks always come loose. They come loose, and then people try to tighten them from the outside of the guitar, but the nut doesn't really tighten because the jack just rotates inside the guitar, twisting the wires, which ultimately break. At this point, the guitar is taken into the shop with the complaint that the pickups don't work, but really the pickups are fine, the jack wires have just broken. So the sequence is: make sure the jack is a Switchcraft jack (did I mention that? if it isn't, consider replacing it; they cost $2.50 and will last you for the next 40 years; we ship ours with the correct washers), make sure you have a star washer on the inside and a flat washer on the outside, put a drop of Loc-Tite on the threads, and then hold the jack with one hand while you tighten the nut securely with a 1/2 inch wrench, socket, or nutdriver. There. Fixed forever. Tighten any loose hardware (like the tuner bushings), then restring the guitar, tune it up, and cut the excess string ends off. Go to http://www.lewis-riggscustomguitars for more, plus articles and lessons by other writers, experts and instructors. c2006 Barry Lewis

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