Why Factory Guitars Arrive with Unlevel Frets

Even premium instruments costing several thousand dollars often exhibit subtle fret height discrepancies when inspected under precision straightedges. When wood leaves the factory, it undergoes internal stress relief as it acclimatizes. Frets seated into slotted tangs can lift by as little as 0.0015", causing annoying fret buzz and choking out bends.

A professional Fret Level, Crown, and Polish (FLCP) establishes a mathematically coplanar plane across every fret crown under simulated string tension.

The Multi-Stage Luthier Process

Step 1: Straightening Under Notched Straightedges

Before touching a file, the neck must be adjusted dead flat. We use a precision-machined notched straightedge that spans over the frets to reference the fingerboard wood itself, eliminating neck bow variables.

Step 2: Marking & Leveling Passes

Each fret is inked with blue layout dye. We execute smooth, longitudinal passes using a 16-inch machined aluminum leveling beam coated with 320-grit abrasive. The beam glides across high frets first; when every fret crown shows an even witness mark through the dye, the plane is true.

Step 3: Centering the Crown

Leveling flattens the tops of the frets into broad plateaus. Using concave diamond crowning files, we shape the shoulders of each fret until only a razor-thin line remains dead center. This guarantees exact pitch intonation.

Step 4: Micro-Mesh Mirror Polish

File scratches create abrasive drag during string bends. We polish the frets sequentially through 400, 800, 1200 grit wet papers and 2400 to 8000 grit Micro-Mesh pads, concluding with jewelers' rouge on high-speed cotton buffs.