In this do-it-yourself instructional video, Nashville luthier and repair tech Dave Johnson from Scale Model Guitars demonstrates how to fret level your guitar.
Johnson goes to work on a Squier Stratocaster, with frets that haven’t been glued down—a common feature on models that have been manufactured overseas. As a result, some of them have wiggled around in their slot, so there’s no uniform fret height down the neck. This affects not just playability, but sound, too, since loose frets result in weaker vibrations across the guitar. The first step Johnson takes is to make sure that the neck is straight by making tiny adjustments to the truss rod. Next, he slaps some paste wax down on the fretboard, which acts as a guard of sorts from the heavy-duty cyanoacrylate super glue that’s wicked down the edges of the fret slots with a whip tip to cement the fret wire in place.
Once the frets are solid, Johnson sets to work with a StewMac fret leveling bar (https://stewmac.sjv.io/Jr5By7) to bring the frets to a uniform height up and down the neck. The higher frets, however, will still be a little different, which Johnson explains with the concept of fall-away.
Next up is a once-over with a fine fret edge tool that smooths out any tough angles on the ends of the fret wires, then a diamond file to round them out again after the leveling. Johnson rakes the frets—a sanding and polishing process with 400, 800, and 1000 grit sandpaper. Then it’s time to scrape the board back. With a razor blade, he scrapes away the wax and glue to get back to the soft Indian laurel wood underneath, then dusts off the gritty leftovers with steel wool. (Careful, though. Johnson says if your guitar has particularly large or precious inlays, it’s a good idea to take some extra precautions at the board-scraping stage.) A few drops of fretboard oil later, and the guitar is ready to rip. Thanks, Dave!
A few drops of fretboard oil later, and the guitar is ready to rip. Thanks, Dave!
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The 2018 CCL Deco Custom, in all its Pelham blue glory.
Anyway, we became friends and I started working on him pretty early—my 40th birthday was approaching, and that meant it was time for us to start designing his first solidbody build. If you stopped on this page, it’s because the photo of the finished product caught your eye. Beautiful, right? The 2018 CCL Deco Custom: Never shall there be another.
Old National Glenwood guitars were my design inspiration, but I wanted a slim waist like a PRS and the like. We used a solid block of korina to start, routed like MacGyver to get the knobs and switches where I wanted them. Dale builds all his own lathes and machines (usually out of lumber, y’all), as the task requires. This beast took some creativity—it’s tight wiring under that custom-steel pickguard. Many were the preliminary sketches. Four coats of Pelham blue, 11 coats of nitro. Honduran mahogany neck, Madagascar ebony fretboard with Dale’s signature not-quite-Super-400 inlays. He designed the logo; I just said, “Make it art deco.”
We sourced all the bits and bobs from StewMac and Allparts and Reverb and the like, mostly to get that chrome look I so adore. Graph Tech Ratio tuners, Duesenberg Radiator trem (had to order that one from Germany), TonePros TP6R-C roller bridge. The pickups were a genius suggestion from the builder, Guitarfetish plug ’n’ play 1/8" solderless swappable, which means I have about 10 pickups in the case to choose from: rockabilly to metal. And both slots are tapped, with the tone knobs serving as single- to double-coil switches. I put the selector on the lower horn to accommodate my tendency to accidentally flip the thing on Les Pauls—definite lifesaver.
Reader and guitar enthusiast, Cody Lindsey.
Dale offered to chamber this monster, but I said what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It weighs in at 11 pounds, if it’s an ounce. We carved the neck to match a ’60s SG, so it’s like the mini bat you get at the ballpark on little kids’ day. Easy peasy. 1 11/16" nut, 25" scale, jumbo frets, just 2 1/8" at the 12th fret.
Delivery in its lovely, hygrometer-equipped Cedar Creek case actually happened a month or two shy of my 41st, but hey, you can’t rush these things. We ended up with a studio Swiss Army knife; it does a bit of everything and does it effortlessly. A looker, too. Dale didn’t spend his career doing this kind of thing—he was in IT or some such—and I imagine he’s winding this “hobby” of his down these days, enjoying retirement with a bottle of Killian’s and a lawn chair at Duluth Blues Fest. But this guitar will live on as a marker of his skill and otherworldly patience. It sits at the head of the class in my practice room, welcoming any visitors and bringing a smile to my face every day. And Dale, my friend, I’ll be 50 before you know it....
Cody requested that Dale design an art deco logo for the guitar’s headstock.