Semi hemispherical fret end grinding tool

Scroll to the bottom, click the link and order

It was American luthier Harry Fleishman who came up with the idea back in the 90s. Back then, Harry did the whole process by hand. You can find his instructions in American Lutherie magazine #53.

I’ll be honest, even with this new tool of mine, semi hemispherical fretting still takes time, much more than regular fretting. But this neat diamond grinding tool does speed things up and make the results more consistent. The “rounding over” part of the job is far quicker.

After using this for the last 18 months I can tell you – it works really well. More accurate and quicker than any other way of round the fret ends over I’ve seen.

Fretboard prep:

Before you even try semi-hemi fretting you need to learn how to prep and fret a neck so well that your frets require NO levelling after they are installed. You can learn how to do that by buying the Michael Bashkin fretting course that Robbie O’Brien sells. Michael covers fretboard prep, fret installation and even covers how to do semi hemispherical fretting by hand.

Since making the video Michael bought one the semi hemi wheels, so his process has speeded up, but you’ll learn much of what you need to know from his video.

The wheel:

I use Evo Gold fretwire and have no signs of wear. The tool has not been tested with stainless steel fretwire. As we all know, SS wrecks tools far quicker, so expect the same if you intend to use SS frets.

Run the wheel around 1450-1500 rpm on your drill press, the tool is too heavy for use in a hand held drill.

Fret size:

The standard wheel fits 2mm wide wire.

3mm and 4mm wire are also possible. Ask.

Arbor:

In the gallery above you’ll see an image – the wheel with two arbors. The arbor on the right is the standard arbor and fits a 1/2″ hole. and has a 1/4″ shank. This will be supplied with your wheel unless you order the heavy duty arbor on the left. It fits a 16mm hole and has a 1/2″ shank.

Ordering:

I need to order 20 at a time to get them for this price, so let me know if you’d like to be included. I’ll take a 50% deposit, and the balance will be due when the order arrives at my shop. and I ship them out. If I don’t get the orders, I’ll send you the deposit back.

Pricing (including shipping) for a wheel a standard arbor:

USA    US$180

UK    £130

EU  €140

Australia   AU$190+GST

Canada    CA$225

Pricing (including shipping) for a wheel and a heavy duty arbor:

USA   US$230

UK    £175

EU    €190

Australia    AU$265+GST

Canada    CA$290

The order book is now OPEN register for the next batch HERE.

You won’t get an email confirming your order, but when the order book fills, I’ll send you an invoice. Please don’t register more than once. I place an order every few months. Your time will come.

Best,

Nigel