Touch up Frets advice

[Jack Allen]

Thanks for reading.  I've been battling fret buzz on several guitars and wanted some advice/suggestions.  I finally bought a Fret Rocker from Stew-Mac and started to check my guitars.  Many (various brands Gibson, Gretsch, Epiphone, Fender, but Ric's seem OK) of my guitars, both Electric & Acoustic have either high/low frets from what the Rocker shows.

I do need to really scrutinize each guitar to see if it's a High fret or adjacent fret is low before I go further.  My question is this, how much "rock" with a Fret Rocker is acceptable?  None or with a very small amount being more academic?  I don't know that answer but you all do!!

Also, if needing to lower a high fret, and with a very minute amount of rock, is it a proper fix to just re-crown file or do you have to file flat first then re-crown?

I would like to learn to do a proper & professional job, and do have a couple of inexpensive Epi's that I can practice on prior to the pricey guitars.  Also, if "I learn to fish I can eat every day" instead of paying for each guitar to be fixed that I haven't had much luck with in the past.

Thanks again for any council & advice!!

Jack

[Ned Knepp]

Hi, I'm Ned and I'm an amateur Luthier. ( and they all said; "Hi Ned.") 

 As I stated before, I'm not all that comfortable with my fretting/ leveling skills yet. I just haven't done enough of it to get there. I have tried fret rocking and came away with two thing I need to remember.

1. It seems to be a good way verify what my fingers and ears are telling me, particularly on a neck with some relief/ still under string tension.

2. When I act on what a rocker tells me, I always seem to find that the problem isn't so much fixed as it seems to move around on me. I fix one fret then find that I have a problem some where else.  

It could very well be my lack of skill in this department but I really need to go the whole nine yards and not try to skip to the end which is what I tried to do with a fret rocker. Maybe I'll get enough knowledge and skill to do that some day.

[thefishinmusician]

I use a thick feeler gauge...Pretty well straight....Just to see if there are loose frets or high spots...Just another diagnostic tool to help identify potential problem areas....Never as a final judgement....Just for initial poking around...