DIY Fret Tang Nipper Jig/Tool

I have a guitar to be refretted waiting in the wings. It has binding on the fingerboard, which looks great, but presents a problem for refretting.

On a guitar with no binding on the neck, the frets can run the full width of the fingerboard. However, on a guitar with binding, the tang (the vertical section with barbs which is pressed into the fingerboard) has to be cut short so as to not interfere with the binding, while the crown of the fret is not cut so that it overlaps the binding.

You can see this on the picture above. The fret crowns lie over the binding. The tang is cut short to clear the binding. It's a great look, but it takes a little finesse to accomplish it.

Stew-Mac and LMI sell tools to trim/cut the fret tang. The Stew-Mac tool appears to be a variation on metal nippers. I went to buy one, but it was out of stock. The LMI tool probably works well, but it appears to be complicated to set up and use. Plus it's really pricey.

One suggestion I've read is to modify a snipping tool to suit cutting the tang. I have a small metal snipping tool, and I tried modifying it with a slot to hold the fret, but it's just not sharp enough to make a clean cut on fretwire. It just bent it.

So after that, I did a search on the Interwebs and found a video from Highline Guitars on a DIY tang nipper. What an ingenious, clever approach! So I went about making my own.

In the spirit of log-to-jig, I grabbed a hunk of sycamore left over from the TMD log-cutting day from a while back. (That link goes to a TMD's page showing what he did with that wood. Prettier than mine and more fun to play with).

Laid out the marks for the 3 pieces.

Here are the three pieces that will make up the jig. The top piece is the largest, it's 1 inch wide by 3 inches long and 1/2 an inch deep.

The bottom is also 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch deep, but it's about 2 3/4 inches long.

And the block is 1 inch square.

I actually drew up plan drawings to work from, but they're too embarrassing to show here.

The idea is that the jig/tool will hold a Dremel tool vertically, clamped into a hole in the bottom piece.

The bit of the Dremel will come up through a hole in the top piece, and the bit will be flush with the top surface.

Then the fret is fed into the bit, cutting off just the tang.

Above you can see that I drilled a 1/2 inch hole in the top piece where the bit will come up.

Then I used a 3/4 inch Forstner bit to make a hole in the bottom. This hole will hold the Dremel in place.

In order to be able to tighten the bottom hole around the Dremel, we cut a slot from the hole to the edge of the piece. Then we drill a small hole through the piece.

This hole is for a screw to tension the piece around the Dremel. It will make more sense momentarily.

This hole needs to be accurate, so I used the drill press rather than a handheld drill.

Here's the bottom piece with the screw run through it. The screw is a 4-40 x 1 1/2 inches.

The Dremel's 'neck,' with the plastic collar removed, will go into the hole. Then the screw will enable the piece to be tightened around the Dremel.

You can see I have a wing nut on the screw to make for easy adjustment.

Then I glued the three pieces together.

Note that I also radiused (about 12") the top piece at the end. The idea is that it will help the fretwire follow the slot we'll create for feeding the fret into the Dremel bit.

Turns out the slot I cut wasn't wide enough. The hole wouldn't squeeze down enough to firmly hold the Dremel.

So I...used my Dremel to widen the slot.

Note that I've removed the collar on the Dremel. See the threads there? That's the part that fits into the hole.

Now we cut a fret slot on the top piece from the edge to the hole.

Here's the jig assembled.

It was suggested in the video to run some screws into the block to help hold the top and bottom pieces together.

It was plenty strong enough with the wood glue, but I ran the screws in anyway. It gave me a chance to countersink them. I love countersinks!

I also put about 6 coats of Tru-Oil on it to protect it and make the nice grain pop a bit.

Time for a test run.

I procured a tungsten carbide bit for the Dremel. Your local big box hardware store probably won't have this...I got mine online.

Here it is set up.

I just stuck the Dremel in a vise for safety. You can see how the bottom fits around the Dremel tool.

Nice grain, huh?

The key part of this process is to ensure the top of the bit is flush with the top of the jig. If it's too low, it will not cut all of the tang.

Conversely, if it's too high, it will cut into the fret crown.

I just used a straightedge to set it up.

I realize I've been referring to the fret tang and you may not know what I mean.

The pencil is pointing to the tang - the barbed part of the fretwire that is hammered or pressed or glued (sometimes all three...) into a fret slot.

Here we go. I held the fret down into the slot and fed it slowly into the rotating bit.

Wow! It works great! The bit cuts the fret tang very easily.

It does have a tendency to want to yank the fret sideways. I think if I did a second version, I'd make that hole for the bit smaller. It might make it easier to align the fret with the bit.

But as it is, it works like a champ.

The other thing I would change is the bottom piece. I'm not sure why the original design made it shorter than the top - maybe just for access? But my screw is very close to the end of piece, and as a result, it's starting to crack with the stress. For now, if it gets me through one guitar, I'll be happy.

I can make version 2 later. I have one other kooky idea to try.

Here's the trimmed tang.

Is that perfect or what? I think the cut won't need to be so long in practice; obviously this was a test.

But you can see how the fret will fit in the slot. The tang will butt (ha ha I said 'butt') up against the binding, and the crown will lay over the binding.

A few swipes with a file to take off that rough edge and it will be perfect.

I'm really tickled this turned out so well. Thanks, Highline Guitars for the inspiration!

Oh, check out the countersunk screws!