Cleaning Frets?

loudriver23

loudriver23

New member
I have recently noticed that the frets on my Ibanez 335 copy seem a bit well dirty for lack of a better term. I can no longer smoothly bend the unwound strings. The strings are relatively new, and the setup is to my liking, I have a feeling I need to either clean, or polish the fret wire itself.
I've been really bad about guitar maintenence in general, and this would be an "if it works don't fix it" kind of deal for me. My question is, what's the preferred method of cleaning the fret wire? Is this something easily accomplished, or would you take this to a tech and have them knock it out?
Thanks,
Louis
 
Re: Cleaning Frets?

I do it myself with fine steel wool. I either tape off the frets with painter's tape or use those aluminum fret shields from Stew Mac.
 
Re: Cleaning Frets?

Jessie Sammler said:
I do it myself with fine steel wool. I either tape off the frets with painter's tape or use those aluminum fret shields from Stew Mac.
Click to expand...

Yep, that works. You can also used 600 grit sandpaper.

If you really wanna do a primo job, get a dremel and some jewelers rouge (akak dremel polishing compound). The frets feel REALLY slick after that.
 
Re: Cleaning Frets?

But it's more fun to type than to read.
 
Re: Cleaning Frets?

I don't know about you, but my frets are held in with 5/8" lag bolts.
 
Re: Cleaning Frets?

Jessie Sammler said:
I do it myself with fine steel wool. I either tape off the frets with painter's tape or use those aluminum fret shields from Stew Mac.
Click to expand...

+1

0000 steel wool. Press lightly, as it does not take much.
 
Re: Cleaning Frets?

A little simple maintenance. Every time you change strings, wipe down the fingerboard with some form of cleaner/conditioner (I use Old English Lemon oil on Rosewood & Ebony). Maple boards you can just use a good guitar polish. With maple I use 2 pieces of tape, one above & one below the fret and then hit it with 00000 steel wool. A good thing to do is cover the pickups with tape also. this will prevent steel wool fragments from getting on the pickups. Then just polish each fret. Once this is done I wipe off all excess with a dry cloth & restring. Done! With ebony & rosewood I don't even tape off the board I just buff the whole board with the steel wool. Works great and my fingerboards are always like new!
 
Re: Cleaning Frets?

yep, 0000 steel wool will do just fine. I dont bother masking the fretboard, I just take a small piece of steel wool and ball it up and then start making passes from side to side over each fret wire. Once you see the current fret you are woking on get a nice shine, you can move on to the next. once I get down to where the pickups could be an issue, ill usually tilt the headstock down as I work the frets so any stray fibers fall away from the pickups. Then I follow that with a nice rub down of the fretboard with lemon oil, wiping away the excess after I let it set for a few minutes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top