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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:09 am
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Once, I took out my dad's old guitar in the basement. The guitar is nearly 30 years old.

I'm sitting here thinking,, ok, WHAT was this relic you pulled out of the basement anyway.

we love a good mystery!

C'mon,, tell us more...


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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:38 am
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stygionyx wrote:
My wife pointed out the risk of tetanus infection. After some googling, I found some guy getting his foot amputated due to tetanus after he step on a corroded nail. I concluded that losing my fingers would affect my playability in a very significant way. Now, all my guitars have shiny and rust free frets.


I'm sure some folks won't believe this, but I do as a general rule try to refrain from allowing my posts from getting too inflammatory. In this case however...seriously...dude...whatever you (or your wife) is smoking there, it's making you a bit too paranoid for your own good.

In all honesty, I bang up my knuckles more during an average car tune up than I have in all 30 years of my playing experience combined...including the time I was drunk, tripped over my guitar cable and fell off stage! Even if I didn't get regular tetanus shots (my last was 2 years ago over bites and scratches while rescuing a cat), I truly suspect there's a better chance of stepping off a curb and getting hit by a passing bus than there is of getting tetanus from your frets. For that matter, you probably have a far greater chance of electrocuting yourself from an amp with a bad ground...I once saw a guy thrown over a couch because 2 old tube amps discharged on his lips thru a microphone.

On a 30 year old guitar...yea...I'd probably clean that up a bit, just because it could probably use a good cleaning. As arthl said though, as far as tetanus goes - "your dad's guitar would likely be less of a risk than most of the things you touch throughout the day". If you...or your wife...is really THAT concerned, you'd probably be better off just running to the doctor and getting a tetanus shot.


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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:47 am
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lomitus wrote:
I'm sure some folks won't believe this, but I do as a general rule try to refrain from allowing my posts from getting too inflammatory. In this case however...seriously...dude...whatever you (or your wife) is smoking there, it's making you a bit too paranoid for your own good.

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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 8:12 pm
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It happened back in the days when I still genuinely believed that "everything on the internet is true" (I admit that I'm not very bright back then :lol:). Regardless, that's a nice info about tetanus. When changing something which is heavily corroded, I tend to use a hand glove. Just to be safe and prevent myself from getting a shot later on (or maybe I'm indeed too much paranoid).

About the old guitar. It's nothing fancy. It's a custom made with les paul model. Don't know what kind of wood it has. The guitar itself is heavy and gives warm tone in my ears. The neck was badly warped. I brought it to a luthier for 3 weeks. After it was fixed, it surprisingly becomes my all time favorite neck. After changing all the hardware and put some good humbucker PUs, the guitar is gold. As gold as a real Gibson LP gold top (hopefully).

OK. back in topic, I have done some polishing before. My preferred method is using 1000 grit sandpaper. It works well to bring the shine. Is there really any danger using abrasive type polisher like this? Someone told me that there's a risk that I may lower the frets if I'm doing it too rough. If I press them too hard to the frets when polishing, it may lower the frets? But if I don't get rough, the abrasive won't knock down some persistent dirts.


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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 11:58 pm
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Yes, you do remove a layer off the fret tops every time you use that sandpaper - a very thin layer at a time, but it does shorten the life span of the frets.
On the plus side, doing this at regular intervals also helps take care of dings and grooves on the frets, keeps them level etc.

On dirt removal only, there are better methods - from old school Zippo fluid to hi-tech/top-brand guitar cleaners, and everything in between.

Sandpaper isn't about pressing hard, it's about the movement.


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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:29 am
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old school Zippo fluid -> naphtha

8)

used by many pros for cleanups. Read up on it tho. you might need to buff/polish certain finishes after using this afaik? I think on Nitro it will leave a haze.


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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 12:21 pm
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"Naphta" can be just about any flammable hydrocarbon mixture.
Zippo fluid is just one of those - and it's been used for cleaning guitars probably since it was introduced.
It may dull a rosewood fretboard (cleaning off all oils from the surface), but I've never had problems with nitro, poly or PU.


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Post subject: Re: Polishing Frets. How did you do it?
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 12:37 am
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Sorry, back offtopic again ;)

stygionyx wrote:
When changing something which is heavily corroded, I tend to use a hand glove. Just to be safe and prevent myself from getting a shot later on (or maybe I'm indeed too much paranoid).

Rust and corrosion have nothing to do with tetanus - it's just that conditions where metal is likely to corrode are also conditions the tetanus bacterium likes. So a) to be consistent you should also use gloves whenever handling something that is dirty and b) something corroding in an otherwise clean cellar won't give you tetanus.
The rusty nail in your story was not just corroded, but lay around on the ground and got infested with bacteria.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetanus


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