Why are my frets going in wavy?

[Christian A Salisbury]

So Im utterly confused.  I'm re-fretting an old Ibanez archtop.  Beautiful guitar. 

- It has binding.   

- The new fret wire has a radius smaller than the fingerboard (16) 

- The tang is cut back, bottom of the crown is filed smoothly.

- The fingerboard is leveled and the slots are clean.

I can not get these frets to sit snug against the fingerboard.  

The frets sit nicely in the middle and on the ends, but in between they arch up.  Kind of like a "m"

Ive never had this problem before and my brain is going bonkers trying to figure out what the deal is.  No matter what way I hit them, from the ends first, from the middle first, softly or really hard, they just dont go down.   

Here's a couple of pics.  Ideas anyone?  Peace

[FRANK]

I have faced the same thing i revert back to watching frank ford re fret a guitar in an hour or something like that he would open the slot to about .022 and i have done this also by running a dremel tool through the fret slot before installation to chamber the slot like a V to make a later re fret easier for the next guy .this helps the fret go down and stay down and if you get it wrong then there is a fret tang tool the make it fit better .try stew mac ?

[Frank Ford]

Actually, I don't change the fret slot, except to deepen it if necessary. I'll always alter the fret tang if it fits too tightly.

Those frets look as though they were hit too hard:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Frets/FretTrouble...

Try to tap the fret gently at first, seating the entire fret slowly. I average about 40 taps per fret. . .

[Christian A Salisbury]

Wow, 40 hits. All righty, I'll for sure give that a shot. I don think the tang is too wide but I'll double check. Thanks Frank, you ARE the man.

[Bob Gaddis]

I put a drop of dishwashing liquid in a cup of water and use a drop of that water to slightly dampen the fret slot before tapping the fret in. I use an antique flat-face silversmith's hammer to tap the fret. Some guys will cringe with the idea of water on the fingerboard, but in 30-some years, I've never had a problem. I use one of those S-M slot-cleaning tools to scrape the slot.

This looks to me like the slots are too wide for the tang. I wouId think the slots are deep enough if the frets seat at the end. I might try one of those Frank Ford Fret-Fitter pliers. I don't like gluing and clamping frets,but that's another alternative.

[Mike Kolb]

Yes, many little hammer-taps should get them in tight against the board. I start in the center and work out to either end, but others have better luck "outside-in". Another way to go (and used frequently) is to press the frets with curved brass cauls. StewMac's got 'em in all a host of radius sizes, for use in a either a drillpress or a handheld "jaws" contraption.

[Christian A Salisbury]

Fretting update. I made three changes to how i usually fret, and they are going in much nicer now. For the last 5 years or so I've been putting yellow glue in my slots to help keep the frets stable over time. (I was taught to do this at the shop I work at) So since the fretboard has binding I think the glue had nowhere to go and kept the frets from going all the way down. So now no glue (which I've never done) and lots of mellow taps. And for some reason the medal end of my hammer seems to get them in much nicer.

[MORCILLO]

If this happend to me I will try:
Do not overbend the fret, take the exact radius of the fretboard.
Do not use a hammer, make a caul with the same radius and press it in.