Guitar Fret Tang Grinder

Re-fretting guitars with neck bindings usually requires (some Gibson's excepted) that the fret tang on either end of a fret be removed so the top of the fret can overhang the binding. The most common way of handling this is with a fret tang cutter tool. Although these tools work, nipping an entire set of frets, especially stainless steel frets, is time consuming and hard on the hand. After many re-frets, the tang cutter tool can start to dull slightly which leaves behind a ridge of fret tang that must be hand filed down. The fret tang grinder shown here speeds up the job considerably, and removes the entire depth of the fret tang cleanly.

The fret tang grinder has adjustments for both the fret tang width, and the depth of the cut. The small piece of wet sponge seen in the video protects your finger from the heat of the grinding as well as preventing the fret end becoming discolored.

Chicago electric Mini Tool Grinder

3) Chicago Metal cutoff wheels 3" x 1/16" x 3/8" (sold in package)

5) 1.5" x 3/8" fender washers (for spacers)

1/16" brass sheet

nylon cutting board

assorted screws, 2-56 and 4-40

4-40 nut

Cutoff wheels are used instead of grinding wheels because the edge of a grinding wheel would round over too quickly. The cutoff wheels are sold in packages and they are inexpensive to replace. In several years of use though, I've yet to replace the cutoff wheels on my fret tang grinder. The original grinding wheel clamping washers, along with 5 fender washers, space the the cutting wheels out the right distance.

The fret holder uses two pieces of nylon cutting board cut out to the shapes shown. The first two images show how the tilted "L" shaped piece slides into the "U" shaped channel. The screw turns freely in the "U" shaped piece, but is threaded into the end of the tilted "L" piece. The "L" shaped piece angle is 68 degrees. This angle was used to prevent the grinding wheels from touching the bottom of the fret on either side of the tang. The width of the "L" piece was chosen to fit between the outermost grinding wheel, and the grinding wheel cover.

It would have been great to be able to print the "L" and "U" shaped pieces on a 3-D printer, but these were made by hand. If there is interest, I could provide more detailed measurements if someone wants to replicate the parts I show.

While it was not easy to construct, I enjoyed the challenge, and the effort was rewarded with a tool that I use often and speeds up a tedious part of re-fret work.