Pulling frets from a 30 year old neck.

xntrick

Newbie
Messages
19
I got the urge to see if I can put jumbo frets in this old neck. If that goes well I may be tempted to scallop the higher frets, 12 to 21.

Does heating the frets with a soldering gun make the job easier?

Any other tips or suggestions I should be aware of, thanks in advance.
 

Attachments

  • 20221021_010051.jpg
    20221021_010051.jpg
    945 KB · Views: 13
Yes, heating the frets with a soldering iron makes removing frets much easier.

If you plan to scallop the spaces between the higher frets, it may be an idea to do so prior to removing the existing frets, which you can use as guidelines. If you mark the old frets whilst scalloping, it will be less of a problem than marking the new ones. Of course, something to take into account will be if the new frets are wider to leave room to seat the new frets.

An alternate would be to remove the frets and make sure you know how much width you need for the new frets and then use some protection either side of the space you intend to scallop, with some thin metal and masking tape for example and do the scallops then install the new frets.

I suppose if you have some scrap wood, you could cut some fret slots and practice some scalloping with or without frets installed.

There are lots of other tips etc, related to fretting too long for this post.
 
You want pre-radiused frets a hair more curved than the fretboard. First thing I would suggest is a decent fret puller, a knockoff will work, Stewmac is as usual overpriced. Amazon has them for $16. Should help you minimize chipping. Go slow starting from one side. Save your chips and find some spare rosewood you can turn into dust to patch chips if needed.

Heating the frets isn't strictly necessary unless the frets are glued-in. If that guitar isn't of any particular value in a vintage state I would consider clean radiusing the fretboard before a refret, which could require some slotting (certainly the empty slots need clean out).

You can install any frets you want but you need to measure the tangs as your replacement frets may not be the same size as those you are replacing. If larger you will probably need to file them out. If smaller that could be an issue, but check with caliper first.

Hopefully this isn't too late to help but it's not a hard job, but one you want to do right the first time for sure.
 
In case you're doing stainless frets, I've read that they should not be curved more than the fretboard. I've done a couple necks with stainless and carefully ran them through my slip roll until they just matched the curve, and they've stayed in place nicely.
 
To Jim's point be aware that some places will over-radius frets already when they set pre-cut too
 
and clean your fretwire first it's filthy
The stainless I got from Jescar was not dirty. It needed a polish to smooth it up though. Maybe I'll polish it first next time. It might still need a touch up at the end, but it would sure be easy to run it down the buffing wheel and do most of the work while it's one big piece all by itself.
 
Back
Top