Fret Problem

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scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Fret Problem

Post by scamp »

Installed the frets and I have a problem.
One of the frets will not seat on one of the ends.
You can push it down but it just pops back up.
Seems like the only solution is to glue it down.
I was thinking of clamping it down and putting a few drops of CA glue on the end.
Is this the right thing to do and if not what options do I have?

Scamp
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Kevin Sjostrand
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Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:06 pm
Location: Visalia, CA

Re: Fret Problem

Post by Kevin Sjostrand »

Yes you can clamp it and weep a wee bit of CA on the end. Go easy so you don't have too much cleanup to do. Let it dry or use accelerator and then when you sand the fretboard edge flush all will be good. Use a razor blade to scrape any CA that travels down along fret. Easy peasy. Go easy on the CA and you will very little to scrape.

Kevin
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: Fret Problem

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Sure. Just use a drop of thin ca glue on the end and clamp. A spring clamp will do it.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
jread
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Re: Fret Problem

Post by jread »

When this happens to me, I find it more effective to pull the fret and tap in a freshly bent one. You can see the end of your fret is bent off angle a tiny bit. Glue will hold it down as is but I've found that it a nicely radiused new one will sit in there more easily. I waste a little wire this way of course.
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: Fret Problem

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

jread wrote: Wed May 25, 2022 6:33 am When this happens to me, I find it more effective to pull the fret and tap in a freshly bent one. You can see the end of your fret is bent off angle a tiny bit. Glue will hold it down as is but I've found that it a nicely radiused new one will sit in there more easily. I waste a little wire this way of course.
John is totally right. A fret that's bent a tad tighter than the fretboard radius, will encourage those corners to stay down.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
tippie53
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Re: Fret Problem

Post by tippie53 »

I can see damage , you may be hitting too hard
I never fret off the neck for this very reason , as you put in frets the fretboard starts to back bow, then it bounces you don't get a clean hit and the fret twists causing this grain crush
Yes CA will get you out of this but tap don't beat.
If you do fret off the neck use a small piece of wood as a backer say about 1/2 inch wide so the back bow goes out of the equation.
also add water to the fret slot to help the fret seat, this softens the end grain and also swells it so the barbs can grap as they set into the slot
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Re: Fret Problem

Post by scamp »

Thanks again for the help everyone.

Used some CA glue to tie down the fret ( and a few others that were just a bit loose on the ends ) and it worked well.
My problem was I was trying to get the frets seated so there was no rocking across 3 frets( using a fret leveler).
Probably was hitting the high one too hard.
Learned my lesson the hard way ( which seems to be how you learn a lot about guitar making).

I actually built a back up board for the frets not over the neck and this worked very well.
This isn't where I had the problem.
The problem frets were over the neck.
I was using a bag of rice as a back up for the neck and it worked OK but not great.
Again, my problem was knowing how much force to use with the dead blow hammer.

Also had a few places with chip out damage due to my heavy handed approach.
Used sanded down fret board dust and CA to patch.
Amazing how well this works but scraping it down and sanding it down can take some time.

Seems like I dodged another bullet and can move on.
Yet again, it's not a mistake if you can fix it.

Regards
Scamp
tippie53
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Re: Fret Problem

Post by tippie53 »

you learn alot on these little boo boos
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
JLT
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Location: Sacramento, CA USA

Re: Fret Problem

Post by JLT »

The only problem I see with the CA glue approach is that when the time comes to re-fret, that fret may come out kicking and screaming. Me, I just do what John does... install another fret with just a wee bit more radius in the bend.
tippie53
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Re: Fret Problem

Post by tippie53 »

when you pull frets you need to heat them I use a soldering iron the heat will release the CA
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
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