A single high fret on a cheap bass. Level them all?

[DanAdams]

I'm good with general set ups and wood working, but I have not done fret stuff.
I bought a very cheap 70s Hondo P bass that I actually like a lot.
I get fret buzz on the 3rd and then more on the 4rth fret (all strings) indicating to me that the 5th fret is a bit high. Other wise the action is excellent and the frets have lots of life left.
I would like to keep it simple. Would you consider trying to level out one fret, or must I do the entire thing?

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Spot level #5.

 

[DanAdams]

Thanks for the vocab. now I know it's called Spot Leveling.
How would one go about this? I'm thinking of drawing on the fret with a marker, taping the fretboard around fret 5, and leaving the strings ON. loosening the strings to file just a bit at a time so I can easily tune it back up and play for a second before deciding if I need to file more.
Is that how others would attempt shaping on a single fret?

 

[Jisch]

you should be able to use a "fret rocker" to find the high spot, you can buy one at StewMac, but you can also use anything that's relatively hard and has a straight edge. By spanning the 4, 5 and 6th fret you should be able to rock the straight edge on the 5th fret, if it's high it should be the fulcrum. I would do what you suggested above, but use the fret rocker to identify the high spot and know when it's eliminated, it's easier than using the string.

 

[Radarsonwheels]

I just did this on a hondo that I saved from pawnshop hell. Mine is also a P pickup but in a half ton explorer shape body. I threw some SD 1/4 lb pickups in it at the same time.

I did end up touching almost all the frets but hey it’s a hondo what did I have to lose?! It plays awesome now and the action will go lower than I like it with no complaints or dead notes. Two days later I brought it to a recording session just to see how it sounded vs a musicman- the engineer said put that MM back in the case!

It came out so good that I finally got brave enough to level out my favorite fender that I played a ton since 1994. Now the action is killer on that too!

 

[Radarsonwheels]

Oh and I did sharpie, gently filed till the flat on top of the high frets was even all the way across, then gave them a little rounded crown like a bus roof.

I went a little overboard and polished the hondo frets on a full size buffer with emory tripoli and rouge but I didn’t really care if I touched the maple fretboard. Ended up looking great!

Also I would pull the strings off and get the neck dead flat before any metal removal. Tape up the pickups. You’ll need to reset your neck relief once it has string tension but thats not hard.