rough frets

baritone

baritone

New member
I just bought a cheap Strat copy from RondoMusic - mostly as an art project. It's made in China, and all of the fret wires have really rough surfaces. How easy is it to smooth 'em out myself, having never messed around with fretwork before?
 
Do you want to level them or polish them?

Polishing them is not hard. Just kinda tiring if you're not used to it. But you can very well use a dremmel and some polishing compound.
 
Most frets are filed or sanded for leveling depending on fret material and wear. I polish them out with 3 grits of sandpaper - 220, 660, 900 - progressively. Tape off the fingerboard first, of course. Polish the whole fret, not just the tops. Do NOT use steel wool. Leave it to the cabinet makers.
Or take it to an experienced and competent luthier. Do NOT take it to Guitar Center (or as I refer to it - The Ninth Circle of Hell). Good luck.
 
Yah, fine sandpaper or a Dremel with a felt polishing wheel.
Fret erasers with abrasive embedded in the rubber are available also.
They're handy; might not be worth buying just for a cheapo art project guitar though.
 
Polishing the frets is pretty easy, just boring. I really like Stew-Mac's fret dressing sticks for doing this, but I've heard lots of good things about fret erasers too. You just give every fret a rub over and then move on to the next grit. If you're careful you can get away without taping off the fretboard, but I'd recommend doing so.
 
Thanks fof the reply, guys. Just needed the confidence to attempt without fear of destroying the guitar.
 
It's easy. Just tape off and protect the neck and guitar to the extent you want. Then fine sand the frets. 400 and below will cut into the fret if you need to remove deeper scratches. 600 and above won't cut very much and will only polish. I'd recommend 600 or 800 if you only want to smoothen them up.
 
This is an excellent opportunity to learn polishing with little risk. I agree on the sandpaper, or you can do fret erasers or micromesh. For practice you can take them up to 2000 then use metal polish, they will be mirrorlike.
 
Also if you’re sanding or using steel wool, remember to tape over your pickups!


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If you're not leveling (and most Rondo guitars I've had didn't need that, they just had 'as filed' frets) I second the micromesh. Tape the board and you can be done in ten minutes.

Larry
 
1neeto said:
https://www.ghsstrings.com/products/...cants-cleaners

Straight up the best thing I’ve tried for fret conditioning/polishing. Best thing is you don’t need to tape the fretboard because it’s also made to condition the fretboard. I’ve used this on guitars that were tossed away in closets and developed heavily oxidized frets to a highly shiny and smooth finish.


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Click to expand...

There's a generic version of Gorgomyte called Miracle Cloth available on Amazon.
I discovered it when Gorgomyte disappeared for a while after Jimmy Johnson passed away.
 
eclecticsynergy said:
There's a generic version of Gorgomyte called Miracle Cloth available on Amazon.
I discovered it when Gorgomyte disappeared for a while after Jimmy Johnson passed away.
Click to expand...

Oh thanks! It’s been a while since I bought and I’m down to a few strips. Bought this about 3 years ago.


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Just don't do more than necessary to get the shine you want...you could reduce the fret enough to need a levelling job.
 
Unless I need to remove a lot of material, it's hard to beat the Miracle Cloth for a quick polish and shine on tarnished frets.

I do tend to mask off the fretboard, though...It may have oils that allegedly "condition", but it also results in a lot of oxidation buildup that you don't want to rub into your fretboard.
 
Oh and if you use that music nomad fret polish, make sure you tape your fretboard. Even though it comes with fret guards, the polish usually goes past and gets into the rosewood grain. And it stays there.


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