Fret Leveling — Lutherie Encyclopedia

Fret LevelingType: techniqueFiling the tops of all frets to a uniform height, eliminating buzzes caused by high frets and enabling lower, more comfortable action.## Overview Fret leveling (also called fret dressing or fret stoning) is the process of filing or sanding the tops of all frets to create a perfectly uniform playing surface. Over time and play, frets develop uneven wear—some frets become lower than their neighbors, causing buzzing on adjacent frets. Even on new instruments, frets may not be perfectly level due to variations in installation. Fret leveling corrects these irregularities, allowing the guitar to play cleanly at the lowest possible action. ## Process The neck must first be set to the correct relief using the truss rod, as the leveling must be done on a straight (or near-straight) neck. Many luthiers remove the strings and adjust the truss rod to make the neck dead flat for leveling, then reset the relief afterward. Some use a neck jig that simulates string tension to level the frets under playing conditions. The fretboard is protected by masking off the wood between frets with tape. A long, flat leveling beam (typically 12-16 inches of precision-ground aluminum or steel) is fitted with adhesive sandpaper (usually 320 grit) and drawn along the frets with light, even pressure. The beam contacts the high frets first, leaving visible sanding marks only on the high spots. The luthier continues leveling until all frets show sanding marks across their full width, indicating they are all at the same height. This process inevitably flattens the fret crowns, so fret crowning follows immediately after leveling. On a compoun…