Last week I started fretting the neck. I practised on a piece of scrap first, but nonetheless the first few frets made me very nervous..

After putting in some frets just fine, it became a rather relaxing job and I worked my way down the fretboard. Checking depth, cutting the slot if necessary, hammering the fret into its slot and finally, cutting the excess of.

Before the fretting was done, the neck had a slight relief. I knew the frets would bow the neck somewhat and I hoped the result would be perfectly straight, but the frets overdid their job and the neck now as a very slight back bow. But so little that it doesn’t worry me right now. However, the strings will pull it back again. I only wonder how the neck will act when I start shaping it…

Currently I am cleaning up the ends of the frets, first with my Dremel and after that I will file the edges flush with the neck.

Update: I filed the frets flush with the fingerboard and sanded the edges smooth. I added a picture of the result.