MusicNomad MN850 Diamond Coated, Safe Zone Guitar Fret Crowning File (S-File)

Excellent product. Brilliant design that crowns your frets effortlessly and without risk of over doing it. Not cheap but quality tools cost a bit more.

Excellent quality and great results.

Always excellent quality tools from MusicNomad

This was my first time recrowning/ profiling frets. Probably rather rashly I did this on a new Fender US built guitar rather than on a cheap old one, but fortunately the file is pretty much foolproof so long as you take some care. The frets on my brand new guitar were rather flat on top (see photos) but otherwise nicely polished, and I decided that I would have a go at crowning the frets to make them properly curved to minimise the area of string contact. The file was easy to use, and comfortable in the hand. It did take quite a bit of filing to get down to just the narrow "safe zone" of contact, but this is a job for just taking your time. The file has quite a coarse grit - 240 - so it does leave a lot of scratches on the filed area (but not on the safe zone/top of the crown, which is grit free). I saw a reviewer online saying he thought this was too coarse, and I think I'd agree, as it then takes extra effort to polish out the scratches. And you definitely will need to polish afterwards - but I think that's common to all fret crowning files. Couple of tips: - Protect your fretboard - although the gritted area of the file doesn't ever touch it, the filings themselves may rub on the fretboard finish - Cover over your pickups as the metal filings will stick to your magnetic pickups. - I used a small brush after every dozen strokes to remove filings from the fret/board to prevent those filings from creating scratches and also to remove them from the file to prevent clogging. Pros: • Comfortable • Safe zone to prevent you from filing down the height of the fret • Suitable for a beginner Cons: Grit may be too coarse, leading to more polishing effort Price is high - but it's a quality tool and cheaper than using a poor tool and needing a re-fret. Edit: after several hours over 3 days I've now finished polishing the frets (using primarily emery board type files from 200-12000 grit, followed by some metal polish for the final shine). I'm not sure I'll do recrowning again in a hurry, but they do look and feel very good now they're done!

If you’re ever worried about messing up your frets while crowning, then worry no more. These things are incredibly user friendly and a perfect way to get perfect frets

The very best fret file money can buy in my opinion

Some thing are best left to the professionals, and levelling frets on a brand new guitar was not an easy choice to make....but, needs must, and I'm a practical guy. So, I bit the bullet, and did the job, but re-crowning the frets...what a pain in the posterior. Eventually a got a round-to-it, and bought this nifty little device. I needn't have worried, because with this gadget you'd have to be a complete numpty to (m)uck it up. You know the old saying, 'Never mind the expense, give the cat a goldfish,' well, the same applies to the MusicNomad Fret crowning file. Expense, but it works brilliantly, and safely.

Good but pricey, took a little while to come.

After 3 refrets with this crowning file, I can recommend it highly. The design of the tool virtually guarantees a very fine crown everytime. With two different sized grooves, it can cover most any size fret and does handle stainless steel frets very well. The one caveat I would add though is for first time users. Make sure you use the correct size for your fret job and always clean your file often to remove any debris that could hinder the workability of the file. Ergonomic and well weighted to allow you to let the tool do the work. Highly recommended

This is my 5th file in 7 years of hobby luthery, and I finally found it! Thank you Music Nomad! This thing works so much better than Z file from Stewmac it is not even in the same league.

Works 100% as described by the manufacture. I used these on a guitar to reform the crown. Very smooth and has 2 different sizes based on your guitars fret size. Heavy duty and should last a long time for the amount for fret work I will be doing.

Super outil qui m'a permis de faire finaliser la planimétrie de ma guitare et donner une seconde jeunesse à ses frettes ! La lime est ergonimique et simple d'utilisation.

Muy facil de usar, estaba usando las tipicas herramientas chinas y era mucho esfuerzo. Con esta trabaje muy rapido sobre trastes de acero, aun que me queda la duda de que tanto desgasto obtuvo la herramienta, siento que al final del trabajo ya no rebajaba igual, tengo otro proyecto por iniciar, ahi me voy a dar cuenta si es duradera o no.