This little tip is a real time-saver!
Jason Ingrodi e-mailed his Trade Secret along with a shop photo:
|
|
Dan, I want to share a trick, since you’ve shared so many with me.
I can’t imagine what it must have been like to notch fret ends before the fret tang nipper came along, but even with it speeding things up, I still file the underside of each fret end to make it smooth. Holding the frets steady to file them was a wrestling match until I thought of this:
I clamp a fret setter upside down in my nut & saddle vise. The notched end gives me a groove to rest the fret crown in. This way, the fret stays put while I file it smooth. I can go through a whole neck’s-worth of frets much faster this way. It cuts my time in half!
I wanted to share this little trick with you, since you appreciate this sort of thing. Anyway, I can't thank you enough for all you've taught me through your books and videos!
Thanks,
Jason Ingrodi, Cumberland, MD
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Before the tang nipper came along, bound fingerboards meant at least two snips at each end of each fret, using a fret cutter as shown below.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
This method does a good job, but it’s slow: making two cuts at each end of about two dozen frets adds up to around a hundred cuts. |
|
|
|
