51 P Bass Build looking for info

[Marc Rutters]

Happy New Years Day!

I have always used a press to install the frets but pushing them in from the side makes sense (Thanks Gil!). Without the proper tool and no way to get one over the Holidays it's back to ranch engineering. Some time back I made a some fret board sanding blocks of various sizes and saved the cutoffs. With a little modification the fret pusher is ready, a fret pusher with training wheels.

[Marc Rutters]

The block is about 3" long so as I was able to let it ride on an installed fret while the one next to it was going in, I was surprised how easy it all went and how tight to the board they are. One trick learned is to knock the burrs off of the underside of the leading edge, it keeps it from digging in the fret board and acts as a sled. I doubt I'll press in many frets form now on.

[Marc Rutters]

New Years Day sunset on the Pacific (just over the hill)

[mgdesigns]

You are a crafty guy, Marc. (Check your email for a sketch of the Calvary project).

[preeb]

Beautiful job Marc. Really really nice and clean. Maybe I'll T.O. the whole operation your way soon... (-;
Groove a proper size slot in a harder material for the fret holder tool.
If it only rides on top, the fret will act like a spring (sideways too) and will widen the fret slot a little as you press it in. The fret will still sit tight on the neck vertically but it will have sideways flexibility. You want it to sit in the slot as tight as possible (without pushing for a strong back neck curve) to get a better tone. Remember that the string vibrations are transfered to the instrument through that point.
If you'll notice on pre CBS instruments, the slot is exactly as wide and deep as the fret tang.
Best way to tell if the frets are tightly installed is to "feel" the amount of flexibility while trimming and filing the sides. If you'll put one hand on top of the frets and use the file with the other you will feel what I'm talking about.

[Marc Rutters]

Thanks Gil! The tool definitely needs to have a groove to hold the fret from flexing. As I was pushing them in I thought how much it would suck if the fret buckled, bent into a Z shape and blew out the edge of the fret board.

If you want to "T.O" the whole operation here that means you gota move the whole family too, you think they'll like San Diego?

[preeb]

LOL... What I meant was regarding your guitar building potential rather than dislocating my whole family to San Diego (-;
Have fun with this build... it's coming along great.

[Marc Rutters]

Originally Posted by preeb

LOL... What I meant was regarding your guitar building potential rather than dislocating my whole family to San Diego (-;
Have fun with this build... it's coming along great.

Sounds like you didn't ask them

[Tele-brewer]

Hi, Marc.

What a great build thread! I love these early 50's P-Basses.
Some day I'll have to build one myself. Thanks to your and Gil's thread there's a lot of info, detail and inspiration.

I'll chime in with Gil:

Originally Posted by preeb

When are we going to see some wood chips and dust flying around on this build?

Looking forward for this.

Herbert.

[Marc Rutters]

Thanks Tele-brewer. There is some laquer left to spray and the weather has been wet for a while here so I'm dead in the tracks for now. I've used that time to work on some other projects but expect to be back on it very soon, weather permitting