How do you polish your frets?

[tiguarist]

Hi: Gorgomyte and https://www.woodbrass.com/polish-et-entretien-musicnomad-frine-fret-polish-pour-frettes-p251729.html

 

[orpheo]

Tape off the board, go along the direction of the fret with grit 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, then a metal polish compound, then another rubbing compound. I'm done within 20 minutes. Taping takes 5 minutes, leveling often 10, then crowning, another 10 to 15. All in all, I'm done with a level job within an hour.

I use a dremel with a felt wheel, and Menzerna 'pink' P126. I'm looking for another compound that will cut more aggressive the first pass, and then a compound for the second pass. I used to use a liquidy gelly kind of gloop but that stuff gets EVERYWHERRREEEEE so I want to phase that stuff out.

 

[GuitarStv]

Do you guys do the actual refretting? Because installing ss much more work than having to polish frets every couple years.

Yep, I've done a few. Fretting with stainless steel is no more difficult than fretting with nickel. It's just stupid that guitars don't all come with SS frets these days.

Necks change over time and need to be releveled anyway.

If the neck is warping over time and you're trying to level the frets to correct this you're doing something wrong. Typically frets need to be levelled because of damage that the strings do to them (little divots). SS frets (being harder) don't need to be levelled as often as nickel silver.

Im not sold on ss unless they come on the guitar.

I have one ss guitar. I just polished the other ones, they look the same now.

Wait a month or two. The SS one will stay smooth and polished, the other frets will tarnish and require polishing again. It's just chemistry.

 

[Top-L]

Tape off the board, go along the direction of the fret with grit 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, then a metal polish compound, then another rubbing compound. I'm done within 20 minutes. Taping takes 5 minutes, leveling often 10, then crowning, another 10 to 15. All in all, I'm done with a level job within an hour.

I use a dremel with a felt wheel, and Menzerna 'pink' P126. I'm looking for another compound that will cut more aggressive the first pass, and then a compound for the second pass. I used to use a liquidy gelly kind of gloop but that stuff gets EVERYWHERRREEEEE so I want to phase that stuff out.

Crowing, 10 to 15 minutes? These must be traditional frets.

Do you use flat files? Or those crowning tools?

 

[Top-L]

If the neck is warping over time and you're trying to level the frets to correct this you're doing something wrong. Typically frets need to be levelled because of damage that the strings do to them (little divots). SS frets (being harder) don't need to be levelled as often as nickel silver.

My guitars need to be leveled because all the shredding, bending and vibrato, wears away the middle and upper frets. Now that I have multiple guitars, the wear is spread around so I don't see the fretwear. When I'm playing just one guitar, this kind of wear shows up in the course of 1-2 years.

I have two 30 year old Ibanez that over time the neck started to deform. One got a ski jump, the other a bit of twist near the headstock. The jumbo frets were tall enough that a level put things back in order. I agree that if they were traditional frets, I would have had to pull them and plane the board. Maybe you would have done that anyway.

Which is why I contend that the benefit of SS over time may be overrated. If you have a guitar that is not played constantly, changes to the neck will still require leveling. If the guitar is not set up to have the lowest possible action, you may not feel the need to do this or have the same subjective experience.

This is the same reason that I don't think PLEK process is all that. I have had a couple guitars plekked, and whatever benefit you get once the guitar is first plekked is lost within the first 6-12 months as the wood changes. Which is probably why factory plekked instruments are sometimes underwhelming to buyers. If the guitar was built and plekked a year ago, the neck will have changed enough that the last 2% benefit you get will be lost.

 

[Securb]

Wait.... You're supposed to Do stuff to the frets? All I've ever done between a string change is spit on the fretboard and rub it with an old T-shirt or something.

Same here. I can count on one hand the times I have polished my frets. If all the strings are off and I am polishing the neck, I will give them a rub but intentionally polish never.