Hi,Just a few pointers that may help a few new builders in their fitting fingerboards & fretting tasks, most of the info is captioned on the photos.

When fretting 6 string full size guitars the process is a fair bit more involved but fitting the fingerboard is about the same, but for 3 -4 stringers here's what I do, and why.

The small nails [I've had for about 55 years] so don't go looking for any] Ha, Ha! just get the smallest you can.

What is not covered here is the fret levelling and polishing, if needed.

Enjoy Taff

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  • Thanks for the great advice Taffy. The photos are also excellent. What is your method of installing the frets? Do you us a hammer and block of hard wood, vice or something else?

    • Hi Frank, thanks, I'm glad if you got something out of this.

      I have pictured my methods here. The first one shows two hammers one I repurposed [frets only] back in 1975, just a shorter handle and added weight to the head to make it a dead blow hammer.

      The other a piece of heavy brass bar drilled out to take a short handle. Again a dead blow.

      Then I added the arbor press with special foot and brass inserts to suit different frets [radiused or flat]. That just pushes the frets in.

      OR... you can chuck the same fitting [available from Stumac] into a drill press to do the same job.

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      Cheers Taff

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