DIY Fret leveling advice

[Top-L]

If you use a flat device to level a straight radius neck, you're imposing your guess on what the radius is. Whereas if you use a radius block, it results in a perfect radius, and requires less work because it covers the entire horizontal area at once. But I guess you're entitled to create more work and poorer results for yourself if you want. Have fun.

You are just wrong. The biggest factor to success is the length of the leveling beam.

If you can find a radius block that is the entire length of the neck (or near), it would be something to consider. Most radius blocks are quite short. You want the frets to be level, and you accomplish this by uniform removing of material. A shorter beam or block compromises the results.

Until you can get your mind around this, you need to stop giving advice on fret leveling. Also ask yourself, why your advice is different than everyone elses?

[Clint 55]

It doesn't compromise the results because buzz is only caused by frets adjacent to each other. It's physically impossible for frets outside the length of a foot long radius block to cause buzz. In addition, you don't level the entire thing, fret 1 to fret 21, relative to each other. After you have it flat, you have to go back in and put in some fallaway at the heel starting at about fret 14 or 15 because the bow isn't effective there. However, guessing on the radius of the neck does compromise the results. My entire collection of guitars plays perfectly, with rounded ends. How about you give it a rest.

[GuitarStv]

If you use a flat device to level a straight radius neck, you're imposing your guess on what the radius is. Whereas if you use a radius block, it results in a perfect radius, and requires less work because it covers the entire horizontal area at once. But I guess you're entitled to create more work and poorer results for yourself if you want. Have fun.

FWIW -

I think all my guitars are compound radius now. You're imposing your guess what the radius is no matter what device you use to level 'em. I agree that it's probably slightly easier to use a radius block if you've got a straight radius up and down the neck.