Thread: fret cleaning

When cleaning up frets after a fret job I use the dinky little tool made by Stewmac. Its a sanding stick with a loop of very fine wet and dry stretched over it. The stick has a grooved end so it fits over the fret and when paper gets worn you just move the loop of paper around a bit. See Stewmacs website for pic of the tool.

Steelwool should be ok, just dont go attacking your frets with Brasso..it's quite corrosive.

I use a polishing wheel on my dremel. Dremels buffing compound is pretty good stuff to use with these wheels. Mask off the fretboard and go at it. Frets come up like glass.

Originally Posted by Chopstick

Not a building question more a maintenance one.

Just curious having played guitar for almost 20 years, one thing I normally do when changing string is to polish the frets with still wool and oil the frets themselves. I usually just use 0000 steel wool with some plastic over the wooden area so as not to scratch them, but I wondered if anyone else has any guitar cleaning/ maintenance tips they might like to share.

I pretty much do what you describe ...I've never oiled the actual frets though......and if its a rosewood or ebony fingerboard i also use lemon oil on the fingerboard....but i never put anything on a fingerboard with a finish on it like a maple neck...just elbow grease