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Thread: Shiny, shiny frets

  1. #1
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
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    Shiny, shiny frets

    I've got this friend named Mark Eshenbaugh who builds absolutely gorgeous basses: http://www.eshenbaughguitars.com/

    I was talking to him recently about all the different factors that affect tone. One of the things he mentioned was frets. Dirty, tarnished frets are not conducive to good, clear tone.

    So, I used some of the stuff he recommended: http://www.stewmac.com/cgi-bin/hazel...shing&sku=3518

    I masked off the fretboard with tape and went at the frets. You wouldn't believe the black gunk coming off those things.

    And when I was done and polished them up - the change was remarkable. Those frets SPARKLED!!!

    I got strings back on it this morning and played for a few minutes before going to work. Maybe it's all in my head but everything just seemed a shade smoother. The neck felt faster and the sound was clearer.
    Last edited by curtisstetka; 07-30-2003 at 06:13 AM.

  2. #2
    Forum Member LightninBoy's Avatar
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    I've never attributed that tone to the frets as much as to the new strings, but who knows. I do love the feel of nicely polished frets and have gotten to where I steel wool them about once every 3 months or so. Bends are much smoother after a nice polish. Does that Extreme polish come in little pads, like acne pads or something? If so, how many come in the case, and how long to they last? I've never had a problem with the steel wool, but it does tend to get a little messy...

    Last edited by LightninBoy; 07-30-2003 at 06:48 AM.
    "The lord will take two things so much alike that he would not mind choosing from them blindfold - and then for a great jest he will allow the slaves to choose."

  3. #3
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
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    It would be nice if it came as little individual zit pads. But no. It comes as one big honking wad of cottony stuff utterly saturated with this powdery yet moist pink gunk.

    You need to rip off a little piece of it to work with. I'd imagine that if you use it every 6 months or so on the frets you still got at least a decade's worth of gunk.

    This stuff was about a 5 on a 1-10 messy scale. It generates a lot of black ooze. I found out quickly that the best thing to do was mask off the entire fretboard and then go to it with the cotton stuff. Then, some paper towels to mop up the ooze. Then a cotton cloth to really polish it. I'm telling you, my frets went from gray to shining silver! They glow in the dark!

    Like I said, perhaps it's all in my head. Either way, that neck felt a wee bit better to me.

    I'd consider steel wool about an 8 on that same scale. Having to deal with those tiny pieces of metal all over the place is a PITA. Especially if they get onto the pickups.

    Would the steel wool tend to remove a wee bit of fret at the same time it's removing gunk?

  4. #4
    Forum Member LightninBoy's Avatar
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    I would think so - BTW, I always remove the neck from the body prior to doing this on my bolt-ons - learned this the hard way after finding those little shavings all over my pickups. I might have to try this stuff out...
    "The lord will take two things so much alike that he would not mind choosing from them blindfold - and then for a great jest he will allow the slaves to choose."

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