Fret rocker? Stew mac? LMII? Other?

[Matthew Lau]

For my first few builds, I just used whatever I had on hand for setup (like a EZE lap diamond card sharpener for fret flattening and rocking frets).

I'm thinking of getting a setup tool like the cool people.
Can you recommend a good one?

I'm considering between
https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/T ... ocker.html
or this:
http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-serv ... ight-gauge


I hope to get back into building something this Autumn season.

[Bryan Bear]

I'm far from a set-up or repair expert so take your salt now.

I thought about making one of those because it seems like a great ides. I was just going to use some 1/8" aluminum bar stock I have and figure out what lengths will allow me to span any 3 frets on a guitar. I should be easy to file/sand then lap a perfectly straight surface on such short runs.

I never got around to it because I don't really do much repair. On new guitars, I level all the frets at the same time with a long straight beam. So I already know they are all in line. Now watch, as soon as I hit submit, a friend will bring me an old guitar with worn frets and ask me to take a look. . .

[Simon Magennis]

Pretty much any bit of metal with different side lengths will do just fine. I think I got my "fret rocker" from some ebay seller but I don't recall for sure - it is steel of some kind with 4 unequal sides. I initially made my own from a bit of aluminum but I didn't have any way to get the edges I sawed really straight. I am not familiar with the gizmo you have but it sounds just fine.

[Brian Evans]

My fret rocker is a piston pin from a Mini Cooper S engine. My straight edge is a 14" long piece of Thomson linear bearing rod.

[Matthew Lau]

I honestly just use a EZE lap card...it's served me well on all my fretjobs.
The edges are pretty square and sorta work.
Also works to flatten the edge too.

Guess I'm overthinking it.

https://www.amazon.com/EZE-LAP-201-Cred ... B002RL83HC