Fret Arbor Press System

I consider the Fret Press an essential tool and at 168 USD a long term investment, so this is an in depth review. I used the older “grey” unit in my own home shop and high end production shop to happily fret several hundred instruments with it. I bought this to replace my personal unit I traded away some years ago. As other reviewers have pointed out, there are fit and finish issues with the current units. I contacted Stew-Mac before the purchase and asked if my unit could be inspected to insure there were no issues. It was even noted on my invoice. However I still encountered uneven feet that needed filing to rest flat on a bench and an arbor recess clogged with garbage I needed to scrape clear to insert the caul. Whatever inspection was done clearly made no attempt to actually test the unit. This is on top of grease and a poor chipping paint job On the design, I don’t care for the spring return. This seems like more upsell bells & whistles. I had no problem with the non-return design. The spring return is tricky to setup and must be adjusted if you change between necks that sit at a different height in reference to the tool. This wastes time. Worst of all, the spring return changes the feel of the arbor. It’s difficult to gauge how much force you’re applying at the bottom of the travel when the spring starts working. Finally I resent being forced to purchase the table with fence. To each his own, however I subscribe to the practice of installing frets last after the fretboard is glued to the neck and all shaping is done. If anyone wants the table, you can have it for the cost of shipping. My conclusion. If you’re work is limited to bolt on necks, I would seriously recommend using the arbor cauls with a drill press and saving your money.

I had a hard time getting to set high enough for set neck guitars. It would work great for bolt ons. Some of the parts on the one i got were stuck so bad that when i went to lossen the nuts to adjust it, they bent and wanted to strip out. I just use the cauls on my drill press, seems to work better that way

I have to say, this is my first disappointment when purchasing from StewMac. I don’t know if this makes any difference but in the pictures and videos the lock-down screw is shown in the bottom hole but mine is in the top hole. Every single nut on the unit was loose and needed to be tightened. I was not able to install the fret press caul on the first attempt. When the Ram was tapped and threaded for the set screw it left a larger bur on the inside that prevented the press caul from going in far enough. I had to drill it out and then I was able to install the press caul. Not a huge deal but I would think standard QC would make sure the caul would fit prior to boxing it up for shipment. My other beef is with the fretboard table. The directions say “to retract the pin out of the way, simply back out the Allen screw on the other side of the fence.” Well there is no allen screw. The pin is a solid piece which is held in place by a machine screw threaded into the back of the plastic fence. The screw head is just barely large enough to hold the pin in place. I’m not using the fret scale templates so I don’t need the pin but this is very hokey at best. Just not the quality I would have expected from StewMac. All this being said however, I used it to install frets on a tenor ukulele neck and it did seat the frets much better than when I was using the press caul in my drill press. I have a guitar repair vise coming this week and I’m hoping the quality is much better on it.

The quality is good enough. This tool will not solve all of your challenges. Be aware of back bow and be prepared to deal with it.

This is so much better than pounding frets with a hammer. Some initial setup is required and making a 1 1/2" base made it very portable. This does require a little thought and inventiveness. If you can't do this, I'm not sure one should be fretting at all. Other reviewers complaints were paint chipping...mine isn't chipping and I don't care if it did. Made in China...yes, it is. I priced USA made and it was over $400, without the StewMac mods and accesories. The StewMac metal label had to be stuck back on and it's still there. One does have to clean cosmoline off the ram, removing the front plate to do so, and then adjust, and reassemble. This is not hard for someone that builds guitars. I highly recomend this unit but don't expect to lift it out of the box and throw ebony into its jaws. Learn to set up and use it just like you did with your table saw and spray equipment. Hugs....

Before I go any further, I suggest you read the review left on 3-15-2011 by Smokie in IL; that review pretty much nails my overall opinion of this Arbor Press.

I would add that I had high expectations- not only based on all my previous purchases with Stew-Mac, but also based on my experiences with an older Stew-Mac Arbor Press at a repair shop I worked at in the past. I am now on my own, slowly building up my own supply of specialty tools. This current Stew-Mac Arbor Press is a newer/updated version with a few nice additions, such as the spring-loaded arm and fretboard table attachment. However, the overall build quality it not even close to the older Stew-Mac press. Again- read Smokie's review for more detail. This is my first, and hopefully only, disappointing Stew-Mac experience.

-Joe

I am not very happy with this press. It is very crowded, limits my possibilities, i need to use hammer, where the press is not useful. Quite expensive.

Such a simple idea but this works perfectly. It is very easy to set up but really needs a very thick plywood base to enable the use of table. Not a difficulty but you will want to play with your new StewMac 'toy' straightaway, won't you? The DHL shipping to the UK is fantastic, relatively cheap for this sort of weight, and parcels can take just three business days from ordering.

A must have tool for anyone building or doing fret repair,esp. on older instruments with fragile finishes and glue joints.

This press indeed is a vey handy tool, although one should be carefull not to press too firm, which can be done easily. I use it a lot. The main backdraw are the shipping costs to Europe