FretGuru Diamond SharkFin Fret Crowning File MD/LG

This was my first time crowning frets so I have no experience to compare this with other files. But I did sucessfully crown my frets without gouging my fingerboard, so that says something right there. This file was recommended from a Youtube video as a money saving alternative to a Z file. I felt like the file is easy to use and works about as fast as I would expect, maybe even a little faster. I was using 6150 fret wire. By using both sides of the file, I was able to get a hairline crown on all my frets; in hinesight, next time I do this, I would leave the lower frets with a wider crown since they wear faster and intonation is not so much of a problem on the lower frets. The file leaves significant tooling marks that must be polished out, I am speculating that the diamond dust files would be better in this regard. The file can also be used to round the fret ends but it is not designed for that and does just an "okay" job at that. Still at about half the price of a diamond dust file and pretty much fool proof action, I am very happy with it.

I have a fantastic luthier, but he's so good he's always busy, so wanted to learn to do some stuff myself. This fret dagger is a fantastic little investment. I tend to make flat spots pretty bad on my frets with my weird crippled left hand, so I often need to do a quick re-crown during a string change to take out some buzz. This fret dagger works great and makes it real fast. Tape it up, check which side to use, paint 'em with the marker, and crown 'em quick. Hit 'em with the sanding sponge and 000 steel wool, clean and lemon-oil the fingerboard and the thing plays wonderful again. I can do that a good 4-5 times before having to do a partial re-fret at the luthier. I've had it about 10 months now, used it a ton, very happy with it. I make sure to clean it good with a brush after every fret, and the teeth on the thing seem to be lasting quite well. At the price, I'm not too worried about the teeth lasting, it's a good investment for my use case. Absolutely recommend the thing. Just a great tool to have when you've got some buzzing flat spots. Fully awesome at crowning the full fret levels I've done as well.

I don't normally do reviews...but when I find a new tool that does an old job well, I'll make an exception. My first impression? Elegant, simple, nicely refined surfaces. The handle edges are rounded, comfortable, and the swell at the end makes for a nice palm grip. This is a solid piece of tool steel with a concave rounded edge that as far as files go, is sharp and effective at crowning frets. I will note though, too much pressure will create a washboard surface on the fret...so let the file do the work. Like I said, as a file it's sharp. It does well at removing material in a convex shape that's perfect for a fret crown. There are two sides to this file...medium and large. The differences appear to be how deep the concave file surface is. I would still recommend taping your fretboard to keep from scratching it. The file's surface that can touch the fretboard is smooth and not abrasive, however shavings will still get between the smooth edge (of the tool) and the fret board and create etches in the fret board. It won't go through tape though. I would also recommend using some fret rubbers (erasers) to polish the frets to a nice glass-like surface. This file does well at crowning, but it shouldn't be expected to create a polish. Doing a proper fret job requires a series of steps. This tool is perfect for one of those steps - crowning. All that said, I'm glad to have this on my bench. It'll get plenty of use. Highly recommended!

I read many reviews about this fret crowning file. Almost every one was positive. I saw the design of it and the ability to work on the high frets near the body. You should tape the fretboard up, but I tried it on a few frets without tape when it came in the mail. This file has safe edges on the bottom that did no damage to the rosewood fretboard on my guitar. I used a combination of #4 fine cut Swiss files and a Hosco crowning file for several years. But when I opened this file and took a good look at it, I immediately saw that the teeth on the file were very fine. I have been a mechanic and metal fabricator for many years making hand made parts for motorcycles. I know what a good file is and my machinist father taught me how to use them. So just as a trial, I tried the Fret Guru 2.0 on three frets on my ‘69 SG Standard with very wide and hard alloy nickel frets. Almost as hard as stainless steel. It did a fine job. I have leveled the frets and will crown them with this file in the next few days. Don’t press down too hard or the file will chatter. You want a nice smooth cut with no chatter. And whatever you do, don’t try to cut on the back stroke. That is the quickest way to ruin a toothed file. It’s not like a diamond dust file. Like the Baroque. They can cut in both directions. When you cut with the Fret Guru, make sure to lift or lighten up on the back stroke. And if you use conventional files, you should have a brass file card to clean the file teeth every few frets, or as needed. Or you can get a set of brass brushes, about the size of tooth brushes at most auto parts stores to clean the teeth. DO NOT use a steel bristle brush to clean these files To sum this up, I liked this Fret Guru 2.0 so much, I bought another one as a spare. Oh, yea. If you plan on doing this and other maintenance just below a luthiers skill level, you should buy a crappy $20 used guitar and practice on that before working on your nice guitars to get the feel of the way it cuts, and do other things on. I like and would recommend these files to anyone that wants to do their own fret work.

I own several different crowning files from the cheap $10 ones to the expense $100 ones. This one is the best one I have. I bought it a few months ago and finally used it last night. Not only was this the best crowning job I have done to date but it was also the fastest and most accurate one too. The tool has a very nice balance and easy to control. I am right handed but often tend to switch hands when doing repetitive jobs such as fret work and because of the balance, switching to my non-dominate hand was very easy. Its so easy to control its very easy to take just the right amount of matter off of each fret. I had two complaints. Neither are a big deal though. First, it seems the file gums up easy so keep a bristle brush near by to clean it. Second, I wish the handle had a rubber cover of some sort over it. That would make it even more comfortable to use BUT I have used worse crowning files. Over all I am very pleased and will buy more of these in the future if needed. I wish I had the option off giving 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I delayed my review for awhile because i was still working with this product on a few fret dressing jobs. I had already contacted the owner and maker of this excellent tool and he was very responsive and loved the work I had done on a few of my guitars awhile back. I asked him for any possible future tools and handle grips and it seems like they have been in the works but are still on the drawing board! I'm looking forward to any new developments. Ok, this file was used on 3 guitars so far and here's the pro and cons +Excellent movement and versatility, This fixed one fret job where I had to do the fret level and crowning all over again, this file did an amazing job over the other one I used! It put it to shame +Frets were uniform after crowning. This thing evened out the fret ends as well which was a pleasant surprise and only needed to use the fret end file for touchup near the fret board! time saver +2 in 1 large and medium fret gauge 6100/6105 +Saved me Alot of time and energy +Perfect for beginners that are learning how to do Luthier work +Easy to clean +Really good grip, no damage to fret board or no sliding off when filing +Got more confidence in my repair work as a learning Luthier (I took this into a guitar shop and got complimented on the frets looked great, just a few minor uneven frets where not enough material was filed off +Longevity +Going off price listing for fret dressing at a local repair shop, I saved around $700-1000 in repairs. Cons: - Handle could be bigger for big hands. rubber coating for grip - Gums up so have a cleaning brush handy - Can be aggressive in taking alot of material off if not careful so keep that in mind considering this is a Higher quality fret file Overall, I LOVE! this tool and its something i will have on hand in my kit so whenever i get a guitar and it needs a setup, i can do it at the comfort of my home and i can get to playing on the same day! unless I really have to take it to the repair shop. STRONG RECCOMEND!

I have a Zager, a meme guitar which leads you to believe it's made in America, and is actually constructed in Indonesia and "finished" here. I don't know what counts as finishing, but evidently it isn't a close inspection of the frets. I suffered with seasonal dead frets for the last 6 years on what otherwise is a very nice guitar, and only recently decided (because I cannot afford to take it to the shop) to risk taking matters into my own hands. After buying the basics, like a straight edge, fret rocker, file and micromesh pads, I thought I was in the clear to work on my instrument, and even just with those things, yes, it sounded much better. No more buzzing. No more dead frets. Everything was flat. But I didn't realize they make files just for crowning, and I could feel that my notes no longer 'bit' the way I expected. I'm no luthier, and I know that their tools probably cost as much as or a lot more than this one did, and so I felt I was really taking a dive here, buying a file I might only need to use once, but it would still be cheaper than having had all this fretwork done by a professional, so I yolo'd on it one evening. It showed up yesterday, and I was thrilled to give it a try. I believe next time I change the strings I'll apply it a little more just to be absolutely sure I've covered all my bases, but after going over everything and re-micromeshing the frets back to a mirror polish, I found that "bite" I expected was back in my notes, and suddenly my guitar not only sounded better than it ever had before, but it felt right to play again. I can't say whether this is better than all the other fret crowning files. I don't know. I've never done this before, and it'll likely be a long time before I do again. But I'm satisfied with my purchase. I'm satisfied with the value of the product. I was endeared by the informally written, hand-signed letter enclosed with the product, which is why I remembered to come write up my thoughts here now. I found the use of the tool to be quite effortless, and I find the change in sound on my guitar from before I began all this fretwork to after finishing it with the Dagger to be heart-stopping. Zager's entire pitch is that you can get a sound and a quality of feel which rivals the big name companies' high-end products without breaking the bank, and for the first time since buying the guitar (ZAD50CE), I finally believe it is living up to that promise. It is no longer disappointing and problematic for the money I paid. I believe it really does sit in that same sonic space as the Martins and Taylors I've had the good fortune to play on. For the first time since purchasing my guitar, I feel like I really love it, and am proud of it. It sounds just how I want it to, and I've got FretGuru to thank for getting it over the finish line.

Great tool. I have a collection of different fret dressing tools and this one really shines. Ergonomically, this file fits in your hand very nicely and gives a lot of accurate control as you move the file to different angles. Also, having two different fret dimensions provide a lot of versatility without having to change to another file. Third, and most important to me is how clean it cuts. I have diamond files that leave the frets requiring a lot more effort to get then to the polished stage. This file cuts very clean resulting in less effort to get the frets sanded and polished.

Hace su trabajo bien para trabajos caseros, para trabajos de uso rudo está la versión diamantada, aún que con dos trabajos sacas para comprarte la versión mejorada, en conclusión es perfecta para mantenimiento a guitarras personales, pero no sé que tanto desgaste tenga al uso de un luthier profesional

These folks are onto something here. I generally either make my own tools or adapt tools for special purposes, mostly because I hate how little use a specialised tool gets. This is one of a very few tools I own with only one job and it does that one job with aplomb. New stainless frets are no match for the Dagger 2..0. Like me, you will surely remember the quality of this tool long after you've forgotten the price

First time using a fret crowing tool, made quick work of my worn-out frets (which I had to level down quite a bit) and the final results were very nice! Works well and leaves a nice finish easy to polish. Excellent results. The only issue I have is the price in Canada compared to US which is ridiculous, and just recently went up quite a bit too... If you're in USA don't even think about it, get it! If in Canada, well, you are just getting ripped-off as usual... not the product's fault. It is a very good tool that saves lots of time and provides fast quality results. Why are Canadian being ripped-off all the time?

Great file.

An excellent tool for fret filing. Quality & comfort are perfect for me. Works very well. Fixed my buzzing frets. Very well designed & made. Built to last.