Re: sanding frets

"vader" <angelorun_1980@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dk36nu$ice$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi, I had string marks in the frets so I decided to sand them a little
> bit,
> instead of changing them (too expensive)
>
> I used a 220 grit (specially for metal, FE)
>
> everything worked fine, but now the frets are... like if they had sand
> over
> them, if you bend a string, it's not smooth...
>
> 220 metal grit was the smoothest grit I could find, there was also 400 but
> they were water sand paper.
> so I don't know what I could try.
> I don't like to try too many things, the guitar is a gibson special and I
> already tried too many experiments.
>
> thanks!

Three things:
1) You most likely sanded along the length of the fingerboard.
2) You didn't go nearly high enough with sandpaper grits.
3) You can use wet-sand paper dry.

You can sand along the length of the fingerboard briefly, to simply round
off the effects of a recrown, but that's all. All of the rest of the
sanding needs to go *across* the fingerboard, or you'll wind up with the
effect you describe.

Tape up the fingerboard so that only the frets themselves are exposed.
Also tape over the pickups and cover the rest of the guitar as you'll be
producing gritty dust.

Sand across the fretboard on each fret, using increasingly high grit-paper.
Yes, you'll be using wet-sand paper, but you'll be using it *dry*. 400
isn't high enough, you need to get to at least 600 and preferably 1200 grit.
Finish with 0000-grade steel wool, and when you get there, you'll be glad
you taped over the pickups.

Tear off smallish squares of sandpaper and use your thumbnail to get right
along the side of the fret. They will start to polish up quickly. You
want to sand as little as possible - remove as little fret as possible.
Properly done, you'll get a mirror-gloss and the strings will slide with no
friction across the strings.

When you are done, put more tape over the tape you put over the pickups
before you remove it. This will keep the steel wool lint from falling off
the tape and sticking to the pickups. Dust the guitar with a soft brush
and clean up thoroughly. Wash your hands before handling the guitar -
your fingers will be very dirty and gritty from the paper.

HTH
-pk






.

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