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Baron Collins-Hill
May-01-2005, 9:54am
i finnaly got around to fretting my campfire kit and i managed to fail two times to seat the fret propperly in the second fret slot. i finnally got one in, but now it is wiggleing around in its slot. the wiggle is up and down, not left and right. what should i do?

thanks
Baron

Yonkle
May-01-2005, 11:06am
If it wiggles a lot, you probably need to re-fret that one, if it wiggle just a bit, give it a good tap with a fret hammer, if you dont have one but a little piece of wood on it and tap with regular hammer, try to get it tight for the moment. Take a few drops of water and drop around the fret it will seep into the fret slot. If you have some lacquer or shellac you can also take a tinny dab on a toothpick or tiny brush and touch a dab right on the fret end by the binding, this will soak in too without getting on the fingerboard and you wont see it. Then leave it alone for a day or two. The water will swell the fret slot and when it drys tighten up and should hold the fret tight if it is not too wobbley to begin with, the shellac or lacquer is just a added push, may not need it. Some people will dot a dab of glue, super glue but then it may be hard to remove the fret in the future if you need a re-fret job,shellac or lacquer will heat and melt out much more easy and clean up with acetone if needed. If you do the lacquer thing (just i tiny dot) on the end, will hold the fret in its place while the water is swelling and shrinking. I am not a pro, but have freted 4 mandolins and re-freted 3 of them. I had a few wobbles on my re-freted ones changing from small fret to banjo frets and could not get them tight, so I did this water and shellac and left it alone for 2 days and they were tight and never wobbles again. #Don't know if this is #(kosher) for this operation, but it works fine for me. You can also put the mando in the sun (1/2 hour or so) right after you water and it will shrink the water quicker. Overnight should be fine but 2 days it should be total dry and if it is tight will stay that way. It it is real loose, I could send you a piece of fret wire (let me know the size) and you can re-fret it, but if the slot is loose you may still have to do this eve3n with a new fret. # Good Luck #( I'm sure there is a different better or proper way to do this, but I don't know it) I just did this and it worked fine one all my re-fret jobs. #JD # TIPS...> HERE.FRETS (http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Frets/FretTrouble/frettrouble.html)

Dale Ludewig
May-01-2005, 11:10am
I would use superglue- the watery kind. If the fingerboard is radiused, you'll need to make a caul with the proper radius. I'd put a tiny groove in the caul that the fret will fit in, whether flat or curved, not so deep that the caul hits the fingerboard before the fret seats. A little wax paper will go between the caul and the fret so you don't glue the caul to the mando. Quickly now: get the superglue down in the slot, wax paper over fret, caul over wax paper, and clamp. A quick grab clamp would work well. And I'd try a dry run first.

Dale Ludewig
May-01-2005, 11:12am
Yonkle- we must have been writing at the exact same time!
Dale

Yonkle
May-01-2005, 2:23pm
Dale: I was thinking the same thing "Deja Vu"

krishna
May-01-2005, 2:35pm
Frank Ford's site is nothing short of amazing. I've just got to give him some cash soon for the times I've used his site...Kerry

Baron Collins-Hill
May-01-2005, 5:07pm
i took the fret out and banged in a new one, good as new. thanks folks

Rob Grant
May-01-2005, 7:18pm
I use superglue with my fret jobs. Fact is, almost all the epoxies and superglues will let go if you apply heat to the frets (eg: a soldering iron to the top of the metal fret). I've actually found that the thin superglue helps prevent chipping when removing frets by the fact that it soaks into the end grain of the fret slot thereby "reinforcing" the structure of the wood around the slot. Definitely apply heat when removing a glued fret to melt the plastic bond between the timber and metal fret otherwise you may take "chunks" out of the board.

Dale Ludewig
May-01-2005, 10:36pm
Rob,

You're right about the heat and its effects. But I found out recently when using a high powered soldering iron that you have to be careful if you have a bound fingerboard, especially if it's the sought after celluloid that I and other builders crave- if you get the fret too hot, it will char the binding on the fingerboard at the end of the fret in short order, so to speak. ( Eggs over easy?) This is just a warning to those not familiar with bound fingerboards with our wayward friend at this point- celluloid. Watch out for too much heat.