Dress fret ends?
 

I want to get a fret end dress file, StewMac or equal. Am hoping the Chicago Music Exchange has something. If not I'll order online.

I'd like to smooth thing up on my new Yamaha, and maybe the others. Must I unstring for this?

Yes. And get a new set while you are at it ;)

Typically we do a humidity cycle before trimming fret ends.

Yes replace the strings at the same time, and re-oil your fretboard for best results.

PM sent showing fret end dressing process.

Steve

The assumption within your question is that you are dealing with sprouted fret ends due to a dry neck and low humidity, not shaping the frets ends during a re-fret or the initial installation. Perhaps I have misinterpreted.

I do it by hand with a standard medium-fine mill file about 12" long. Two layers of low-tack painter's masking tape to protect the finish at the neck joint, maintain roughly a 60° vertical angle from the fret plane, and go slowly and smoothly along the length of the neck with light pressure. You only want to remove the high points of exposed metal, not take off any wood from the fret board edges or binding. I also do this before re-humidifying when the neck wood is at its narrowest, and generally never have to do it again on the same instrument.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional luthier or repair tech, nor do I play one on TV. I'm just a handy guy with some mechanical skills that only works on my own instruments or a few for my students who won't / can't pay for a shop repair, and stay well within my skill level and comfort zone.

A 5 or 10 dollar fine mill file (flat) is all you need.

Ned, you don’t have safe edges on the fine mill file?

My skill is my safe edge. (Sorry for being cocky. Just having a bit of a chuckle by myself here to lighten my mood.) But also important, I always mask the top of a guitar when filing fret ends.

When I buy a file, I try to sight it to make sure it is straight, or has a consistent gentle banana shape to it, and I use it with awareness to the file's own individual idiosyncrasies. Many files are squiggly like an S, which I avoid.

The 3 mill files I use for fretwork are stock from a package with no "safe" edges.

Mine has a safety edge but I STILL mask the top off anything that would come close to touching it. ;)