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Re-seating frets
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Author:  blakkwater [ Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re-seating frets
Hello! newbie to the forum here!

One of my friends asked me to take a look at his 7 string Shecter.

The saddles of his Floyd Rose special had some really really bad burrs in them and somehow they broke 5 of the 7 strings at once when he was doing a little flutter. He uses a set of 13-56 in D standard tuning with a 65 as the low A

As a result of that massive release of tension from 5 strings breaking at once, frets 2-6 or thereabouts kinda came unseated from the fretslots, on the treble side.

I tried clamping them down to no avail, then I finally heated them up with an iron, and hammered them back in. That worked pretty much, except for frets 2, 3 and 4, which are still lifting out at the very edge on the treble side.

The fret tang doesn't extend all the way to the edge of the fretboard, it's been undercut, which I assume is why it's being so difficult.

Anyone have any ideas how I can get that last little bit right down to the fretboard?
Author:  Chameleon [ Sun Jul 22, 2012 2:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re-seating frets
Well, you could re-fret it. Sounds like it was poorly done in the first place and would be a major improvement.
Author:  Chris Pile [ Sun Jul 22, 2012 2:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re-seating frets
Before refretting the whole neck, you might try gluing the fret ends down with the tiniest drop of CA - clamp the fret down, and then wick some water thin CA in. If you do it right, you won't even need to do much cleanup of the fretboard.
Good luck!
Author:  Chameleon [ Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re-seating frets
^He's the expert, I'd try that first.
Author:  Chris Pile [ Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re-seating frets
Quote:
^He's the expert, I'd try that first.


I wouldn't go that far.... but I've done it a lot.
Author:  cphanna [ Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re-seating frets
I've done the CA thing on a few fret ends of my own guitar. Push the fret end down with a screwdriver on top of the fret. If it goes down, you're in business. Release the pressure. Put a drop of CA on the end of the tang, and press down for about a minute. Move on to the next high fret and repeat the process. Use thin, watery CA for this purpose (you are probably aware that it comes in a range of viscosities). Be careful not to glue your screw driver to the top of the fret. A drop on the TANG is all you need, and you will see it wick in immediately. You'd better be ready to push down immediately when you see that happen, because you only have a few seconds to press the fret home.

Then, of course, see if you can fix the problem that caused all those strings to break all at once. Maybe it is, indeed, the saddles, but I'm guessing your friend was giving it much more than a "little flutter." But I could be wrong and I'm not here to judge your friend. I'm just sayin'.........
Author:  blakkwater [ Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re-seating frets
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll have a go at the CA glue.

As for the saddles, yeah, they were really torn up. After closely inspecting the string grooves, I noticed that most of them had been worn down pretty much to the point where the string locking inserts were having little to no effect on the strings. I replaced them with Original Floyd Rose saddles. It's amazing how soft the alloy is on the Floyd Rose Special saddles.
Author:  Shaw [ Sat Jul 28, 2012 7:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re-seating frets
Use a paste wax on the fretboard besides the actual frets before wicking in thin CA. The paste wax will prevent the ca from sticking where you don't want it making for less work.
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