Glue In Frets Or Not? What Do You Do?

[sbskates]

SO who out there just presses their frets in. and who uses glue? and why or why not?

do you use titebond? or super glue or hide glue? what works best when frets need removed?

[guitar_player]

SO who out there just presses their frets in. and who uses glue? and why or why not?

do you use titebond? or super glue or hide glue? what works best when frets need removed?

I just press them in with a jig I made for my drill press I see no reason to change it since it works perfectly. Hammering in the frets left a lot to be desired.

[low end fuzz]

I looooove, to hammer in my frets!

i have a 2 sided rubber hammer one side is as hard as hard rubber gets; and the other side has a litle more bounce;

i use the hard side cause i can just smash those frets in and they wont be flattened or dented like my old brass hammer;

but this is a thread about glue so......... before i flush cut the ends i put a drip of super thin (hot stuff (lee valley)) down the tang on each side while the neck is turned on its side; and you can see the wood surrounding the fret absorbing it (easily scraped off w/ a razor btw)

and removing the frets are as easy as any other fret ive ever removed;

i always hit my freets w/ the soldering iron before i pull tho; not even when theyre hot ;i hold the tip to them for 4-5 secs.

and move on to the next until they all got some, then i start pulling; the theory behind it is the metal epanding just enough to break the sealed form its been in its entire existance.

[westhemann]

I just press mine in...I save my glue for my paste-eating episodes...

[VesQ]

I´ve always wondered how those guys who glue frets in, manage to keep fretboard out of glue.

Try to imagine fretted fingerboard sanded with high grit sandpaper and some glue stains between the frets.

[low end fuzz]

is that a question; if so, sanding your board to like 220 before fretting; hamerr/glue in frets ,wipe as much excess as possible; dry scrape w/ razor and sand back frmo 180 to infinite.

thats how i did it with titebond; because thats how i was taught; also taught with a brass hammer; oh things change when your cut loose!

[foil1more]

I pressed mine in with a vise and radius block. I only had to glue the ends of a few frets. The ends didn't want to bite into the wood.

[jaycee]

I run a bead of superglue on the tang, press them into the slot, put a radiused caulmade from mdf over the fret and knock that with a pin hammer, tap the end of the fret once and put a spring clamp on the fret for 15 min.

[Woodenspoke]

On new work I never glue unless I have to. Using glue on a new board for me comes from hammering frets rather than pressing. I like instant glue because it sets up fast.

On a repair you probably will need to apply some glue. Hide glue of course is harder to mix up but easy to clean. Instant glue is easy to use but requires you cover the fingerboard with some wax along both sides of the fret so you don't smear glue on the fret board. People use instant glue all the time to fix chips or fill a small ding or missing chip on the fret board. That never ruins the board, but you are not usually doing this with the frets in. It will not show up as a glue spot later on, the kind you get if you were to stain over titebond smears.

[Kenny]

i usually like to put a little superglue in the slots just to keep it from creeping over time

just a drop in the middle, and 1 on each end. they remove just fine, same as you would any other frets

[ihocky2]

I only press them in with a over-bent radius, sometimes with the ends bent even a little harder to keep them down. I like to cut the tangs back a little even when I don't bind a neck. If the end without tang just does not want to stay down, then I'll wick in a slight amount of super glue, but I try to avoid glue as much as I can.

[Jaden]

ive tried tonnes of ways but my fave way is to inject the glue using a syringe into the slot.

the glue is a 50/50 titebond mix and I hammer to locate before pressing in.

gives the most consistent fret jobs ive found so far..

[Claptonfreak]

i never glue in my frets if I can help it. A little trick I use is to place some overbend on the frets, so if i'm fretting a 12" radius, I might bend the frets to an 11 or 10. Then when I press them in (I use stew mac's fret press caul) the teeth change directions when they go in. This way the tang barbs aren't trying to pop out the same way they came in, and this holds the frets in quite snuggly.

[soapbarstrat]

I use adhesive scraped off old postage stamps and carefully brush it onto the fret-slot walls with a hair I plucked from my eye brows.

[westhemann]

Soap...you are supposed to keep some trade secrets for yourself.....

[Woodenspoke]

Soaps not kidding

[Eljaroli]

Got a problem with loose frets at the moment.

The neck on my kit is giving a lot of fret buzz, with a couple of high frets at 8th & 16th.

A workmate asked if I could slide a pielce of paper between the frets & fretboard, so when I went home and looked I was shocked at how many were high.

I'm guessing that this neck was made on a friday arvo. The worker's mates are heading off for after work drinks and he doesn't want to be left behind...

Anyway, i've got most of them down, but there's still a high edge at the 8th fret, i'm trying to bang it down, but I'm wary of hitting too hard...

Trying hard to research threads rather than start new ones for stupid questions with obvious answers.

[SwedishLuthier]

For your issue i would recommend using thin super glue and a press. Half a drop of super glue at the fret end, press it down, wipe away excess glue with a acetone rag, let set. Any glue dribble can be carefully scrape away with a sharp razor blade. All of this should of cause in a perfect word be tested on scrap as it takes a bit of skill to do it... All necessary precautions apply etc...

[Eljaroli]

Thanks mate.

First guitar and bugger all tools... Hmm, got a clamp I can use. I'll think of something.

I was hoping to avoid the glue, but it looks like the best bet.

[Prostheta]

!!ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT!!

....however seriously; this is a subject that should always be broached by new builders.

Glueing in frets should only be necessary if the normal function of a fretwire's tang retention is not sufficient. This can happen in woods whose endgrain compresses permanently instead of springing back after the tang has "passed by", fret slots with a kerf cut too wide for the wire, incorrect radiusing of the wire prior to insertion or any other number of issues.

When it comes to kit guitars, I have zero faith unless those companies are of the calibre of Warmoth, Fast Guitars, Doug at SoulMate (now defunct), etc. Kits guitars are seldom test-assembled as a finished item until they are in your hands, so the chances of the fretwork having been checked for suitability is less likely the further down the price range you go. Loose or uneven frets go with that low end territory, and often you're left with a neck that could simple do with being refretted from scratch. That of itself causes a lot of issues which make new frets less likely to stay put.

Personally, I use superglue only for my own builds. I wouldn't do so for an instrument in anybody else's hands as a future refret could be complicated with exacerbated chipout and acrid poisonous fumes if the frets are heated for removal. A PVA/Aliphatic like Titebond certainly helps, however each fret would need to be clamped in place whilst the glue sets up. Stewmac's modified mole grip fret clamps are useful for this....probably....since I don't own any....

So yes, glueing is perfectly good practice as long as any potential future work on the instrument is borne in mind. Epoxy is a little too permanent for my like and superglue as far as I would go.

Kit guitars often cause more expense than they are worth in the long run. I hope this doesn't manage to be one of those that throws new spanners into the works at every turn!

[Eljaroli]

Thanks heaps, Prostheta, Great info there.

It's amazing how the prices add up. I mean yeah, I could've just gone out and bought a Squire for what I have spent, (or will spend), so far. But really, where's the fun in that?

Fretwise, it's only a few frets that are suss. I'm onto that. Just trying not to rush into things.

I've still got other axes to keep me happy in the meantime.

[Prostheta]

Well, yeah you're right. At least you would have a warranty with the Squier. As soon as you start building a kit up, any warranty it did come with goes straight out of the window. For example, a crappy truss rod that doesn't control a neck or frets that decide to shift when under working tension.

I think I remember hammering being mentioned earlier (probably the 2009 posts!); a plain hammer bounces off the frets and generally the frets tend to rebound out of their slots. A deadblow which hits and stays put makes all the difference.

[Eljaroli]

Ahh we all start somewhere...

Dammit, I'll get there. I'm not hating it JUST yet

And a squire? Ain't nobody got time for that!

[Prostheta]

I wouldn't knock Squiers in anything other than the fact you can't change the wood. I played a highly modded candy red Squier years and years ago which knocked the socks off various Fenders that came my way. That said, unless you blind A/Bed them the fanboys would automagically go for the Fender "because name". Just lucky pieces of wood and a good day at the factory I think.

[Eljaroli]

Sorry, just kidding with the Squire comment.

To be honest I'm a yamaha fan.