Leveling beam
A long, flat bar with abrasive fixed to it, used to sand the tops of all the frets into one plane.
Once a guitar's neck is straight and held rigidly, a leveling beam is run along the frets with abrasive paper attached until the tops of every fret are in the same plane, which is the first stage of a fret dress. Its length is what makes it work: a short tool follows dips in the board, while a beam bridges them and cuts the high spots down. After levelling the frets must be re-crowned and polished, since the process flattens their tops.
Example: A guitar whose frets have worn dips under the middle strings is first levelled with a beam before the frets are re-crowned.
See also
Related
- PageFret levelling
- PageFret rocker
- PageCrowning file
- PageAction gauge
- PageAged finish
- PageBack bow
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley