TODAY I GOT ALL the frets installed on all five instruments that I am building. That is a lot of fussy, picky work . cutting the fret wire the proper length, applying a tiny bead of glue to the tang and then tapping the fret into its slot with the little red hammer, wiping off the excess glue before putting it into the fret press and bearing down hard on the handle, 'then you wipe off the excess glue again and move on to the next fret. 17 frets times five instruments, No wonder it feels good sitting in this easy chair doing the blog.
 the little red hammer with a brass head is nicely weighted and perfect for tap ping in those frets |  but for a little extra assurance I like to put the pressure on with this press I bought at Grizzly. The die I bought at Stew-Mac. The combination makes sets frets in very well |
I even got a fret board glued on. I will post a photo of the results tomorrow. This strange instrument is a tenor ukulele/banjo of my design. Dale Davis calls it a "Tambo" because it is made using a Tambourine. I take the bangles off, turn the round shell on my lathe and insert the wooden ringed -leather headed -tambourine inside. Then I clamp it in tight with the resonator. More pictures as I progress on these fun instruments. They really have the great banjo sound and make an amazing amount of noise, Fun at a campfire.