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Thanks for the idea!
I stuck a small piece of sandpaper to a piece of wood.
It worked great for filing down a high spot on a fret.

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Yeah, but you know after borrowing my co-worker's Fret Kisser for the 15th or 20th time, I just bought my own. One of the most used tools in my toolbox.
Wrapping sandpaper around something will only add the thickness of the sandpaper to the edge of what it's wrapped around. So, the fret you're sanding will wind up lower than the surrounding two frets, assuming you're using it like the Kisser. The abrasive material on the Kisser is the same level as the surrounding bar.

The more I think about this tool, the more useful this tool is.
On initial leveling, it would be an easy way to take down a high fret.
If one was replacing a single fret, this tool would be awesome.

Oh crud, I just ordered one. Haha

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You'll love it Dan!
I have to admit to choking a bit on the price. But that disappeared after the first few times I used it. As I age, there are things I won't/can't do in the repair shop. But my kids will have to dispose of this tool when I die.

I bought one when they first came out some years ago. I must say it is one of my most-used tools as well. I’m a repair guy, not a builder, and it makes fast leveling of that nagging protruding fret a breeze. If you're into repairs, just get one.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

I admit that I have never used one but my first impression of it was that it's fixing the problem in the wrong way or is more of a quick band-aide. It doesn't address the problem of why is the fret high? It seems to me that most frets are high because they have come loose. If they are not loose then they were probably not properly dressed in the first place or there is some fretboard issues.

Again I have not tried it and y'all speak so highly of it maybe I should but I wonder what you think of the points made?

As I said, I'm into repairs and setups. When I encounter a high fret that won't come down because it's already firmly seated (and this happens quite often, even on new guitars), out comes this tool. I still have to crown and polish the offender, but the fret kisser enables me to work fast and ensures I won't bring the fret too low with one too many stroke of the 3-corner file. A very useful tool IMHO for those guitars that only have a couple of high frets. Anything more gets a proper leveling.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

Jf - I'd never used one until I started working in a retail setting. As Smylight said, you see all sorts of situations. When you have an <$500 used, instrument that is brought in by someone who just wants to play chords by the campfire or impress his girlfriend, they aren't willing to pay to have you do what you want to do: pull the fret, figure out why it's not seating, clean the slot, install and level a new fret. This would generate a bill that the customer will balk at. The customer generally won't spend the money and will take it to someone who will just level it, hopefully accurately, for $25. They'll then badmouth your employer, "...they wanted $100 to fix it and I took it to XYZ. They did it for $25". Better to do the $25 repair yourself, do it very well, and, hopefully, cultivate a new loyal customer.

And I've had several frets that simply won't set down where they belong. Including more than one brand new guitar. You can't blame the customer for wanting his new treasure to play correctly. And this is a quick, accurate way to fix the issue.

I had exactly what Allan is describing last night a 70's Tele with a 9th fret that was humped up in the middle not the ends. Kind of unusual and the fret was not loose and would not go down any further either with our press or a special tool Dave invented that uses a loaded spring from a punch to drive a fret down.

So the D and G strings had to have their action raised outside of the gentle progression of increasing action that I set the treble to bass side to. The thing was in for a set-up, it's a basket case with lots of other issues we were not to address (electronics and more) and this tool would have been perfect.

We normally and you've likely heard me say this before about normally addressing the fret plane as a whole as the strings see it and that would make any spot leveling tool not for us. We instead would recommend a proper fret dress with the idea in mind that this likely is not the only uppty fret and we can correct them all with a fret dress.

But when the budget for the player is not there and it's suitable for the instrument why not spot level and this tool looks cool for that.

Then I looked at the price but still it looks like a good idea and I agree with Allan on when and where to use it.

Yep, the price will make you suck some air, but I figured that in approximately 4 months it paid for itself, at least twice.

Exactly!

After a leveling, I found a high fret.
I think my beam maybe was teetering. This tool made quick work lowering the fret.
If I believe my fret rocker, the tool left the top of the fret just a hair tall.
This thing is awesome.

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I got a lot of mileage out of this tool from day one and I'm pretty sure it paid for itself much sooner than that! Its major real benefit is that with a firmly seated but protruding fret, you can absolutely NOT file it lower than the adjoining ones, which COULD happen with the usual 3-corner file method. Fast, easy.

Let's just say that us repair persons can see a lot of protruding frets in a typical week.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

FYI, Stewmac is offering the kisser on sale for a few bucks less at the moment.


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