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Post subject: Fret end cleanup
Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 6:28 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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So...

The frets on the Fender MIM neck I bought could use some cleanup. They are mostly fine but the tang kind of sticks out just enough to be irritating. Is there a straight forward way to deal with this that doesn't hose the finish? Or is this 42 tiny jobs using tiny files?

My Fender USA replacement neck doesn't suffer from this.


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Post subject: Re: Fret end cleanup
Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:05 pm
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DarkPenguin wrote:
...Or is this 42 tiny jobs using tiny files?...


That's the way I do it. Tape off the areas of the neck around the fret edges, painters tape works well, then with a small fine file, carefully dress the ends of each fret, stopping when the file hits the tape. This problem of fret sprout seems to occur most frequently on MIM guitars, and I've never had the problem with a MIA guitar.

Before:
Image

After:
Image

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Post subject: Re: Fret end cleanup
Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:20 pm
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I was afraid of that. Thank you for the lovely illustration. I guess I'll just buy some new files and do a couple frets at a time.


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Post subject: Re: Fret end cleanup
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:16 am
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Not had this problem on either of my MIM Strats and I wounder if it has to do with either the year they were made or the environmental conditions. I guess they could have used not quite seasoned wood as that would explain it.

I will note that the finishing off of the frets on my MIA standard is very very good.

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Post subject: Re: Fret end cleanup
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 3:10 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Yeah, frets tangs sticking out on the sides is obnoxious. If that's going on it's prob safe to say that the guitar would benefit from a complete fret dressing and setup.
If this is something you're not comfortable doing yourself bring it to a good guitar tech. You'll be happy that you did.
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Post subject: Re: Fret end cleanup
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 2:21 pm
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I had this problem myself. I solved it completely by using a guitar humidifier in the case. soft cases (gig bags) do not hold moisture well, so a hard case is recommended.

I used a homemade system that it basically a dampit knockoff and within two weeks the fret sprout was totally gone.


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Post subject: Re: Fret end cleanup
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:58 pm
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I just paid someone who knows what they are doing to deal with it.


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