FretMaestro Tutorials
Part Three: Finer Points

Part One: Prepare

3rd Party Tools.
Fret Forensics - Knowledge is power.

Part Two: Maestro Technique

The Files.
Holding and using FretMaestro.

Part Three: Finer Points

And cautionary notes.
Awareness & finesse Vs brute force.

Part Four: Guitar Setup

Nut Slots, Saddle/String Action,
and happily skip neck relief.

Video: Prepare
Video: Maestro Technique
Video: Guitar Setup

Awareness and Finesse always wins over blind brute force.

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Office Tape - Why:

Maestro settings are in .003" increments. The .005" thickness of the glide strip is factored into Maestros depth of cut. To effectively convert the .003" to .0015" we use office tape to elevate the glide strip by .0015" which wht in Maestro technique we instruct doing this, it can often times save .0015" fret material, and the time it would otherwise take to file that much material, that across 22 frets adds up to a lot of time.

Diamond Files - Nickel Frets:

Nickel is a relatively soft metal that when filed tends to want to clump rather than particulate into tiny hard grains the way stainless does. Jamming the file into nickel jams the nickel into the diamond grit and back filling and clogging the file so that it, no longer cuts.
Never jam any file into any metal, this will always ruin the file.

Diamond Files - Stainless Steel Frets:

Most people have likely used a file on wood, it is easy and very forgiving. Frets are not wood. Using any file on metal in the same carefree aggressive manner will quickly destroy the file, both diamond and serrated steel.
Diamond files are far superior to serrated steel files for metal, especially stainless steel frets, as diamond is many times harder, however, what few people know is how the diamond is bonded to the file substrate (body). The diamond grit is nickel plated onto the substrate, nickel is softer than stainless steel frets, consequently if you dig the file into a stainless fret the excessive torque transfers past the diamond grit to the nickel plating, the stainless wins this tug of wore and diamond grit is torn out, once that starts it creates gaps between the grit making it exponentially easier to tear out the rest of the grit.
Nickel Frets: nickel is soft, jamming the file squishes nickel into the grit and clogs the file spo that it no longer cuts.
Never jam any file into any metal, this will always ruin the file.

Which File for what?

There are three files:
150 grit marked 150 on the OMNI, marked with a star on Radius Maestro.
240 grit "V" file marked with "V" on OMNI, and "C" for crown on Radius Maestro.
300 grit marked 300 on OMNI, no mark on Radius Maestro.

The 150 File is the workhorse leveling file.

The "V" File narrows the crown, does not remove material off top of fret. It is used to assist the 150 for faster work, and it is used to narrow the crown after leveling to a width you prefer... this is subjective, but 1/16" width is the ideal crown width.

The 300 File is never to be used for leveling. It used for smoothing out the fret only after the 150 file work is done.

Saving Time:

When using the 150 file it will, as will all crown shaped files, conform the fret crown to the file's concave curvature. This slows down filing because there is now more fret surface to file contact.
To get around this, use the Crown Narrow "V" file to narrow the top of the fret thus reducing the surface area the 150 file works. This makes the filing go faster. On frets taht need a lot of filing to get level with the other frets, you may alternate between the "V" and 150 several times, on frets that need less filing, not so much.
Note: The "V" file does not remove material from the top of the fret.
Best practice is to always mark top of fret with sharpie before narrowing, you get a visual of the sharpie line getting narrower as you file, letting you know when enough is enough.

Digital Gauge:

How to get accurate reads from this ultra sensitive instrument:
Support guitar neck so that it is almost flat, headstock just a bit elevated.
Zero the gauge on the fretboard, not the fret.
Place gauge atop fret let it dead on parallel along the nut side of the fret. Let go of the gauge, holding onto it transfers body vibration that rattles the read.
Slide gauge to next position and let go. And so on.
Do not reset the gauge.
The .0005" read is a rounded down or rounded up number, do not get frustrated with it.
The brass block is made for measuring nut slots, not frets. And the four feet form a 16" radius that is useless for sharper radii such as 15 to 7.25, the solution is to file down the two middle feet, the guage rest on the outer two feet and no longer rocks on sharper radii.

Digital Gauge Radius Adapters:

Made by SixStringers these are made to match the radius of the fretboard, 11 stock radii, and we welcome special orders for less common radius. These are 2" long vs the 1" brass block these reast more securely and stable on the fretboard. The gauge is center mounted for balance that delivers an easier accurate read Vs lopsided to one side out of balance mount on the brass block.
Center mount and the 2" length makes it possible to measure from high E to Low E, the gauge facing the headstock, whereas the brass block cannot, one must filp the gauge around and then to read it one must also move over to the other side of the guitar, example, read High E and then the middle of the fret, but cannot read the low E without flipping the gauge around, making doing FretForensics and checking fret measures as you work exceedingly cumbersome.
SixStringers Radius Adapters make it a lot easier to achieve precision reads.

Cautionary Note One:

The Omni File is straight and as with all straight files filing on a curved geometry only a small bit of the file contacts the fret at a time. This makes for slower work, but also more forgiving than using a radius file.
FretMaestro Radius as the name defines, is a radius file that matches the radius of the fretboard, as one files the fret conforms to the file radius ultimately establishing full file to fret contact, the entire full span of the file is filing making the work faster, but also demanding filing absolutely straight in line with the length of the fret. If not, if the file is cocked it will file the fret sideways at opposites ends of and on opposite sides of the fret. Not good.
This is especially true when applying too much pressure on the file stroke. Pay close attention to your file stroke, start slow, develop a rhythm, align your body with your shoulder and forearm in line with the length of the fret instead of trying to file off center with a chicken wing elbow. Use this same inline posture with Omni.

Cautionary Note Two:

Fret Maestro Files are not compatible with Super Jumbo Wide Frets. Super Jumbos measure .15" wide, Jumbo frets measure .11" wide.
Super Jumbos are very rare.

Cautionary Note Three:

Best practice is to position the guitar neck support to where you are working to keep the neck from moving around.

Cautionary Note Four:

Glide strip can be used on several frets before refreshing. However, watch for black scuffing, if it is dark it means you are jamming the file to the fret and also wearing the glide strip. Two bad things here, one you are destroying the file, and two, you are grinding the glide strip thinner allowing the cut to go deeper than intended.