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Hi fellows,
I just ordered a Stewmac fretpress caul and insert.
I reckon I'll use it in my drill press.
Any tips for using the tool or is it as simple as it seems?
Thanks,
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I use it with a hammer....Just get the fret in position, get the caul on top of it and smack it down. Works great!

Really? How many whaaaps?

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Pat

I used it, and now it sits there gathering dust... I use my fretting hammer so much I wear the thing out.

That being said, problem with a drill press is they can't seem to provide enough pressure to seat the fret properly. So if you got a glue in setup and is able to keep it pressed in for the glue to set, then it would do fine. The thing's really meant for arbor press (which can handle more pressure than a drill press) I pressed an electric guitar neck with the drill press and I can't say I'm 100% satisfied with it. For acoustic guitar it's going to be hard to fit it under the press. I like to fret the guitar as the absolute LAST step in the build because I want everything to be set in stone before I start messing with the fret...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Its a good idea to have the insert set or at least more than one insert.

Reason being that sometimes what seems to work best when pressing frets and the ends are not staying down well is to use one size up on the radius that concentrates more on the ends. Example a 16' radius in the board, use a 14' radius fret caul if the ends are not staying down well before gluing.

I use the fret cauls from S/M with a 1/2 ton arbor press from HF. I like to use it sometimes on the FB before glueing it down on the neck. Especially with the thin mando frets used on Ukes .I find it dicey to do it with a plastic fretting hammer,as the FB has a slight radius, and there is not much wiggle room for misligned or high frets.to get them coplaner lateron ,that coupled with thelow action required on Ukes to make them playable.

Drill press works fine but you do need one that is large enough so you can exert sufficient pressure. I had no problems using a Grizzly 14" floor style drill press.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

One will do it, but you know, just make sure its seated.

Since I level and fret as a last step after the neck is shaped I have been using the cauls in the jaws. I really like it. I echo using one smaller radius idea to seat the ends. I usually follow with the Stanley dead blow hammer.

On another note, since jaws won't work after 10 has anyone gotten the SM alternatives to work properly? The bar clamp and set screw models. I gave up on them.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I think Hesh has a class on using the Jaws II for fretting an entire guitar...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Hey Terry!

Two things: First when I learned to fret work it was from Dan E. fretting book and one of the things that I learned from him Dave Collins was not keen to do. Dan likes to do a final "tonk" with the hammer on the fret ends especially with a bound board. I have no idea if he still does this but that's what the books said 12 years ago so I did it too.

It seems that the final "tonk" on a fret end, especially with the tang removed for a bound board, immediately reduced the top surface of the fret toward the end into the beginning of a bevel. Combine this with the typical bevels that we see on f*ctory instruments where for economic reasons they don't take the time to individually address each fret end and what results is a goodly loss of fret top surface that better players often wish they had.

We've even done refrets when there was no fret wear but the radical bevel of the maker combined with that final "tonk" on the end creates a neck and fret work where the string can slide off the fret end....

The solution when this is an issue and we've had it brought up to us at least several times in the last year is to nix the final tonk and do a less radical bevel.

Also we have a jig that we give to our students to keep who take our fretting classes that permits the Jaws II tool to work for every fret position on the guitar. I'll try to find a picture and post it for you so feel free to make your own, it's an easy jig to make and self explanatory.

Here's the jig that Dave Collins came up with and it works very well. We've used ours likely hundreds of times.

The way that it works is the flat part protected by leather is positioned under the heel block against the back of the guitar and the part sticking out goes in the direction of the neck. Using scrap wood and the neck caul that comes with the jaws tool the sticking out part gets built up to connect with the neck. I'll try to find another pic of this.

With the jig in place and it's all held in place with a clamp you can use the Jaws tool to press fret that you could not previously use the tool for that are approaching the body, over the neck heel and even some of the frets on the way to the sound hole provided that there is neck block under them. The Jaws tool comes with a blank block that we remove material so that it can fit inside the sound hole over the UTB (upper transverse brace permitting the remaining frets to be installed from the sound hole with the tool.

Dan for you electric guys it works the same way permitting frets to be installed over the body junction and onto the body.

It's worth mentioning that when pressing frets you really don't want the fit to be so tight that much effort is required to seat the frets. If that is the case there is compression happening and it's a good time to wish that there is a double action rod in the thing... You don't want frets that drop in either, just a nice, snug fit that does not require much effort to get.

Found one from way.... back....

You will get the idea from this photo. The additional board was necessary for this Guild archtop but is not usually required.

When the jig is in position the wooden blocks are removed from the Jaws tool, you can see some of them being used as spacers and a neck cradle here. The metal end of the press/clamp where the blocks attach is simply hooked under a flat slot on the jig and then you press frets. Easy.

I fret the board off the neck - use an arbor press and my shop made fret press caul.
Have used this also for partial refrets in the lower fret positions.
Find the arbor press better than when I used my drlll press.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I like to knock em in with a brass hammer.
There's something nice about whacking a guitar with a hammer.
Murder on the fingers tho.

I have the caul with inserts. I use a drill press with no problems. I use the depth stop all the way around and lock the press down after pressing. The next steps which happen before locking down the fret in place for a few minutes I did not understand at first.

After checking slot is clean, I use a toothpick and fill each slot with a drop of water. It gets sucked into the end grains. Then put a little Titebond on the the bottom and lower sides of the tang. Then press in the fret and lock the press down for a minute or two. I prepare the next fret, while waiting, cutting to length cleaning off any burrs.

I asked why but he told he he was shown and always did it like that. It does not glue the fret in, it bond the fretboard grain and stops it cracking and chipping when refretting. After refretting a guitar 3 times to remove and deepen the truss rod on my first acoustic I learned why.

Hesh, what's your approach with Jaws/Arbor on a compound radius board? It seems to me that on necks with a constant radius, the cauls are easily used, but on a compound board you run into problems.

My goal is to be able to press in undercut tangs on a bound board without beating the fret ends out of shape. My first attempt hammering them in was dismal.
Looks like I need to do some experimenting. I'll try my drill press first and see how it works.
Thanks for the great feedback!
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Hi David, Happy New Year to You my friend!

Every guitar that we refret or do a fret dress on is converted to a compound radius simply by the nature of our methods. As such we have to deal with compound radius boards daily and our approach to that is to have cauls ranging from a very tight radius to flat at our disposal.

Back when John Watkins was offering his CNC services to individual Luthiers he made the fret press cauls pictured and I bought a set. Dave has a set too that was given to him as a gift from many OLFers back when we had our Black Elks Lodge Ann Arbor Gathering that attracted nearly 50 forum members from multiple continents. If was a great gift that he very much uses and values.

When using these every fret or two cauls are held up and evaluated for if it's the right caul for this part of the board. We may change cauls six times or more during a complete refret. With our method we often will use a slightly over radius caul to concentrate on fret ends so an exact match is not what we are looking for but we have them if we want them.

I have one too, and now Hesh has me jealous over the additional cauls! Oh and nice tool holders too.

I used to use a dead blow hammer rather than a brass one because of bounce back and the danger of the neck getting away. Because it was all to easy to get all the above mentioned kinks and what not, I opted on more lighter hits rather than fewer big whacks and used a hard wood caul I made to spread the blows over a wider area of the frets to also lessen kinking. I always bent the frets to a tighter radius than that of the fingerboard, and worked my way from the fret ends inward. The reason being that once the ends were seated, they would go sideways a bit while working the centers in, and provide a better anchor.

I converted to the fret press years ago and use it with my drill press which provides ample pressure to crush a neck, so that is not a problem. I have a wide V shaped hard rubber caul, which started it's life as part of a car suspension and it works as a backing for all traditional neck contours and some but not all f the newer ergonomic jobs. I did a Strandberg "Endure" neck recently, and a flat block with leather pad did the trick. I still work the frets in ends first, then the center, and because of the lack of caul radii, I do have to finish some of them to better conformity with my trusty wooden caul and dead blow hammer, but it is a definite time saver worth using for sure.

For a very short time in the early 70's Fender pressed frets in from the side of the fingerboard and I can only imagine the elaborate thingamajig they had to come up with to do it, and how many necks and pounds of fret wire got screwed up in the process. I can also imagine that they had plenty of problems with that, so no wonder it did not become their standard. It is a novel Idea to prevent frets from coming out, but they are a major pain in the neck for anyone having to do a re-fret. They are quit rare, and you can't tell by looking at the neck, but should find out quickly when you try to remove the first fret, or two.

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If what you see is what you get, then Stevie Wonder ain't got nothin'!

Wow, nice set.

Yeah I'm hoping that someone starts making these fret press cauls again. Would be great to have them available once again.

Hesh, whats the range of radii in that set?

I now have easy access to two CNC milling machines, and it might be an interesting project to make up a few sets.

Hey Daniel, Happy New Year to ya!

Here is what our set included:

6, 7.25, 8, 9, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, 13, 13.5, 14, 14.5, 15, 15.5, 16, 16.5, 17, 17.5, 18, 18.5, 19, 19.5, 20, 20.5, FLAT

Now after years working with these cauls here is what would be a better way to go and Dave did the math as well so that the proposed set would offer more possibilities for "real world" use and issues.

6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, 13, 13.5, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, FLAT

Don't forget to make them longer too! With all of the fanned fret instruments, and 6 to 30 string basses and other insane monstrosities out there, mine is sometimes running out of length.

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If what you see is what you get, then Stevie Wonder ain't got nothin'!