Official Luthiers Forum!

I completed fretting tonight on a bound fingerboard. The lower frets from 14 to 1 are fine but some of the uppers beyond 14 have loos ends. Wondering if I can drop a tiny drop of cyano with the fret ends clamped to fix the problem. Anyone have any experience with this approach?

I have to do this on at probably 60%-70% of all factory made guitars that
come in for a fret dress. Yes, glue, wipe, clamp and dress. I prefer the
lowest viscosity CA glue with a small tip pipette (like the ones StewMac
sells). I also run a bead of glue on both sides of the fret. I know many
would think this redundant, and perhaps in a majority of cases it is. On a
surprisingly large percentage of them though I find that the glue more
readlily wicks in from one side while remaining beaded up at the surface
of the other. It's a tiny bit of extra work to ensure the glue reaches as
much surface as possible.

Run a bead of glue, wipe it off with a paper towel, clamp and let cure for a
minute, repeat. When you are done you will have to clean up the squeeze
out. Many people wipe the board with a bit of wax to keep the glue from
adhering to the board. I do this occasionally, but most of the time I find it
just as quick to clean it up with a chisel and a razor blade. Be sure any
area that could get glue spilled, squeezed or splashed on it is covered,
and any masking tape does not come right up to where glue may be
applied, as it will wick in there too. Don't run the bead right up to the
edge of the fretboard, for risk of glue running over on the the neck or
top. Stopping 3/32"-1/8" in from the edge will still allow a low viscosity
glue to wick in toward the ends of the slot.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Yup.... we all deal with this sort of thing once in a while (or everytime!)

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Yup, had the same problem also, on no 2, was too shy to ask , thanks for asking this question Rich and thanks for the great advices to Hesh and David!

Thanks David, appreciate the detailed direction. I played with it last night and wicked some thin cyano into the very tips of the fret where lifting, just enough to hold down the ends on the two or three that were affected. Only the ends were raised and every so slight but enough that when you filed the edges yoou could hear they were loose and when pressing with the finger you could see them depress ever so slightly.

So I sprayed some acelerator and then wicked in just a drop of cyano on the end and clamped. Seems to be holding now, but after reading your post I am wondering if I need to wick in the entire fret of if it will hold

Think I will wait and see how it works out under play.

Thanks again for your help

Rich,
if the ends are down and stable you are good. loose fret ends "chirp" when you file them (when going up and down the neck to get conformity/shape/eveness along the sides).

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"