Hosco Compact Fret Files

When frets are installed into a fingerboard they are never completely straight even if great care was taken in installing them. Therefore the frets must be levelled or 'dressed' so that they are straight and the guitar will play with minimal fret buzz.

Once the frets have been levelled using a fret levelling file they need to be crowned so that they have a nice round profile on top so the strings will play clean and in tune. A fret file has a concave edge which is exactly the right profile to shape the tops of the frets back into this curved shape.

The fret is rubbed with the fret file until it is rounded off. It is a good practice to leave a very narrow flat-spot on the top of the frets to ensure you don't go too far with crowning them.

After crowning with the fret file, various grades of sandpaper and steel wool are used to polish the fret. Usually 180-grit sandpaper, followed by 240-grit, then 0000-grade steel wool is sufficient to get the scratches out and bring the frets to a nice polish. The fingerboard should be taped or a fingerboard guard used to avoid scratching the fingerboard.