Fret polishing chore

[old_picker]

Doing the final fret dress, crown and polish on the hawk jnr.
Man the polishing is taking some time. 600 1200 1500 W&D paper then final polish with #0000 steel wool. I am using them s/steel fret polishing thingies from stewmac which make it pretty much a no brainer.

Anyone out there got a quicker way of doing it?? maybe some kind of dremel bit??

Sitting in the A/cond office with blues net radio blasting and wishing I could get through this last bit a lil quicker.

Giving it a run at rehearsal next tuesday.....

[zenobia]

Hey, I have used my dremel with a small buffer wheel and some metal polish on frets and they came up great. The wheel took the shape of the frets pretty quickly and you could get right into the corners. Just have to be careful not to hit the binding. The little buffer came with the kit.
Dom

[Jackspira]

I use the Dremel with the little buffing wheel too Ray, just like Dom says.
I find I still have to sand up to 2000 grit to get them really shiney, but with a bit of lemon or eucalyptus oil to lube the wet and dry, it cuts pretty fast
Jack

[rhoads56]

After crowning, use 800 grit (go lightly with this one), 1500 and then 200 grit (running the length of the neck, not the direction of the fret). These three stages will take no more than three minutes. Then use a foam pad on a buffer, and maybe 45 seconds later its done.

Avoid steel wool, the microscope scratches it leaves promote corrosion as there store sweat. Miss out the 800/1200/1500 and go straight to 2000 if you havent recrowned. Use normal LIGHT cutting compound, you dont need to worry about special metal polishes.

[JupiterCreek]

Stewmac sell a foam backed abrasive product called Micro-Mesh. It's about US$8 for 7 2" square pieces. If you go to a Crash Supplies type business you'll see the same stuff in 150mm x 100mm sheets ranging from coarse through to Microfine. I buy the Fine, Superfine, Microfine and Microfine.

After fretting and levelling I recrown (if necessary), round the corners of the fret ends with a contact points file to get rid of the little burr (it's a little millsaw file with one safe edge that cost about $2 at Supercheap, Autobarn, etc.), then starting with the Fine grade sheet just lightly sand all over the frets and fret ends. Use each grade progressively. Then if you feel the need to really get your frets looking like Grannies best silver on Christmas Day mask up the fretboard and use Brasso on a piece of old soft towel.

I've found since I started doing fretwork that the better you prepare your fingerboard and the more consistent you are with seating the frets the less work you have to do later.

[kiwigeo]

Hey, I have used my dremel with a small buffer wheel and some metal polish on frets and they came up great.

Carweful using metal polish..some of the stuff is quite corrosive.

Me, I get a good polish up with steel wool. It takes a bit of elbow grease but its worth the effort.

[Shedhand]

The best shine you will ever get is to finish off with brasso on a piece of cardboard (such as that found on the back of a writing pad. You dont have to put the brasso on the fret. just put it on the cardboard, let it dry then rub the fret until it shimmers.:wink: