Mitch Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 Can I dress frets with steel wool? I've seen it done on youtube but I dont know if he was polishing them or actually dressing them. I've been told by Roger (who owns fylde guitars, look it up on google for some inspirational acoustic guitars) that you can use sand paper if you do each fret exactly the same and be very careful. Thanks in advance. Quote
westhemann Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 I dress them with a dremel.... Quote
Bmth Builder Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 Well dressing is generally making the frets playable, like leveling and re crowning which cant be done with steel wool, but polishing can be done with steel wool. Quote
DC Ross Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 Just to clarify, polishing can be done with very fine 0000 steel wool; not the detergent-impregnated SOS pads Quote
Rick500 Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 Remember to cover your pickups with masking tape before using steel wool near them, or they'll pick up all those bits of steel wool that come off, and it's next to impossible to remove it all. Quote
Mitch Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Posted January 17, 2009 Remember to cover your pickups with masking tape before using steel wool near them, or they'll pick up all those bits of steel wool that come off, and it's next to impossible to remove it all. What about using blu-tac or modeling clay or does that not get it all?. Quote
Rick500 Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 Never thought of that. I don't see why it wouldn't work. Better to prevent the problem, of course, but yeah, that would probably work. Quote
westhemann Posted January 18, 2009 Report Posted January 18, 2009 I thought dressing was just getting them all polished and slick....anyway...that is what I do with a dremel... Quote
Mitch Posted January 18, 2009 Author Report Posted January 18, 2009 I was thinking about crowning. I assumed re-crowning and dressing are the same thing. Never mind. Quote
westhemann Posted January 18, 2009 Report Posted January 18, 2009 Yo can buy crowning tools at stewmac or lmii... Or you can use triangle files...but they require more finesse.. Quote
hotgoalie11565 Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 Yo can buy crowning tools at stewmac or lmii... Or you can use triangle files...but they require more finesse.. Yes you can. But I would strongly recommend rounding off the edges of the triangular files so you lessen chances of gouging the fretboard. If you do that and tape between the frets you should be OK. I'd even do a couple of layers of something like masking tape. I've even used duct tape because it's more durable and has a lesser chance of gouging the fretboard. But after you level and crown, I would go over them with sandpaper, the 0000 steel wool as DC Ross mentioned. As a final step I go over them with silver polish. Quote
boundsteelblues Posted January 26, 2009 Report Posted January 26, 2009 I shape, crown, 320 grit over a rubber eraser and use 0000 to polish. Quote
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