I am actually building an Explorer now!

[FlyingVFanatic]

Ahhhh great, ill get on that tomorrow

[Decibill]

Good progress man, but bummer about the fret. I too would also try to clean the fret and the fret slot and then build up the slot slightly with CA. The fret should press back into place. If not, see if the tangs on the fret are filed down for some reason.

[FlyingVFanatic]

Okay ill have a look at it but at a glance it seems to simply be that the fret wasn't put in properly. Kinda got side tracked today by friends though, so never got round to the fret clamping :P

[FlyingVFanatic]

Well, looking at the fret, you can clearly see, on the side where the issue is raised, that it is different to all other frets on the board

10268437_269433486569383_4160647041493912626_n.jpg (54.71 KiB) Viewed 3557 times

my (uneducated) guess is that the noticed an issue, did the glue repair as i have been advised and the fret has been forced out the slot by some environmental factor. Is that a legit guess?

[Mudfuzz]

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier ... ouble.html

[FlyingVFanatic]

Oooooh thats a very cool link. Loads of useful junk there. Aaaaaand exactly the thing i need is there although its exactly what ive already been told :P Thanks for the added, and more importantly corroborated advice

[FlyingVFanatic]

Ugh, any advice on how to radius a single fret without spending in excess £100 >.> by that i mean free, because everything ive seen is stupidly costly... And im not spending a huge amount of money (if you recall I'm on a student budget) to replace 1 fucked fret that was broken before i got it.

Deeply frustrated at how hard it is to bend the fret even slightly

[AxAxSxS]

If you have a drill, a hacksaw and a home depot (or equivalent).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV804LQDll0[/youtube]

more fancy and better-

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ZmxZXKedg[/youtube]

[Decibill]

The cheapest way, would be to do this: Buy or find a scrap of 3/4" thick wood, at least 1ft square. Trace/draw a circle (or as much of a circle as will fit) onto the board. The circle should be the same radius as your fret board. Cut out the circle/arc with a jig or band saw. Place the arc/circle in a vise so that the edge of the board (the 3/4" thick edge ) is facing up. Draw a line down the middle of this surface the length of the edge. Now cut a shallow groove/notch with a hand saw, roughly 1/8" deep. This notch will receive the tang part of your fret wire. Get your length of fret wire (use at least 6" even if you are only doing one fret) and lay it into the groove. Tape or clamp the end of the wire down. Now slowly, little by little, bend and tap the wire into the groove. The wood circle acts as a form around which you bend the fret wire into the radius of your fret board.

[FlyingVFanatic]

Okay, while both those sound like really good ideas, Decibill wins here, because i have so much scrap wood, and it is also the laziest sounding version :P

[Decibill]

Yeah, I've used this method before in a pinch and it works totally fine.

[FlyingVFanatic]

Dodgy 8th fret fixed at long last. Thanks for all the help with it. Now its just the 1-4th frets that are buzy as dick -.- might just be neck relief, or i might need to change the neck angle relative to the body

[Decibill]

Gald to hear that the 8th fret is fixed. When you sight down the neck, can you see an up bow or back bow....? Also, do you have a long straight edge to check the neck...?

[FlyingVFanatic]

i have several straight edges, but haven't checked for any bows in the neck. Gonna relax off it for a day or two, got to finish my exams at Uni, then ill fire back into this build :P

[FlyingVFanatic]

Okay, im firing back in, and working so hard on the guitar i forgot to eat! But i fixed that, and i now think that im ready to glue the neck. Got 4 strings on, and have tried the other 2 previously, all intonated nicely, no buzzes except the bridge buzzing from empty saddles, string height looks really good.... I think im ready to go! Anything ive missed?

Also got a nice black headstock veneer a la Gibson :3