Ever since I began using bound fret boards in place of unbound fret boards that leave the fret ends exposed , I’ve had to remove the small amount of fret “Tang” or barb that normally grabs onto the sides of the fret slot from both ends of each fret. That leaves only the small amount of the actual crown of the fret overhanging the binding. I’ve tried several different tools for this operation over the years but the one pictured here seems to be the one that gives me the best results. Once again, while this is a very small, nit picky detail, done poorly, it really stands out and especially so when, as in this case, the mistake gets repeated for how ever many frets you are installing. If you remove too much of the barb, you end up cutting into the crown and the bottom edge of the crown can’t be driven down as far as the rest of the fret and so, while the fret itself can be driven flush to the board, the tips of the frets can’t be. Remove too little and the fret end will sit proud of the board because enough of the barb remains that it sits on top of the binding leaving the fret ends sticking up and making it impossible to drive the fret ends flush. Either way, it’s not a good look. This tool lets me precisely set the depth of cut by locking the exposed fret into the aluminum fret wire holder with the Destayco clamp. I also have to set the height of the file so that I end up taking away just the barb. As long as you use a sharp file in the tool, it’s easy to knock out a set of deburred frets ready for pressing or hammering in
.
