Did my first fret "polish" today.

[youngthrasher9]

First I taped up all the electronics, then carefully taped off the fretboard, laying the tape down with an old gift card, then cut the tape to the perfect size with a razor blade to expose the frets. I used 0000 steel wool and it made the frets shiny and smooth. It looks so much better now. I'm excited to get the new Mean 90 in the guitar and string her up.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

What kind of guitar is it?

 

[DankStar]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

hmmmm. tape is already cut at a straight line...wouldn't you just put two pieces on either side of a fret? I guess the area gets kinda skinny further up the ol' neck though huh.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

The further up the neck you get, you start having to split the width of the tape down, hence the razor blade, or x-acto knife in my case.

 

[youngthrasher9]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

The further up the neck you get, you start having to split the width of the tape down, hence the razor blade, or x-acto knife in my case.

Exactly.

 

[youngthrasher9]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

What kind of guitar is it?

It's a cheap silvertone strat copy. I took the finish off and routed it to fit a humbucker in the bridge position. It's basically what I use as a practice platform for mods and maintainence techniques.

 

[Ball&Chain]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

I vowed awhile back to never let steel wool get anywhere near my guitars. There are much better things to use that don't leave the debris behind.

 

[sixstringsamurai333]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

What do you use instead? I've only ever had to steel wool frets once on an ESP MII that came to me with terriblly rusted, tarnished frets.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

I agree, I prefer superfine sandpaper (2500grit and up) and polish compound after. but steelwool can be useful if you've got supercrummy, rusty old frets. don't forget to recrown them afterwards.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

I don't bother with neither one of those. All I have ever used is this stuff and it works wonders. http://www.gorgomyte.com

 

[Ball&Chain]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

I've been using these fine grit polishing papers from MF. There's a lot of other stuff out there as we'll like the fret erasers from stew mac. A fine scotch brite pad would work also.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/planet-waves-fret-polishing-system

 

[youngthrasher9]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

I've been using these fine grit polishing papers from MF. There's a lot of other stuff out there as we'll like the fret erasers from stew mac. A fine scotch brite pad would work also.

https://m.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/planet-waves-fret-polishing-system

Cool, I'll have to try these out next time. It'd be nice to not use so much tape.

 

[metlking]

Re: Did my first fret "polish" today.

I don't bother with neither one of those. All I have ever used is this stuff and it works wonders. http://www.gorgomyte.com

I just got some of that stuff last week. AMAZING!!! I will use it from now on!