Fret Level, Crown, and Polish on a Fender Telecaster | Hazel #1

[@jdguillot8647]

Not entirely sure why there aren't several thousand more of us in here enjoying this channel. This is so fun!

[@taiyoutamaki1872]

Agreed she's awesome and inspiring lol. I've been feeling the new guitar need but now I really just want make my own ibanez prestige

[@paulgibby6932]

Just found it! Love her talent, and attitude

[@mikeellis4345]

I just had my Strat wrecked by a luthier who totalled the frets for me and had the gall to say it was a perfect job. What a mess he made. Now I have tools coming my way to fix it myself. I have a beautiful Singing Crane guitar strap too! Love your work!

[@SomedaySam]

I really enjoy your videos. Your playing in the end song was especially great. Keep up the great work.

[@nisebelle]

Thank you so much!

[@StuartSidneyGuitarist]

Really enjoying your Channel, Thank you! 🎸

[@joecooper7803]

Fretted friends, definitely borrowing that. Your passion is infectious nicely done!

[@nisebelle]

Haha it’s all yours!

[@tonysansom]

... and don't worry Nisebelle, there's no such thing as an unhealthy attachment to your guitar 😃

[@inthestudy]

You remain top ten best sisters, just in case the comments have gone quiet on that front. I've never really had an "only guitar" but I do have a long suffering mod platform too. We're currently learning pickup winding together, and we have been for like a year - so I also know the need to restore a beloved friend. Oh Steve. We'll get you playable again soon.

[@jeffrowlette]

I love how you make your own tools 👍

[@walterhambrick8705]

Next time you might explain why you set the neck straight. I've never done a level 'n' crown either but you might just tell your audience for newbies Love this channel.

[@CaptFrankRizzoFilms]

What a great video! So glad I found this. I recently picked up a Fender Modern Player Telecaster that's quite similar to yours. The neck is just about perfect and it plays really well, but the pickups needed a little bit more oomph. I went with a Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid in the bridge and have it wired up exactly like yours. Still trying out middle and neck pickups in it until I find the right ones. Thanks for all the hard work that went into making this video! Oh, and the tape on the drill bit to mark depth and blow away the sawdust? That's so smart!

[@deweymcpherson7582]

I keep watching your videos and I am just in absolute awe. You are so cool, please keep making videos.

[@CADmakonnen]

My first electric guitar was an Ion strat with a pack in amp from Walmart. I’ve since replaced everything except for the body and the old bridge and trem. My baby and my favourite!

[@Pikatrainer2]

For my first project guitar I bought a squire strat. Didn't really know what I was doing but I work on electronics for a day job so I figured I'd be fine. I ended up going in super crazy with a coil split on the bridge, 2nd push pull to turn on the neck pickup, kill switch, and got a pickguard with an additional hole to add a bypass to output mod. I never thought to actually count pickup configurations but I think it's something similar to Hazel. I only found this channel a few days ago but it makes me smile seeing you get your close (guitar) friend back - even if it was a month ago

[@taintedtannis]

I just got a Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe Explorer/Destroyer Style Matsumoku 1983 Blue Burst that will become my 1st truly way beyond factory spec guitar. She's unmolested as of now, but she's getting a brand new set of locking tuners, new strap knobs, and a set of GuitarHeads Mega Metal Blue Humbuckers to make her a true 80's Metal Machine!!

[@jhowe5571]

StewMac has some decent luthier's tools ro help with neck service and other things. However, I like how you improvised and made your own!👍😁

[@uesrname12]

cant wait to watch this. was waiting for Hazel to be restored :) edit: just watched through the whole video and I LOVED IT. the demo especially was my favorite. it really had a math rock vibe to it which is probably my favorite genre. would love if you would officially release any of these arrangements.

[@nisebelle]

Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it! I’ve been debated with myself about putting my tracks up on Bandcamp, or starting a Patreon and making them downloadable on there. I’ll figure it out of these days haha!

[@biggcustomz8583]

The bloopers make your videos more enjoyable. Cheers

[@cpchris2]

Great job and great playing.. you’re very talented

[@GrahamDallas]

I've never been brave enough to tackle a neck, despite watching hundreds of videos, it's something I really should consider. I've recently got my guitar modifying mojo back and have done a few mods recently, your videos will spur me on to even more.

[@nisebelle]

It was definitely terrifying at first, but it ended up being one of the most satisfying and relaxing parts of guitar work I’ve come across, hope you give it a shot and keep modding!

[@ltcuaa]

try on something cheap

[@ElegantMule]

I've done my share of fret work, but I've gotten it into my head that i want to mess with the neck profile of my Epi Special, sand it down so its a uniform flatness. I have a fretless Fender J-Bass with that sort of profile that i love. But even though its a cheap guitar that i could replace in any shop in the country I'm still a little nervous about making that first sanding pass!

[@robinleebraun7739]

I did almost exactly the same thing. My brother asked me to make a Telecaster for him like the one he had in the 1960’s. I was building it from scratch and I made 2 necks, neither of which were as perfect as I wanted for him. But I had a Tele that I made from a kit a few years ago and over time I had made the neck perfect. So I put that neck in his new one. And I ordered a new neck for my guitar that I could perfect at my leisure. How is it possible that you don’t have a Fender and Gibson scale notched straight edge? One of the first luthiers’ tools I got and I think it was around $12.

[@saxophool]

Sweet! 😎

[@INeverWanted2010]

6:58 oh my God. I have to check this gif of a truss rod in action I have saved EVERY time I adjust one. Lol!

[@sarahhedriana3635]

Loved the bloopers, too

[@ChadwickRider]

Rad demo!

[@bizzierhythm]

I have a similar approach of "happy to try it on my guitar first!"

[@frankiechan9651]

I'm amazed that you can wire up a Hazel with 11 different tones (plus the other evolutionary weirdness you mentioned - a piezo too? Like How????) yet had not tackled a level/crown/polish before. It took me a bit to try and work out how the 11 tones are set, but I think I have it now - switch to turn the HB on (regardless of pickup selector), push/pull to split the HB, 5-way selector as "normal". The DIY slotted straight edge and leveling beam was unexpected. I've taken some tips myself for some DIY luthier tools, but ended up getting an aluminium slotted edge, leveling beam and fret rocker off eBay. I'm going to buy a longer leveling beam as I think it helps with the process. Probably worth having something under the middle part of the neck - just in case you push a little bit hard and make the neck bend as you run the levelling beam over it. I use piece of high density foam where I've cut a V into it to cradle the neck. I also do a little fall-away by putting a piece of tape on fret 17ish and doing a few extra strokes for those last few frets. For the process I tend to follow whatever new method Ben from Crimson Guitars is doing. He's refined it several times over the years to get both better and more efficient. things like folding the masking tape rather than cutting. I still mostly use sandpaper and finish off with a polishing wheel on the Dremel - but I will invest in some fret rubbers as they can be used for other things as well. While it's not my favorite job, I'm so much quicker at it now and there is immense satisfaction in ripping the tape off and feeling those slinky, mirror-polished frets under the fingers. Did you round over the fretboard edges too? I tend to do that just to mimic that played-in feel. The song you created to show off Hazel's range was great. Yes, I do have what will be my endless, project guitar - my kit guitar - where I learned and honed many of the skills I have now and where there was no major loss if I messed up. There is something about it that just feels "right" or like "home". While it is still pretty basic as an HH, I do have plans for a bridge/trem change, locking tuners, and more messing around with pickups. I really want to try a P90 in the neck position. I'm also considering ordering a neck that I can change the profile on - a hybrid V/Standberg-like Endure neck - to bolt onto it just to see if I like it or not.

[@nisebelle]

You’ve got the wiring exactly right! I’ve always loved the 5 way switching, but I really needed to have that classic bridge/lipstick position as well. Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve got an old yoga block lying around so I can probably make neck support out of that. I dig round the fingerboard! It was pretty sharp out of the box so I started at a 1500grit and worked my way up to 10,000. That project guitar sounds awesome! You’ll have to let me know how you like that new neck! I’ve always been super curious about the Strandberg necks but I’ve never played one!

[@Gibgraf]

Great work!

[@jonnyboy1925]

Hazel sound great. Love that humbucker + lipstick tone!

[@fruitcakedrifter1286]

Beautiful lady thank you for the vital info!!!!!

[@renmusical]

My Strat (Misato) is probably the oldest guitar in my collection. Started out as a standard white Mexican Strat. But recently, she's gotten some major changes. I've placed Lace Sensor Gold pickups, a Vega Trem VT1, new pickguard, back plate, and input jack plate. Next up is getting her a replacement neck with 22 frets in roasted maple and locking tuners. Love watching your videos! Can't wait to see more!

[@nisebelle]

That’s so cool! And love the name! How do you like the Lace sensors? I’ve been meaning to check them out

[@renmusical]

@@nisebelle I enjoy the Lace Sensors. In comparison to the stock pickups in Misato, there’s more mids that made her sounded more balanced. Now Misato can do everything from Rock, Funk/R&B, Pop, etc.

[@sarguitars6603]

Great job. So glad to see you and Hazel making music again. My Mexican Strat (Jessica) has only 1 original part left, Her neck. I even replaced Her body as I prefer hard tails. Keep up the good work. Stacy

[@Abdur30]

I just stumbled on your video and I'm hooked. I have a telecaster I'm putting together but I can't get the wiring right. 2 hum 1V 1T and 2 on/on/on/ switches for series,Parallel and split w/ 3way

[@nisebelle]

That’s so cool!!! I’ve never seen that done with on/on/on switches and can definitely see how that would be difficult. I’d love to see a demo once you’re finished!

[@tonyevans9999]

I totally get it, my main gigging strat had worn out frets just crying for some work but the problem was it's an 80's partso so it had an 80's flat radius and fairly skinny neck that I've grown out of, so I got a replacement neck for about the same price as pro refret, and did the levelling, crown and polish... feels amazing to have my workhorse ready to play

[@bukimari]

Dang that 11 way switch sounds amazing. I'm assuming it's a combination of two push/pull pots with one pot engaging the neck pickup like on a 7-way Strat wiring setup, and the other pot is the coil split for the bridge humbucker? At least that's how I would try to set it up, and now I really want to try this! Gotta get a humbucker to throw into my test Strat now!

[@twobarsfourstars]

Amazing guitar, amazing vid!!! So cool to see your PUP combos over how you use them, your music is great!! Is Hazel named after the Gundam by chance? So much patience to do the whole fret leveling, I thought doing the polishing pads was hard enough!

[@nisebelle]

Thank you so much! And yes! All my guitars are named after Gundams!

[@twobarsfourstars]

@@nisebelle so cool!! Hazel Kai is my favorite and I play a tele so it’s a little mind blowing to see both together in such a cool way! Thanks again!!

[@PrinceOfGenovia]

Cannot believe your first video was only 3 months ago. Just discovered your channel today and I'm hooked. Awesome stuff!!!

[@nisebelle]

Thank you so much!

[@Terk_]

Seeing the smile on your face after you finished and started playing was wonderful! Keep it up! Always great seeing people who absolutely love music!

[@charlie-obrien]

I thought Hazel looked familiar! My first guitar back into the music world ten years ago was a Modern player Tele, with the Honey Burst finish. It also was a scratch and dent. Because of the damage I eventually stripped off the finish (not recommended) and dyed the pine body underneath a British Racing Green and replaced the humbucker. It looked and sounded great...but, I eventually sold it off, then built a more traditional Nashville Tele in its honor two years later and added Brent Mason wiring. Really nice guitars to mod with, I'm glad to know that yours has a permanent home.

[@BadApex]

I have an HH tele that i’ve been meaning to get back together 1st brand new electric guitar that I bought in 2015, been through hell. But this video inspired me to actually start working on the Frets!

[@nisebelle]

I got Hazel around that time too! Hope the fret work goes well!!

[@paultraynorbsc627]

Thanks for sharing 🎶🎵🎸🇬🇧

[@Doc_Holaday]

Love it! I have a franken-strat that I never seem to be finished with. There's always "just one more mod...."

[@KarlKarsnark]

Every guitar player needs a "Hazel" to learn and experiment on as they learn to do their own work and mods. Gotta love ol' Leo Fender too, who had the foresight to make his designs modular, repairable and modifiable without any fancy tools, or skills. Just a bit of practice.

[@Madchris8828]

I've got this 400 guitar I want to do mods on, but the problem is at the same time that the brand doesn't exist anymore, so I'm afraid I'll screw something up lol. I've no experience soldering, yet would like to try at least one different pickup in my De'armond guitar.

[@KarlKarsnark]

@@Madchris8828 Don't worry about the brand. Guitars are either built to "Imperial(US/British) specs, or Metric, but that's about the only differences. Soldering is easy too. It just takes a bit of practice. Once you've got the hang of it, you're off to the races and can basically mod anything you want at that point. Find the cheapest, ugliest, pawn shop "special" you can find and use that to practice on first. Within an hour, you'll be able to do anything you could ever need in the guitar world. Go for it! \m/

[@Madchris8828]

@Karl Karsnark thank you Karl, I've got a guitar shop near me with some pretty ratty stuff, I'll get a better soldering iron and start testing some stuff out

[@pavelmazalek2838]

I have parts Jaguar which is my #1 guitar. I build it as single bridge humbucker guitar with only volume pot. I had also push/push for coil split and low pass filter switch. After the pot stopped working in week or so before concert it devolved in to only 1 humbucker 1 pot guitar. Than I did couple of mods - Push/pull volume pot for parallel/series for humbucker, low pass filter, killswitch, switchable piezo disc. I recently performed makeover. Gave it little bit more classic look. Changed flat Jazzmaster-style pickguard for traditional Jag pickguard with chrome control plates. Now ti has Firebird pickup in bridge position and Lipstick pickup in neck, standard Jaguar wiring without rhythm circuit and stereo output jack for parallel paths for standard pickups and for piezo disc.

[@nisebelle]

Thanks so cool! I feel like people always do the coolest mods when it comes to offsets! How does the switchable filter work? Is it a capacitor that you can switch in and out of the wiring harness?

[@pavelmazalek2838]

@@nisebelle yes, it is capacitor connected to volume pot the same way as you would wire the tone pot but there's switch instead. When is switch engaged it connects capacitator with ground. I agree coolest mods are usually done by offset guitarists. There is even whole section dedicated to mods and builds on Offset Guitars Forum. Without this I wouldn't know it is possible to build your own guitar which I appreciated as left handed.

[@hellomynameisbenjaminupton]

Great channel. Just discovered you from the wealth of videos I watch from KZbin front page... I love modding, tinkering and repairing my guitars.. A full fret level/crown/polish is the one thing I have yet to dive into.

[@evanharnett]

Girl, you got mad skillz!

[@nisebelle]

Thanks!

[@jonprendergast]

You are freaking awesome! I enjoy your channel and playing. Keep up the stellar work!

[@nisebelle]

Thank you so much!

[@RavenMadd9]

Great job ....subscribed

[@neilfordan]

The best!

[@deaddwives]

My strat (Iris) has been waiting for some mods ever since I bought her. Reason why is because I was much too scared to try anything on my SG Standard (Maxine) and my first guitar, my tele classic vibe (Dominique) until I actually knew how to do mods. I’ve picked up a lot of the required skills for guitar modding from my dad but I’ve never tried my hand at actually doing it. But I just found your channel and suddenly I’m really inspired to really start trying and get over the first hurdle of actually giving it a go :))

[@mrbas5150]

Girl you have mad skills in mods and playing. Kudos

[@setyabudi8414]

see you. Good luck and better knowledge about installing frets on a guitar neck. From all the KZbin channels over the years I have observed the same thing. His mainstay is leveling and crowning, this shows that precise installation on the fretboard has not yet been mastered. Please search until you don't do that. so that the results are maximum, perfect and not detrimental to the height of the new frets. May it be a reflection. This time I only agree with polish. I have often done refretting without leveling and without crowning. Maybe because there were too many complaints, I finally found a very simple tool but the results were very inversely proportional. I still have to keep it a secret for now. If you want to see it, contact me in Indonesia.

[@OscarRodriguez-wm7dg]

I learned how to do fret work by working on a bullet mustang I got in a trade with my sister. Its one of those things that takes SOOOO LONG but the amount of time you put into it is definitely worth it and is in my opinion what took a $160 guitar and made it feel like a $1000 guitar.

[@cougar2013]

Loving the videos! Great work and groovy playing!

[@arthung2]

super fun and informative video - keep up the good job!

[@aiuhwuh]

Your videos are great!

[@frenchielover905]

more content please it's addicting

[@paulgentile1024]

excellent 👍

[@Markleford]

Haha! I was just considering the "guitar of Theseus" concept the other day, and came to the conclusion that the body itself is "the ship" in question. Arguably, it is the only part on the guitar which CANNOT be replaced -- placing the neck and all the hardware and electronics on another body means it's a new guitar, but the reverse doesn't hold true. However, I suppose one could still continue the thought exercise to ask "How much of the original body needs to remain for it to be the same body?" If you cut the "wings" off a body, and glue new ones on the sides to be recut in a radically different style (say, Tele to offset), is it still the same body and thus same guitar?

[@GaryArmstrongmacgh]

Nisebelle...I have an original 1982 made in Fullerton Fender Stratocaster. I've played a lot of gigs with this guitar. I just noticed how badly worn the frets are ground down on it. Poor baby! Fret jobs are SO expensive. But I know NOTHING about redoing them. The guy at the local shop says the rosewood is very thin on the fretboard. What to do? Buy a new neck and destroy the provenence/value of the guitar? Or redo the frets and retain the value? (I posted this vid so I can check back.)

[@Weelow_]

love your videos

[@sarahhedriana3635]

This video is awesome! What were the red sharpie marks for?

[@threedaymonk]

As you stone the frets, the marks are worn off the high frets first. When they're all gone, you know that you've taken all the frets down to the same level.

[@yonickfrias8799]

I'm curious what neck did you order? great video and the playing is fantastic!

[@nisebelle]

Thank you so much! The neck was a 10-16 compound radius roasted maple neck from Warmoth

[@trentsintense]

Great video. You make it look easy. What supplies did you use? Would they be available at a hardware/craft store or would I need to invest in luthier tool sets?

[@nisebelle]

Thank you! For the tools I used, here are the fret dressing file and micro-mesh pads (they come seperately, but here's a set with both as well as some extras): www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/stewmac-tool-sets/rough-fret-smooth-and-shine-set/ And here's the crowning file I used (I got the centered one): www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-fretting/shaping-and-crowning/stewmac-compact-z-file-fret-crowning-files/ You can definitely do all of this with standard hardware store supplies like sandpaper, hobby files (off camera I used a couple of my model kit files), and steel wool. In my case, I wanted to go ahead and grab the specialized tools since I know I have a few more instruments that will need similar work, and I'm always a sucker for new tools haha. Hope this helps!

[@JamesReillyMusicProduction]

Been trying to learn more about pro level setup, can you recommend any good resources? Love your videos!

[@Dudeitsmeee]

Reminds me of my MIM '99 midnight blue (it's really dark purple) strat. Several necks, pickups, bridges, trem blocks, tuners, wiring, switches.. the only original parts left are the neck plate and body oh and the concave strat jack plate. It's had built-in boosts.. still has pushbutton switches, custom knobs, etc. Will it ever stay unmodified? Probably not.

[@nisebelle]

That’s awesome! I’ve haven’t played around with a built in boost yet, maybe I’ll have to try that next!

[@Dudeitsmeee]

@@nisebelleSmall PCB shoehorn it into a cavity. Though with a tele you have less cavity lol. If I were to do it again I'd do it proper and put a battery box

[@davids2629]

11? I need one pickup with maybe a split coil, but I can’t even think of 11 different options.

[@ashleyjohansson230]

love the bocchi guitar in the back lol i recently got something similar just this week

[@d3vilsign]

came for the tech tips, stayed for the sick midwest emo jams

[@alaricpaley6865]

If you want to be real lazy about leveling frets on a non-compound radius: get a 2 foot level, put sandpaper over its full length, and sand across the neck instead.

[@bizzierhythm]

Yeah that's been my move as well

[@MayonnaiseOreo]

What neck did you use? It looks like roasted maple but not the one Fender sells.

[@ondinnonk]

Hey @nisebelle! I have an electric guitar that is very special to me that nobody has been able to help me fix/restore (first guy I asked to repair it in 2015 wound up gutting what made it unique & everyone ive taken it to in the years since has come up short 😢) -- could we chat about it sometime? ~ i feel like if anyone were able to help me it'd be you

[@inlandbott]

That notched straight edge she built cannot be that accurate, can it?

[@joeballs5669]

don't get the board straight...for a job like this get the 5,6,7,8 frets not to rock in a majority . then level...because now the neck is as straight as ever .