This post is a bit of a
follow-up to the post about installing frets in an acoustic guitar (here: http://diystrat.blogspot.com/2013/06/refretting-acoustic-guitar.html).
You see, in this post, we’ll be covering filling the little holes left at
either end of the fret slots after you install new frets. This isn’t an
entirely necessary job and a lot of people would probably be happy to stop
after installing the new frets. Playability won’t be affected at all, but it
certainly makes things look a bit tidier if you do this after a refret.
Firstly, let me show
you what I’m talking about. These frets have just been installed. As you can
see, there’s a little gap in the wood at each end of the fret slot now.
When we sanded the
fretboard down while doing the refret, we made sure to save the rosewood dust.
This (and some super glue) is what we’ll use to refill the holes.
After removing the
strings, we mask off the neck so that the glue doesn’t go anywhere it
shouldn’t. I’ve used painter’s tape here, but I’d recommend using electricians
tape usually, as it’s a lot less likely to be affected by super glue (more on
that later). You will see that we have masked one side only. This was a time
thing, the details of which I won’t go into, but normally you’d want to mask
both sides at the same time, just for the sake of efficiency.
With the holes angled
up the way, we pick up some of the rosewood dust and pack it into the hole.
After brushing off any
excess powder (ideally you can put this excess powder back into your store of
rosewood powder), we saturate the
remaining powder with super glue. Be careful not to add so much that it starts
running down your guitar neck. At the same time, make sure it’s enough to
saturate the rosewood dust and not just sit on top.
Now, it’s not the end
of the world if you let the super glue dry completely, but I’d highly recommend
that you (carefully) remove the masking tape while the super glue is still
tacky. Otherwise, you might find yourself having to deal with stuck-down tape
in places (as alluded to earlier, electrician’s tape is a bit more forgiving
here).
Once the glue has
completely dried, it’s time to file off any excess. Make sure you file away from
the fret ends when doing this, otherwise you might inadvertently lift a fret.
On this particular guitar I’ve decided to remove any and all lacquer from the rosewood
along the sides of the fretboard (which would match the exposed rosewood on the face of the fretboard), although you could always re-lacquer it if
you were so inclined.
I’m adding a little
bit of lemon oil here to give the rosewood a bit of a shine, but will leave it
there.
And here’s the end result:
