If the Stewart has bar frets, they actually act as a sort of truss rod. The wider the fret, the tighter the fit=less relief. Basically like tightening your truss rod, except a whole lot more work as these are fit by hand. There is also possibly a reinforcing rod of some type in the neck-probably ebony. This is how Martins were built clear up into the 30's. Bob's 0-18T has bar frets and I would assume a steel t bar. In this case, I would suggest simply filing the frets flat-don't take 'em out. You have nice flush lines to keep your place on the neck and you've not changed the stiffness of the neck shaft.
If we're dealing with modern type t-frets and some sort of fixed truss rod, you can remove them and them fill the slots with wood-or whatever floats your boat and is stable. I've seen them filled with epoxy and sanded flush. There will still be relief issues, but less so and the nylon will like more relief, anyhow.
Interesting project. Let me know how I can help.
Responses