Refret Saw and Fret Slot Cleaning Tool Set

Essential for fast and accurate results, a must have.

These can be very helpful, but you can also f**k things up them. The hooky scratchy tool can chip the edges of the slot and the saw can leave you with a slot that's too wide. But when used with care these are very helpful tools.

I purchased these tools to clean out the slots on some old fingerboards that a friend gave me. I first had tried a ground down razor knife and that really didn't work very well. This combo used together worked out better. Start with the slot tool and then move on to the push-pull fret saw. If anyone has trouble with the saw they need to try again with a gentler hand and it will probable work better.

Gotta have em for fret work if you care about speed and quality!

Excellent tools for bound finger boards. You need a little practice with the saw, I found a gentle touch works best. Don't try and force the saw. I use them both every day. A great time saver and worth every penny.

Once again Stew-Mac has delivered great value in your excellent tool offerings!

In my repair biz I do a lot of refretting and as such my life has been made easier by these two excellent tools. It's very clear to me that these tools were engineered by someone who knows what's needed to accomplish these tasks efficiently, safely, and successfully.

As I add more and more Stew-Mac Lutherie tools to my shop it's very clear to me that Stew-mac's excellent offerings are absolutely right on the mark!

Thanks Stew-Mac!!!

I was thinking how to manage planing of my bound fretboard to an even radius without having to remove the white fretboard edging, and still be able to restore the fretwire-slots to correct depth. I was advised to check this tool out and it was the perfect tool for the job.

Well, Firstly I would like to point out that the review by RSE was unfair, and basically due to user error. These tools (especially the cleaning tool) are not meant to Deepen the fret slots to the extent I believe the previous Reviewer was saying took him 6 hours. In 25 minutes, I managed to clean and restore the fretboard of a vintage ebony boarded electric guitar with thin binding, without so much as a single chip.

If you have a burnisher (just a hand held one for use on scrapers) and know how to correctly burnish an edge, It can help on the end of the cleaning hook so that you don't end up angry like the other guy. I did this, and restored the edge within 30 seconds. The hook then worked BETTER than I could have ever imagined. It worked like a miniature plane in the fret slots, and got all the old glue and dust out after the reprofiling of the fretboard.

One of the best tools in luthiery I have ever used. I'll probably buy another one just to have a spare.

NOTE: Use the cleaner before the refret saw, as if you haven't, you may find it really hard to get the refret saw into the slot.

Happy playing. :)

My task was to deepen fret slots in an ebony bound ebony fret board on a classical guitar, after planing down the fretboard. I found the Refret Saw was totally useless. It just jammed in the existing slots and could not be moved, no matter how much force was applied.

I accomplished the job by scraping the fret slots with the Fret Slot Cleaning tool, but it was a laborious 6-hour job, and wore out both of the blades that come with the tool. StewMac needs to sell replacement blades. The Slot Cleaning Tool also tended to jam, and then suddenly slip, damaging the binding in several places. A carefully guided Dremel with the right size end mill might be a better tool for this job.