Setup advice

lostjohn

Very nice, Max.

Jazzaferri

Sounds and looks like Al did a great job on your guitar.

Enjoyed your playing.

Buco

Yeah, I listened to it last night and than cought myself whistling the melody as I was going to bed.

Great job Al and Max, joining forces that resulted in this nice music.

Al Watsky

Max sounds good. Music !
Also duly noted; The Hodson .
Good sounding guitar.
I think Hodson hasn't gotten the respect he deserves .
He's gone now.
Sad to say, he's passed away.
Posthumous props to DJ Hodson

Buco

Yeah, Mr Hodson would be happy to know this guitar is being treated rightfully like it deserves.

MaximusVolumus

Everybody, thanks for the kind words!

murrayatuptown

Wow, 0.043" fret slots...if not for the statement about that being by design, I would have ignorantly said some negative things...glad to read the whole story, but it still sounds like some previous repair person got into it way over their head.

Glad it turned out so well...

Al Watsky

Don Teeter wrote a couple of books in the late 70's that were a big influence everywhere. He had a fretting method that used slots that were as wide as the tang plus the barb. You would fill the slot with epoxy and lay the fret in the slot, clean the squeeze out and clamp with a fixture made to hold down the fret ends.Don liked Elmer E601 as I recall. It was a big fad for a while.
I had read the books as I was preparing to go into the trade but as luck would have it the first guy I worked for learned a hammer in method in Switzerland and I wound up emulating that although I use the method from time to time if I run into a guitar that used the method. Its useful but has a sound. People , myself included , feel it has a sound , seems to drain some energy from the "system".
The glue in method is no doubt still used by some folks as a modified glue in,narrower fret slots , mainly.
One Teeter method I have clung to is his tension simulation jig. Most all my fret work is done under tension.
Hodson must have made his own method , insofar as the ends of the frets do not seem to be epoxied . Its a bit weird actually. If he was still around we could ask. I have a tenor of his which is using this method. I don't plan on ever playing it enough for it to require a refret , so it will remain a mystery. No doubt someone knows what he did. He did build for years and must have had his fans. Know he sold plenty of guitars in England and France for years. I spoke to him several times. Nice guy. Never talked over the fret deal though.
Max's is a one off I think. I recall that it was build for a known player and then sold later. I'm pretty sure it sounds better with the hammer in job. Its perkier now and a bit brighter because of the EVO and a tighter fit in general.
Its a good example I think, neither a Selmer or Favino something in-between.
Max knows it so well he pulls a great sound out of it. Its one of these guitars that sounds very different in front, focuses real well from about 8 feet out. Haven't heard it in a larger space, but its plenty loud.
Its a good one.

Bones

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that Teeter method. Never did try that but always just used the traditional hammer and caul method. I run a tiny bead of Titebond into the slot and wipe off the excess right before hammering in the fret. It seems to lubricate things a bit which I think helps the barbs squeeze into the slot and also I like to be sure to fill any small gap between the fret slots and tangs to hopefully stiffen things up a bit and minimize loss of energy but not really sure if that makes a difference. Couldn't hurt though.

Al Watsky

Yup, Bones the tight bond works. I use it now and again.
Its faster than the hot hide glue. I think the water in either of them does lube the tang. Which is nice ! The water based glues puff up the wood and then the fret seems to tighten into the slot as it drys. Better than cyano for me, although I still resort to C if I need to batten down the odd fret end.
I've been using the hide because I always love the way it comes out of the slots on pre 80's gibson refrets. A little heat some moisture and you have a nice clean fret slot. As opposed to what I was working on today, a bound board filled with Krazy Glue ! Fun times ! Its like the builder never though it would need to be refretted . Even nylon strings wear frets ! If the owner actually uses the thing.
I sorta am starting to hate crazy glue and that after being one of its prophets in the day.
The guy that first mentioned hot hide glue to me for fret work, in the heat of everyones early fascination with cyano, was Tom Humphrey.
He always used hide glue for frets.
Not for his neck joints though ! For that he used structural epoxy !
Hide glue, as you doubtless know is strong as can be and doesn't creep even if your clients keep their guitars in their cars in the summer.
Which is a real plus for crack repair as well.
My big problem with it is remembering to turn off the glue pot at the end of the day.
Cheers , hammer on.