How to make sharp fret ends smooth with fret dressing file

Dan Earlewine, national treasure!

Oh I enjoy this so much.
The video isn't artificially made longer than it needs to be, and he has such a warm and welcoming attitude

my cuts brought me here, thanks!

Is it easy to file stainless steel frets?

I really appreciate this. I picked up a cheap no name bass off craigslist years ago. $60! With big fender bass amp. The only thing I found wrong with it after playing it a number of times, was that after my sessions, the inside of my fingers felt raw and looked chewed up. The fret ends as you show in your video are hanging a little which makes it rough playing. Was about to sell it thinking metal wasn't fixable. Until I figured id look it up n see. Tbh I actually thought it was the neck. But anyway, thx! This seems like a simple fix. Given mines only 6.5 lbs, it'd be a waste to get rid of it. Lol. Doubt I could find lighter for cheaper.

Excellent! 😊❤

Wonderful video, thanks

When you try to shred on your guitar but your guitar just shreds your fingers instead. ;(

Or I can save about $100 and get a $3.00 sanding sponge...

I use 1/2 a wrung out sponge in the case to humidify the guitar and fretboards that are humidified swell a bit and the fret ends get 'smaller' . So the simple solution is to use a cheap 3-corner file to remove sharp fret ends an THEN humidify the guitar. You have corrected a dry fretboard and then humidified it to further minimize the 'fret ends being sharp' , see?

Thanks for the very informative video. You make it look so easy ... I doubt that it will be that for me, but gonna give it a go. LOL

I recently purchased a guitar where the fret edge could cut a Redwood tree down! Need to take it to my local guitar shop.

04/28/2-23: I got new Eart T-380 guitar. It is very nice for only $400.00. However, I do have one complaint. The stainless steel fret wires are set back a little from the edge of the fretboard and they are a bullet shape with a very high polished round end. This looks good, but the bullet ends are too high and my first finger (right handed) just bounces alone them and it actually is painful. The neck does not have rolled edges, so I took a small jewelers file and rounded off the wood a little to get a nice rounded fret board edge. Well, that helped a little, but that bumpy bullet fret end is annoying. So, I am thinking of gently file down the bullet ends to angle down (beveled like most guitars have). What do yo think? This might be a good show for you to do, per I am sure other people have the same problem.

I might use painter's tape as I'm not skilled with this. Also, I would consider a file less aggressive (even though that one isn't) in an effort to not make a mistake on my old collector guitar. I will buy tools from StewMac. That name makes me hungry :) Thank you.

People who don't take care of their guitars like this, probably also make love badly. You can draw a straight A to B line from those statements.

Bought that dressing file kit...did exactly what you said and boom! Smooth and polished frets, sweet bends, and no more shredded fingers. THANK YOU!!

Thank you for this, as I am in the midst of constructing a guitar kit. Even though it not an expensive kit, I want to get this guitar as nearly perfect as I can.

I really enjoy watching videos with Dan. He is a man who is truly skilled in his profession. I am a guitar luthier myself - and have learned so much from him!

Thanks to Stew I set up my new guitar better than ever. Had high fret issues and followed his fret filing video . I even removed a fret cause when tapping it down to make sure it was set it came up a bit. The fret ends were actually high and I straitened it out in a toolmakers vise still keeping the radius . I have all those files and stuff. I lowered the action to about 1.3 mm from 2mm + at fret 22. It buzzed bad under 2mm before.May even go lower.👍

This was a good video

for the 6" fret leveler what grit would you recommend...?

You have TWO different 6" leveling files. Which one for moderate fret sprout? 0862 or 0864?

Thank you very much for such helpful videos! I believe your team helps to save guitars all over the world😍

thank you love this video

How strong is this file? It is so thin by design, how hard should I be pressing down when filing?

One minute in and already subscribed. I can tell this guy knows his stuff and is going to be a lot of fun to watch and learn from. Too many people nowadays are just doing the work, explaining nothing and using "cinematography" and bad music to compensate for lack of commentary, ie: knowledge

That is a great video not a bunch of senseless babbling direct and to the point with great information

Philip McKnight

why are stewmac products so overpriced? they are all made in china or sea anyway..

I know this is rather old, but how about stainless steel frets. Do they require more filing than nickel?

I know there's a much quicker way to do this but man does it look so relaxing to do them all one by one 😄

Never heard of this guy, ,but he i s the "": Real Deal "" ,no ego, just a cool old guy!!!

Dan is the Man..... The Master at work.

The new look for all us old guys; readers, optivisor & bright headlamps. We are chick magnets! 🤣🤣🤣🎸🎸😎

I just learned a lifetime of information!

This man’s a freteranarian!

Dan Erlewine. The Vin Scully of luthiers.

“With a few simple tools”

750 dollars later on stew mac cart.

Excellent video.!. If I get started now I should get it done in a year or two :-)

I purchased your fret dressing file and it worked perfectly for the job. Thanks!

And thank you for showing your technique!

It arrived today! Super fast shipping, Fantastic tool, Thank you!

Great tutorial! Thank you.

Worked like a champ! Thanks!

Great video. I am a subscriber now glad I found your page.

Idk why im here, i quit the guitar 4 years ago because it was too much for me. All the care and maintance, all the things you needed to do to keep your instrument in good condition, man it was too much. I play drums now🥁 but still i like watching these videos.

This was an exceedingly helpful video! I was able to use some of these tips in filing down the fret edges on a fairly new guitar that I recently purchased. Thanks so much!

All of this work on Ibanez guitar? I like Ib but no one would put this work, money into Chinese, Korean guitar.

Very nice 👍 and that's how it's done ! Thank you for showing how really easy it is to file and polish .