Fret Crowning Made Easy and Cheap, No Files Needed.

Fret Crowning tool made cheap and easy. Works great. Few things I left out, always keep an eye on the center marker line so it stays center and straight and doesn't waver back and forth and get squiggly. The center line on top should be as thin as a sewing needle when you're finished crowning. And after you buff it with the steel wool you can then use a Dremel or another rotary tool for buffing with a polishing compound to a shiny finish. Thanks for watching and please subscribe and hit the like button.
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[@j5s9c]

This is a really great technique. You've saved a lot of folk a lot of money. Thank you.

[@Don-du7du]

Genius! !! I guess 30 years experience counts for something 👍

[@eb1138]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your techniques.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

You're welcome. Hope it helps out if you try it.

[@roybatty2030]

Smart and skilful guy, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching.

[@DaVinci0963]

Thanks S.C.! Excellent video with fantastic information! This was great! Thanks again for taking the time to show us!

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

You're welcome. Hope it helps you out and thanks for watching the video.

[@ryanwalton5301]

I'm in the middle of doing this myself. This is a great video, I will try this tool and your techniques. One way to save a little tape is to cut the blue painter's tape down the middle and mask using the outside factory edges.

[@nordmende73]

Great tutorial. Thank you very much !

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps, Thanks for watching.

[@ScottHz]

I bought the Thomas-Ginex fret refinishing kit decades ago, same idea. Has been well worth the small investment (about 1/4 the price of a crown file).

That was my first foray into fret dressing about 30 years ago. I did three guitars and started teaching myself the methods of set up that I’d paid techs for, but rarely got.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Had one also and still have it in a box out in my shop. Been years since I've looked at it. Been using the StewMac Z files for a long time now. Love those.

@@stormcrowinstruments7489 Never used the Z files. They look oddly unbalanced. Do you have to do the fret from both sides?

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

@ The original and the safe edge files you do from each side separately. The Z Center file does both sides at once. I have the original and the centered one. They're not unbalanced at all. Few swipes with the centered one and you're done. Easy to keep your center line with the Z files also. I'm about to upgrade to their new diamond Z files.

@@stormcrowinstruments7489 Looks like you may do the volume to make that worthwhile. Though I imagine they’d work better on stainless, too. But thanks for the info. I’ll consider that when I’m looking to upgrade.

[@kirkbellamy1968]

Star Trek theme in the background,,, hahaha awesome.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Always watching the original episodes or old episodes of KolchakThe Night Stalker.

[@dinoduprey6676]

This is "Brilliant ".. I am going to apply this method to my squire guitar since I have crowned the frets.. makes a lot of sense to me adding a slight peak to them.. great job.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps out. Just remember to go slowly so you don't take off too much at once and don't go over your thin center line.. Thanks for watching.

[@sctt72]

Wow that's great 👍

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Thanks. Hope it helps you out.

[@tboyz1]

Well done my man! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps. Thanks for watching.

[@michaelkrailo5725]

You could enhance the whole tool so there are vertical line markers for the two or three different angles of tilt that you wish to use. I'm going to make a few of these for sure. I do have the fret guru crowning tool which works really good for getting the lower parts of the crowning job done on both sides at once, but even if you angle the tool over, it still is not great for getting a real thin top strip and your tool looks like it would be easier to get the final angle right. So what I'm going to do is build in the finishing angle into the one I make so I can use the fret guru file for the main lower part and this new tool for creating that nice thin strip on the top. Thanks for the idea.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps out. Like I said in the video I use the StewMac Z files. This was for people who didn't want to spend the cash on a real fret crowning file. I have the Fret Guru to try out but I haven't had the time to do it yet. Thanks for watching.

[@STAY-GOLD-VINYL]

2 questions answered by your awesome videos. NEW SUBSCRIBER FOR LIFE!!

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helped out. Thanks for watching.

[@samferraro6756]

Great idea! I am going to make one

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps, Thanks for watching

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

Nice tips and tricks! I'm not a builder, but I might try this for a fret leveling job next time it comes up. Thanks a lot, best of luck in the future!

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps. It's great if you don't want to spend the money on expensive crowning files. Thanks for watching.

[@sutorguitarsbytondewit6854]

i'm gone try this on a test guitar, the build i'm doing now is for a costumer and i do the tested way of crowning for him, but i like the idea you do this

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Just take it slow on the practice and you will get the feel of it. It's just a good cheap way of crowing without having to buy the expensive crowing files. Thanks for watching and hope it helps.

[@JohnAdams-xc5yk]

Wonder how people did things before StewMac this is how

[@peggyjohnsonmusic]

Thank you!

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps. Thanks for watching.

[@peggyjohnsonmusic]

@@stormcrowinstruments7489 I’m starting out working on thrift store guitars, bringing them back to life. Your video has helped me a lot!!

[@86OEd]

I like your idea!

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Hope it helps. And thanks for watching.

[@markdupriest396]

I appreciate what you're doing.... id rather spend the money on a good fret crowning tool.... a Dremel and some polish and be done with it. That just me.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

@@markdupriest396 You and me both. I only use the StewMac diamond Z crowning files. I even said that in the video. I just make videos like this showing people how to do a good job with homemade things. Some people doesn't have or doesn't want to spend $100 on a nice crowning file just for a hobby.. Would have loved this tip I show here back when I started guitar repairs when all I had was some of those little cheap hobby files. And back then the StewMac crowning files wasn't much better than those hobby files until they came out with the diamond ones.

[@rectifymaster]

@@stormcrowinstruments7489 Can you make a video about the original LittleBone fret file?

[@FlipDahlenburg]

StewMac is way too expensive for me, and I've been repairing for many years. Many luthiers make their own tools, like Stewart MacDonald did himself. Your video gave me food for thought; I thought I'd seen this method somewhere in the distant past myself!@@stormcrowinstruments7489

[@namreg944]

I think it was guns and guitars channel where I first saw this method

[@declanmurphy729]

Can poorly crowned frets cause fret buzz even if the frets are level?

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Absolutely. All the frets needs to have that perfect little line left at the top. For instance, if someone is in a hurry and leaves some flat spots on top of the frets it can cause fret buzz even though all the frets are level. This might happen if someone only levels and tries to crown some frets and not all of them. I've had to repair lot of guitars where someone will just level the frets and not even crown them and this will cause fret buzz because the frets, or some of them will still be too flat on top while the others will be crowned properly. However, the fret buzz might be caused by other things such as the bridge height might be too low, truss rod needs adjusting, nut slot depth is cut too low.

[@HankVanGarrett]

How do you know that fret is flat in the middle after such crowning?

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

That's reason for covering the top of the fret with the black marker pen. That way you can keep the black line straight in the middle of the fret. You just want a thin straight line down the center of the fret when you're done.

[@toulousedarling55]

fret rounding file perhaps ???

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

You mean "crowning file", just like the ones shown in the video?.............. This video is to show you can do it at home with sandpaper and a piece of wood. Some people don't want to spend $100 on a real crowning file.

[@darringalloway]

​@@stormcrowinstruments7489Exactly! For example, I have an Indio Classic Tele, $109 and a Epiphone LP Studio LT, $280. Both are cheap lower quality instruments but both sound fine. I have become determined to improve both rather than buy better guitars. In the last year, I have taught myself to do setups, learned to solder, totally rewired and upgraded the Epiphone and rolled the fretboard on the Tele. The only thing left now is lowering the action on both, but I have a few high frets to contend with. I have no desire to level the whole fretboard of either guitar. I believe I can just do a bit of "spot leveling" and make a big improvement. My only concern is recrowning the frets. I knew there had to be other ways to get it done. This video provides another way and I appreciate it. I don't want to become a luthier. I just want to enjoy playing my cheap guitars and have the satisfaction of making them more comfortable to play. Money is always an issue and once I'm through with this project a crowning file would just go into a drawer, possibly never to be used again. StewMac can keep their $100 file. I just need to recrown a half dozen frets and move on with my life. This video is for people like me. Thanks for the tip!

[@bobjordan69]

Dude, you’re missing Star Trek

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Actually right now at this very second, I'm watching the original episodes on Pluto. "Where no man has gone before" episode. Thanks for watching.

[@CarlSmithAviationBroker]

Some artists want to swap out regular frets on their bass for Mandolin frets. Why?

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Never seen that done. Mandolin frets are really tiny. Would almost feel fretless.

[@psychedelicguitarartbyjima3850]

[@dustdevilz4771]

Nice technique. If you take the time and not rush you can make even a mediocre guitar play much better.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

Thanks. Yes, always take your time and check your center line to make sure it's even down the fret center.. This is a great way to crown for an occasional fix without having to pay for expensive crowning files.. Thanks for watching.

[@peteleoni9665]

Thinking seems very slow and painful. I for one, have now decided against thinking .

[@clkrthomas]

Stew Mac is ridiculous in their price of tools. Again, like everything out there, you pay for the name of the product more than the quality. There are plenty of others out there that cost WAY LESS than Stew Mac. Shop around.

[@JoelAdams-j9x]

Music nomad works just fine

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

I've used them all and prefer StewMac for most tools. They have went up on prices a lot in the past few years but some of their tools there is none better out there. Sure, a straight edge or radius sanding block aren't unique and you can find them cheaper like Philadelphia Luthier has decent prices but they've went up in cost a lot also lately.. But tools like StewMacs diamond crowning files, diamond nut files and lot more there isn't anything that compares to those.

[@stormcrowinstruments7489]

@@JoelAdams-j9x I just bought their tri-notched straight edge to try out.

[@SuperReverbious]

You get what you pay for. For nut files for example, I’ve found none better than Stew Mac’s. They also warranty them forever basically. Yes, some of their stuff is over priced, and sometimes I’ll buy a cheaper option. But most of what I’ve bought from them has performed bettter than cheaper alternatives. I can’t tell you how many times I tried a cheaper option first only to replace it with stewmac and regret not just buying quality the first time. Buy once, cry once.

[@Clabian96]

Part of the cost is lifetime replacement... Most everything I've bought from Stew Mac are great products, but Music Nomad make some great tools as well. I'm extremely excited to get my hands on the S File that has been out of stock since release...

[@manuelpachuca4222]

♍️📐🕊️🤘

[@Riverdeepnwide]

Tripod.