Fret Repair Problems
Source:Fret Repair
Fret Problems:
Nearly every repair operation on the guitar can have its share of problems and challenges. The same holds true for frets, and quite possibly, since there is a direct interaction between the guitar player and the frets on his fretboard, there are even more concerns and problems associated with frets. Let’s talk a bit about some of the conditions you may see with frets and what the possible solutions or remedies may be:
Wrong Sized Fret Wire Used:
This is often a inferior fret repair issue. If the repairman or guitarist doing the repair work did not have the correct fret wire on hand, and just used what was available, the result is multi-sized frets. This can cause buzzing at the low fret or completely unplayable guitar.
Remedy: About the only thing to do is to remove the fret and replace it with a fret of the prober gage. Check out these articles:
How to Remove Frets:
How to Replace a Fret:
Frets Are Popping Out of the Fretboard:
If you see one or more frets that seem to stick up or out, or an end is lifted, or worse yet the frets are crooked or miss-aligned, the problem can be that this is again, a poor repair job and the fret tang gage that was used for the new fret installation was too small and the new frets are not able to “grab” and wood fibers in the fret channels. Another problem can be that the fret channels were enlarged after removing the frets.
Remedy:Remove the loose frets. This may mean a completely new fret job and you will had to do one of the following:
Replace with frets with larger tangs.
Completely rout out the fret channels and epoxy the new frets in place.
If the looseness is only with a few frets, you can just remove the culprits and glue them in place.
If there is simply one fret that has an end sticking up you can try to use superglue. Purchase the superglue for wood and make sure you get the thick variety. Just work a little under the fret on both ends and hold down with a small clamp or some duct tape. Cleanup after it is dry and it should last.
Check out these articles:
How to Remove Frets:
How to Replace a Fret:
New Fret Job – Gluing the Frets:
Splinters of Wood Missing at Frets:
This is the sign of a careless fret replacement. The repairman did not take the time or really even care about re-gluing loose splinters of wood after carelessly removing the frets. This is strictly a time related issue. It takes some extra time to properly remove frets and replace wood that is inadvertently pulled loose.
Remedy: Remove all the frets from the fret board. Sand down and level the entire fretboard with a Fingerboard Leveling Tool, until the fretboard is once again smooth and free of missing splinters. Depending on the severity, this can be about .5 mm. If the missing splinters are too deep, sand the fretboard, capture the wood dust and place it in a cup.
Mix some 2-part epoxy with the dust and fill in the damaged areas. After the fretboard is dried, sand it smooth and put a coat of stain on it if necessary to blend the patches with the original wood.
Clean out the fret channels and properly gage the channels and size for the new frets.
Check out these articles:
How to Remove Frets:
New Fret Job – Unbound Fingerboards:
New Fret Job – Bound Fingerboards:
New Fret Job – Gluing the Frets:
Fret Tangs Are Cut Through Fretboard Binding Material:
Yes this does happen. This is a result of either complete laziness, lack of knowledge or someone who just plain does not care. A re-fret job on a fretboard that is bound with either wood or plastic does take a lot more time than the unbound fretboard. But to cut through the binding with a saw takes the cake, in my estimation.
Remedy:I feel the only remedy for this one is to reverse the damage. First, you will need to remove the binding from the fretboard and replace it with a matching material. Next you will need to remove all of the frets and toss them. Third, follow the directions in our article New Fret Job – Bound Fingerboard. The last step will likely be to refinish the entire neck because removal of the fretboard binding will destroy the neck finish.
Rough Frets:
This can be anything from sharp end sticking out to frets that were not finished properly. We have an entire article dedicated to fixing rough frets. It is Repair of Rough Frets.
A side note on this one. Usually the culprit is lack of humidity in the wintertime. The guitar has been exposed to an extreme low humidity condition. This causes the neck and fretboard to shrink and the metal frets to protrude out the side of the fretboard. The reason for this is the differential expansion rate or cooefficient of expansion between wood and metal.
Tags: fret job, fret problems, Fret Repair, how do a fret job, how to repair frets, re-fretting a guitar
