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Fret rocker? Stew mac? LMII? Other?

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:40 pm
by Matthew Lau
For my first few builds, I just used whatever I had on hand for setup (like a EZE lap diamond card sharpener for fret flattening and rocking frets).

I'm thinking of getting a setup tool like the cool people.
Can you recommend a good one?

I'm considering between
https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/T ... ocker.html
or this:
http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-serv ... ight-gauge


I hope to get back into building something this Autumn season.

Re: Fret rocker? Stew mac? LMII? Other?

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:31 pm
by Bryan Bear
I'm far from a set-up or repair expert so take your salt now.

I thought about making one of those because it seems like a great ides. I was just going to use some 1/8" aluminum bar stock I have and figure out what lengths will allow me to span any 3 frets on a guitar. I should be easy to file/sand then lap a perfectly straight surface on such short runs.

I never got around to it because I don't really do much repair. On new guitars, I level all the frets at the same time with a long straight beam. So I already know they are all in line. Now watch, as soon as I hit submit, a friend will bring me an old guitar with worn frets and ask me to take a look. . .

Re: Fret rocker? Stew mac? LMII? Other?

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 3:21 pm
by Simon Magennis
Pretty much any bit of metal with different side lengths will do just fine. I think I got my "fret rocker" from some ebay seller but I don't recall for sure - it is steel of some kind with 4 unequal sides. I initially made my own from a bit of aluminum but I didn't have any way to get the edges I sawed really straight. I am not familiar with the gizmo you have but it sounds just fine.

Re: Fret rocker? Stew mac? LMII? Other?

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2018 10:05 am
by Brian Evans
My fret rocker is a piston pin from a Mini Cooper S engine. My straight edge is a 14" long piece of Thomson linear bearing rod.

Re: Fret rocker? Stew mac? LMII? Other?

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:09 pm
by Matthew Lau
I honestly just use a EZE lap card...it's served me well on all my fretjobs.
The edges are pretty square and sorta work.
Also works to flatten the edge too.

Guess I'm overthinking it.

https://www.amazon.com/EZE-LAP-201-Cred ... B002RL83HC