How should I level the frets on a new Les Paul?

lancemanion

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 3, 2009
Messages
316
Reaction score
0
Location
California
I am truly thankful to everyone who took the time to respond to my question about setting the action. Last night I took the strings off the Les Paul with the highest action to get to work. Per recommendations here the first thing I did was check the frets. The straight edge rockers on the 5th fret, noticeably higher then the rest. The action on the first fret looked good from the factory so I was planning on going right to the saddle need to address the fret problem first. I tried to shim the neck to increase the break action and lower the action in a way that is easy to reverse and sure enough as soon as I lower the action even the smallest amount the C string buzzes badly.

Time to open new can of worms: What is the best way to level the frets?
 
I'm sure that if you Google "Fret Level, Crown, and Polish", you'll get more information than you want. I don't think we have to reinvent the wheel here. What you want to do is no different from leveling frets on a guitar other than smaller and fewer frets.
 
Thanks Rick, I have spent the last hour reading up on it, looks like i need to order some tools from Stew Mac. I was just curious if this is common on a new instrument and if maybe the fret needs to be pressed down or removed and reinstalled? It is turning into a project but I am enjoying learning the intricacies of the uke. Thanks again
 
If you have ONE errant fret I would try to reseat it first if it's worked itself high. However, my suggestion before you do anything is to get your hands on a good precision, rigid straight edge. They aren't cheap but they're worth the money. A ruler's prime function is to mark measurement and most make lousy straight edges.
 
for what it's worth,and I'm no expert, I bought a cheap Mahalo off Amazon to practice set up skills on, and then to donate to a friend's kid. it came with almost half the frets high and unseated. I took a small hammer and tapped them down to seat them and that's all it took.don't know if thats the proper way but it worked. you should be able to see a slight space under the fret if that's the problem. otherwise you'll have to level the top.
 
If frets are loose, you're simply going to have to superglue them in; hammering is likely to make the situation worse, not better. StewMac has all the info, all the tools, and no, it's not inexpensive to get set up properly to do refrets and fret mills. However, if you do learn to do it correctly, two or three instruments worth of work will pay for the tools.
 
It is common on the Epi Les Paul uke if that's what you are talking about. I have set up several of them now, and every one out of the box the frets were like a roller coaster..

But that said, after a good set up, the epi Les Paul isn't a bad little uke for a bengie..
 
Tudorp, did you go through the full process of leveling and dressing all the frets or where you able to deal with the individual problem frets?
 
If you're only doing this once, a cheap fret leveler can be made by adhering sandpaper to a piece of glass that is about 6" long and wide enough to cover the widest frets. Recrowning is trickier without a specialized file, but it is possible to do with a small rectangular needle file. Just be very careful not to nick the fretboard.
 
If you're only doing this once, a cheap fret leveler can be made by adhering sandpaper to a piece of glass that is about 6" long and wide enough to cover the widest frets. Recrowning is trickier without a specialized file, but it is possible to do with a small rectangular needle file. Just be very careful not to nick the fretboard.

for leveling, I use a diamond honing stone (actually for knife sharpening). perfect size, and I have medium, fine and X-fine. They work very nicely. Than a crowning file to crown them. I used to use a jewelers file, but like ya said, a real PITA to do without dinging the fretboard. But, I used to masking take the fretboard to protect it, but still a PITA.
 
Top Bottom