• Cutting Fret Slots With A Dremel Bit
• Cutting Fret Slots With A Dremel Rotary Tool

. Cutting string slots in an acoustic bridge. Grinding off sharp edges on an acoustic bridge saddle. Tip: Before you fire up a Dremel—or any other power tool—always don safety glasses! Polishing frets on a maple fretboard.

When cutting fret slots in rosewood, ebony or african blackwood fingerboards (Janka value greater than 2,700 lbf) or any wood with a high silica content, it is better to use a relieved-neck shell cutter (MS3I8 family) because of their superior stiffness and resistance to breakage. Shell cutters compatible with the most popular fret wire sizes. If you want to use your Dremel tool for cutting wood, then the best option for you is to invest in a carbide cutting wheel. These bits are great at quickly cutting through even the toughest pieces of wood. For wood carving, you can get hardened high-speed steel bits or carbide bits. The carbide bits are more durable and will last you for a while. This is just a quick and dirty fret slotting jig, using a dremel and the mini saw attachment. It cuts good but it's hard to move the fence due to friction. Now that i know it works I'll be making. Following on from NotAnotherHobby's post about fret slotting with a table saw, it got me thinking about alternative saw blades to StewMacs fret cutting saw blade (at $100) as this seems pretty specialist. Has anyone tried using slitting saws, used for milling and jewellery work? There is a nice variety of kerf's and diameter blades.

When is refretting a guitar necessary?

Performing a complete refret job is about as big as a job can be in guitar lutherie – but don’t let that scare you away. If it’s done poorly, you can usually salvage the job by pulling the frets again and giving it another try. It’s an extremely valuable skill to have, and the core requirement for a perfect action. If you’ve read the fretdress guide, you already know some of the major steps required for refretting.

I don’t know if I’ve done a good job convincing you that this is a task you should endeavor, but I can assure you that by the time you’re finished, you’ll have a much deeper understanding and of the guitar’s neck mechanics as a bonus. This knowledge will help you diagnose and perform any fret or action-related jobs with more confidence and accuracy.

Learning how to refret your guitar will also give you most of the skills required for fretting a blank fretboard. This is required reading for anyone wanting to build their own guitar.

When diagnosing a guitar, you need to know when to perform a complete refret, partial refret, or a regular fretdress. There’s a huge difference in required effort. A fretdress can solve a lot of issues on its own, but sometimes you need to address problems at the root of the matter: the fretboard itself. Let’s look at some neck issues and see what’s required to fix them:

Cause: Fretboard shrinkage (dried wood), improperly seated fret, or pushed inward from a fall or being struck.

Solution: Partial refret

Cause: Mostly affects bolt-on necks. Can be caused by a number of things – humidity changes, an improperly set truss-rod, poorly selected neck wood, poor fretwork, etc. Many times, the issue isn’t with the fretboard itself, but the neck wood.

Solution: Complete refret

Cause: Similar to a rising tongue, there are a number of issues that could cause a twisted neck – but it mostly comes down to poor wood selection.

Solution: Throw the neck in the garbage. Aside from that, a fretdress or a complete refret can help counter the issue by leveling the plane again. Shimming the neck is also helpful in some cases, but I’d prefer to throw it in the garbage if that’s the case. This is not a permanent solution, but sometimes the neck wood can settle after a period (usually when it’s not properly dried/aged at the time of milling). In such cases, a refret can restore the neck’s function for an extended time – but you won’t know until you try it.

Cause: Playing + time + general wear = flattened crowns, chips & notches, dead skin/grime buildup, uneven action, etc.

Solution: A fretdress will solve most cases, but fret-wire has a lifespan and you’ll need to assess whether there’s enough metal left to take another dressing without bringing the frets too low. If so, a complete refret will be needed.

Cause: This is a given really – if a guitarist has any issues with their fretboard’s radius or fret wire thickness, there’s no reason not to make the change.

Solution: Complete refret

Step by Step: A Professional Guitar Refret

Refretting Tools

^{(click to see product pages on Amazon – links open in new windows)}

• Sticky sandpaper – 120, 220

Step 1 – Setup the guitar.

• Support the neck with shot bags or a good fitting caul.
• Protect the guitar.
• Guitar should be set up with desired string gauge and tuning. Especially be sure that the relief is set to .012”.
• This is the starting point for a refret, fretdress, or initial fretting of a new instrument. This method takes into consideration the reaction of the wood and trussrod to the string tension. This state becomes the constant from which the plane of the fingerboard is defined.

Step 2 – Remove the frets.

• Oil rosewood and ebony fingerboards liberally with lemon oil to condition and reduce chipping. In some cases you may leave a heavy coat of oil sit overnight. Drip or spray a little water on the fingerboard to produce steam. Heat the frets with a clothes iron or soldering iron until they bubble and steam. Rest iron on a wood block while not on the frets.
• Nip the corner of fret with the fret removing pliers. Slowly work pliers under and across the bottom of the fret crown until the fret is removed from the slot. Heat frets as needed. Several frets can be heated at a time. Remove all frets.

Step 3 – Prepare the fretboard for leveling.

• Remove nut. Remove machine heads if necessary. Any hardware directly above or below the fretboard could potentially be struck by the sanding bar when surfacing the fretboard, so it’s best to be safe and remove them entirely.
• Use the hook on your fret slot cleaning tool to scrape out any old glue and debris left in the slot.
• If you haven’t already, make sure that you’ve laid a plastic sheet across the body to protect against scratches, dents, or sawdust.

Step 4 – Fill the fret slot ends.

• To achieve a pro dress on the fret slot ends, fill the slot ends with 1/16” strips of matching or contrasting wood. Glue in strips. After glue sets, clip strips leaving them flush with side and top of fingerboard.
• It’s also common to use wood glue and sawdust from the fretboard to create a paste that will have the same appearance as the fretboard when dried. Some people prefer to wait until after the frets are in to do this – as long as the fret tangs are clipped inward with a little bit of room, that’s perfectly acceptable.

Step 5 – Sand the fretboard’s fall-off.

• Similar to a fret dress, build tape to 8 – 10 layers at the 5th fret to achieve fall away when planing the fingerboard.
• According to condition of the inlays and fingerboard use 80 grit or 120 grit sandpaper on the 24” straight bar.
• Cover 1/3rd of the edge of the bar with sandpaper and plane the tongue of the fingerboard from the end of the 12th fret maintaining the existing or desired radius.
• You may need to mark the fingerboard with chalk to make sure a plane is achieved.

Step 6 – Sand the rest of the fretboard.

• Remove tape from the 5th fret and put a whole strip of sandpaper on the edge of the straight bar.
• Plane the length of the fingerboard with the bar maintaining the radius and applying pressure between the 1st and 12th fret.
• Repeat process with finer grits of sandpaper up to 240 on the bar.

Step 7 – Re-slot the fretboard with a Dremel.

• Slot fret slots to the proper depth with a Dremel tool and precision router base. Stewmac #1180 tapered fret slotting bits are best for this job. Be careful not to cut through the filled slot ends. Gradually work bit down to 1/32nd inch deeper than the fret tang.
• Stop the Dremel and clean off the bit as it accumulates. You will have to clean the slot with your slot cleaning tool and vacuum cleaner several times as you use the Dremel to deepen the slots.
• In some cases the slot may need to be deeper if it requires excessive force to insert fret.
• Be careful with the bit – they are expensive. Work slowly and deliberate. Control the machine. Leave pro dress strips 1/16” wide.

Step 8 – Bevel fret slot edges and polish the fretboard.

• Now polish the fingerboard with 400, 600, 800, and 1000 grit sandpaper by hand.
• Bevel the top of the slots with a three corner file.
• Clean and vacuum the slots one last time.

Step 9 – Radius and cut the fret wire.

• Choose the fretwire that is closest to the existing or desired fret size.
• Clean fretwire with naptha.
• Radius the fret wire.
• Match radius to fingerboard with slight overbend.
• Cut 3/4” off each end of the radiused fretwire section. This is the part that the radius machine misses and leaves straight.
• It helps to have a fret wire index with 24 holes.
• Cut fretwire 1/4” longer than the fret slot on all fret slots.
• Nip fret tangs with the fret tang nipper 1/32” inside of the pro-dress strips.
• Clean any remaining tang with a small file, careful not to get into the crown.

Step 10 – Hammer the frets.

• Test fit a couple frets into the tongue of the fingerboard. It should require only heavy finger pressure or light tapping with the fret hammer. This is usually where the slots need to be deepened.
• Try to remove test fret wire without bending it. Make a new fret if needed.
• Dampen fretboard with water to soften wood and increase working glue time.
• Work wood glue into frets 3 or 4 at a time.
  Tap fret firmly into slots with a deadblow hammer.
• Clean the remaining glue and see that the fret has seated tightly against the fingerboard.
• If fret will not seat against fingerboard, either the slot is not deep enough or the fret wire is improperly radiused.
• Re-examine slots and frets and deepen before proceeding.
• If the first frets seat properly, proceed with the rest of the fingerboard.
  Leave a little water after cleaning the glue to slow the glue from setting.

Step 11 – Clamp, clip, and bevel the frets.

• With all frets properly seated, clamp 3/8” steel rod 1/4” from the fretboard edge.
• Use 4” – 6” blocks as clamping cauls. Tape helps keep the rods in the proper place.
• After at least 2 hour drying time, remove the clamps.
• Clip frets flush at the end of the fingerboard with flat ground fret cutters, not the fret pullers.
• If wood strips were not used, the pro-dress can be achieved by filling the fret slot ends with wood dust and glue.
• Let it dry completely then sand or file flush. Try to stay off the finish.
• Bevel fret ends with a bevel file or straight file. I prefer a 15 degree bevel.
• File the sharp corner of the fret ends with a safe-edged flat file or 3-corner file.
• Proceed with normal fret dress procedure starting with 220 grit paper. If everything was done properly the bar will lightly kiss the top of all the frets. Touch up the fretboard edge with wipe-on poly or French polish and pumice.

To complete the fret job, you can head over to the fret dressing article. After that, you’ll definitely want to perform a professional setup. If you’ve done everything right, you should have the most flawless playing experience of your life!

Dremel tools are little rotary tools. They fit nicely in your hand and have a little spinning blade or a cutting tool known as Dremel bit at the end. Much like its big brothers, the die grinder and angle grinder, the Dremel tool is an extremely versatile tool. The sheer amount of jobs that it can do is staggering. However, to take advantage of this versatility, you have to find the right accessory or tool bit for your Dremel tool.

I’m pretty familiar with the various tool bits that you can get for your Dremel tool, and so I figured that I would share that knowledge with you. But first, let me explain what exactly a Dremel bit is.

What is a Dremel tool bit?

A Dremel bit is a tool bit that can change the function of the Dremel rotary tool and allow it to do a variety of different jobs. You just simply attach it to the front of your Dremel rotary tool and you are ready to go.

In this guide, I plan to show you a large selection of the various Dremel tool bits out there. There are quite a few, so I could never cover them all. However, I plan to cover a bunch of the more useful ones so that you can see just how handy a Dremel tool can end up being.

Different Types of Dremel Bits

Here is the list of the most commonly used Dremel bits and their uses.

1. Sanding Bits

One of the main things that you can use your Dremel tool for is sanding down various surfaces. Whenever you hear the term “sanding,” your mind immediately jumps to wood sanding, and for good reason. With the right bit, you can definitely use your Dremel tool for sanding and smoothing out wood. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you are limited to just that, because you aren’t. With the right sanding disc or band, you can sand materials like fiberglass, clay, plexiglass, and more.

Sanding bits for Dremel tools come in two different kinds.

Drums

The first kind is known as “drums.” Basically, they look like little round cylinders. You attach the cylinder to the end of your Dremel tool and then you slip what is called a “band” over the cylinder. The band has abrasive particles on it and the drum holds the band. The band is what does the work.

So, in the case of sanding, the band will be covered with the abrasive material that you use to sand down the wood, plexiglass, aluminum or whatever else it is that you happen to be sanding.

Discs

The second kind is known as “discs.” If you have ever used a sander before, then this is going to be a bit more familiar to you. How it works is you have these little discs that you attach to the end of your Dremel tool and you use the disc for precision sanding.

Generally, if you have to sand a larger surface, then you want to go for a drum bit. If you want more precision, then go for a sanding disc for your Dremel tool instead.

Note: You should know that a rotary tool like Dremel cannot replace dedicated power sanders like belt sanders or orbital sanders.

2. Cutting Bits

Cutting Fret Slots With A Dremel Bit

While most people, when they need to cut things like wood or tile, will go for something like an angle grinder or a circular saw, the Dremel tool functions perfectly well as a cutting tool if you know what bits to use. There are plenty of different kinds of cutting bits that you can use. Pretty much all Dremel tool bits that are meant for cutting are shaped like discs.
However, that doesn’t mean that all cutting discs are built the same way. Some of the cutting discs are made with minimal gaps between the teeth (more number of teeth) for very precise cutting. Others have very large gaps between the teeth, which helps for bulk cutting, where you don’t really care too much what the final product looks like.

Much like with the sanding bits, you might be tempted to think that cutting bits for your Dremel tool is only able to be used with wood, but again, you would be mistaken. Regular cutting bits can be used for wood, but if you need to cut things like thin metal, aluminum, or tile, then you can use a fiberglass cutting bit instead.

3. Etching and Engraving Bits

Dremel tools are perfect for doing etching, engraving, carving, or general decorative work. This is because Dremel tools are extremely small and allow for very precise engraving and decorating.
Using etching and engraving bits is easy. You just pick the specific bit that you want and pop it onto the end of your Dremel tool. They come in different patterns, sizes, and styles, so all of the difficulty comes from finding the one that works best for you.

Tip: Use diamond-tipped Dremel bits for engraving glass-work.

4. Routing and Drilling Bits

If you needed more proof that the Dremel tool is one of the most versatile power tools out there, how about the fact that in addition to cutting, engraving, sanding, polishing, and everything else that it can do, it can also act like a drill. That’s right, with the right routing or drill bit, your Dremel tool can become a great option for routing wood or drilling into soft material like wood, plastic, or thin metal.

As with all of the other bits that I have talked about so far, there are a wide variety of different routing and drilling bits for you to choose from. So, regardless of what sort of drilling and routing work that, you need to do, you should be able to find the perfect bit to use.

5. Grinding and Sharpening Bits

Do you have an old blade or axe that could use a bit of upkeep? Do you have some metal that has a bit of rust that needs to be ground away? If so, then there is no reason why you can’t be using your Dremel tool for that. There are a bunch of very useful grinding and sharpening bits that you can pick from.

There are two different kinds of bits that fall into this category.

Grinding Wheels

First off, there grinding wheels. These are generally made from abrasive material such as Aluminum oxide. They are usually in disc shape with a thin cross-section compared to the diameter.
The thin grinding wheels can be used for parting-off and cutting while the thicker wheels are good for general purpose. The edge wheels and Paint & Rust Surface Prep wheels are great for grinding off stuck-on rust from metal surfaces.

Grinding Stones

Secondly, there are grinding or sharpening stones. As you might have guessed, these stones are what you use for sharpening knife blades, ax blades, and much more.
These sharpening stones are often made of silicon carbide or aluminum oxide. They are cylindrical in shape and work well for grinding profiles and holes.

What Dremel Bit for Each Job

In this next part of this article, I want to quickly talk about what the Dremel tool bit is good for each job. Obviously, I can’t cover every job, but I can go through a few of the more common and more popular ones.

What Dremel Bit for Wood Cutting?

If you want to use your Dremel tool for cutting wood, then the best option for you is to invest in a carbide cutting wheel. These bits are great at quickly cutting through even the toughest pieces of wood.

For wood carving, you can get hardened high-speed steel bits or carbide bits. The carbide bits are more durable and will last you for a while. Likewise, the carbide is so good at cutting, that it allows you to do both bulk cutting and more precise cutting as well.

Dremel Bits for Metal Work

If you need to cut something tough like metal or if you just need to work with it, then you are going to need to invest in a Dremel metal cutting wheel tool bit. To be more specific, look for an abrasive cutting wheel that is made out of a material like fiberglass or even better, aluminum oxide. These are great for metalwork.
For metal engraving work I recommend carbide bits. They are good for carving soft metals like aluminum, brass, etc. For hard metals like steel, you can use carbide burrs for deburring and chamfering. However keep in mind that while carbide bits are very hard, they are also brittle.

What Dremel Bit for Glass Cutting?

If you need to cut glass, then you need a Dremel tool bit that is made out of the diamond. This is something that is true for basically every power tool. If you need to work with glass, then you need diamond-tipped equipment, it is basically non-negotiable. This is because glass is very hard and brittle.

Thankfully, there are plenty of diamond-tipped Dremel tool bits out there, so you shouldn’t have any issues finding some.

Best Dremel Bit for Stone Carving

Again diamond-tipped bit is the best choice. However before you go and buy a diamond-tipped burr, you should know that the selection of tools also depends on the type of stone or rock that you are going to work.

Soft stones like sandstone and soapstone are easy to carve. You can also carve soft marble, but it takes time. If you want to remove a lot of material, then consider using a chisel and hammer to get the rough shape and finish it with Dremel.

Hard stones like granite, jade, etc. are very tough to work with. My suggestion is to start with soft stones first and then work your way up.

Diamond bits are available in different grit sizes from 40 grits (coarse) to 600 grit (fine). The standard 150 grit diamond-tipped bit can work very as an all-purpose Dremel bit for stone, glass and other such hard materials.

Contents

Cutting Fret Slots With A Dremel Rotary Tool

• Different Types of Dremel Bits
  • 1. Sanding Bits
  • 5. Grinding and Sharpening Bits
• What Dremel Bit for Each Job

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