sea glassing fret ends

[Greg Martin]

I don't know where Ryan got the term "sea glassing" but It refers to using a carbide cutter to flush up or slightly radius fret ends. Anyone else use this method? do you think carbide will cut nickle silver fret ends efficiently ? It would be nice to do away with some hand filing.
watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSKz30b ... ptiTI7f8iw

[Gordon Bellerose]

That is interesting. Tidying up the fretboard edge is always a tedious bit of work.
It certainly doesn't sound or look, like the bit is having any problem with the metal frets.

Like everything he does though, he has made a nice jig. Makes it much easier to control.
And I would have to assume he is taking only the smallest bit of material off.

[Mario Proulx]

I've done that for years.... Without jigs or routers. As he noted, an old, well-played neck will be nicely and softly rounded and feels great, so just mimic that.

[Jason Rodgers]

While it might be quick and easily repeatable with such a setup, how much longer does it take to do this process with a file (going a little into the edge of the fretboard when tapering the ends of the frets)?

[Peter Wilcox]

While this may be a quick way to round/bevel the ends of the frets and a little of the fret board, it will leave the fret ends sharp and probably with a burr. It can be done pretty quickly with just a file. The fret ends still have to be dressed by hand, which for me is the tedious part and harder to get right.

[Mark Wybierala]

Like others, getting the fret-ends to be uniform has not really ever been a problem. Its kinda cool to see that a router can do this but the real ubber-comfy neck feel is going to come from individual end dressing.

[Paul E Buerk]

IIRC, Warmoth trimmed fret ends using a router. Could be old information, not sure what they do now, but I believe I read this in AL. I've never tried it since I don't build anywhere near that rate.

Am I the only person here who looks at that video and cringes at the basic shop safety stuff? Or am I just imagining the worst once the pin router gets turned on?

[John Sonksen]

IIRC, Warmoth trimmed fret ends using a router. Could be old information, not sure what they do now, but I believe I read this in AL. I've never tried it since I don't build anywhere near that rate.

Am I the only person here who looks at that video and cringes at the basic shop safety stuff? Or am I just imagining the worst once the pin router gets turned on?

thought the same thing, overhand routers can be scary.

[Mark Wybierala]

A lot of the things we learn come from seeing the success of others and then putting our own spin on a process. I don't think that this is an example to follow. Its dangerous and doesn't give any added value. Certainly the nickle alloy can be shaved with a quality router bit but the security of a fret in a fretboard is not a totally dependable constant. The router bit is going to maybe leave a constant shape to the end of the fret but the corners are going to be razor sharp. The setup time for this is going to exceed the time it takes to just employ a mill file and get the job done traditionally and safely. If the router comes across a fret that is slightly compromised or there is a glitch, the entire fret might achieve ballistic velocity and kill a bystander. Getting injured really sucks and is not worth any percieved value of using a router for this. Accidents happen, that is just a fact of working with sharp tools and being human. There is usually an element of stupidity involved but I think this process sets you up in advance for an injury.