filling fret wear

[banjofish]

I just saw a you tube video of a guy using silver bearing solder paste to fill a wear groove in his guitar fret. Says it lasted 6 months and was very east to do. Any thoughts??

[HoGo]

I just saw a you tube video of a guy using silver bearing solder paste to fill a wear groove in his guitar fret. Says it lasted 6 months and was very east to do. Any thoughts??

I dunno, but replacing the single fret would be much faster and lasting. I can imagine this as emergency repair of technician on the road when correct size of fret is not available. But that silver solder paste could be a good thing for broken tailpieces that show here often....

[banjofish]

Its very easy to do and very fast. Yes replacing would be best but if you have a few that need attention maybe this is a good alternative for the dui people. You dont even need to take off the strings.

[kjbllc]

do you have a link to the video

[Marty Jacobson]

Seems like a good way to melt binding...

[pops1]

I usually just crown the offending frets, if they aren't buzzing, to make the dents much smaller. Don't take it all the way out, but to a tiny dimple. I have done this to my mandolin several times to keep it playing well until I get time to refet. I have also done this to several instruments where the wear is only in the first few. I don't like to level good frets and would rather replace worn ones, but this will get a lot of extended time on the dented frets without leveling or lowering the frets.

[CarlM]

JB Weld and duck tape might work too. This guy did not happen to be named Red Green by the way?

Seriously it would be just as much work as pulling the fret or frets and doing it right because you would have to file them back to shape anyway after gobbing the solder paste in.

[Richard500]

Ok, I do know more about solders than frets. As a rule, solders/brazes that are as hard as frets are high temperature ones, and as far as I know, fretboards are made of wood, which isn’t. To get any solder to adhere, the part has to be uniformly up to temperature, so I think some damage might ensue. In addition, silver solders are good at sticking to a large range of alloys, even SS, but still require a flux, generally the nastier kind, which also will soak in.
I’m the kind of person who would do something like what’s described, just as an experiment, but I’d pry the frets out first and do it on the bench. Then, of course, there’s all that filing that is barely an amateur enterprise.

[HoGo]

Here is link I found: https://youtu.be/bblWms-WvPg
He is using silver solder paste that (I believe) contains flux, I think he mentions temperature of 750 degrees (Celsius?) He is not fixing regular wear but sharp dent caused by string when guitar fell off the stand.
It looks like it takes just second or two to melt the solder so it may be safe for binding if you are working near center of fingerboard.

[banjofish]

yes it contains flux. and its 750 F. and he did have some flux go under the tape he put on to protect the fretboard. but hey, its soooo simple.

[Richard500]

Thanks for the video, which also is linked on the Iso-Tip (solder mfg) website. 2 percent silver tin solder, flows around 400F. Flux is mix of zinc-chloride and ammonium chloride, and the solder seems to be out of stock now. The user obviously is skilled and has the right tools. Personally, I wouldn’t be worried about these fluxes, or this solder mix, even if you get some into finger tips. 400 is fairly low temperature. He’s using a temp controlled iron at 300 above that, but that’s approximate
So, not a backwoods silly repair, but not totally amateur or lasting either.

[Marty Jacobson]

Thanks for the video, which also is linked on the Iso-Tip (solder mfg) website. 2 percent silver tin solder, flows around 400F. Flux is mix of zinc-chloride and ammonium chloride, and the solder seems to be out of stock now. The user obviously is skilled and has the right tools. Personally, I wouldn’t be worried about these fluxes, or this solder mix, even if you get some into finger tips. 400 is fairly low temperature. He’s using a temp controlled iron at 300 above that, but that’s approximate
So, not a backwoods silly repair, but not totally amateur or lasting either.

Celluloid boils at 204 F!

[rcc56]

I just saw a you tube video of a guy using silver bearing solder paste to fill a wear groove in his guitar fret. Says it lasted 6 months and was very east to do. Any thoughts??

Replacing the fret will generally last a lot longer. It's only a few minutes work if you have the tools and know what you're doing.

[Tom Haywood]

The fellow in the video has the tools for leveling and crowning frets and he apparently knows what he's doing. Safe to assume he can also replace a fret. He also knows what he's doing with a soldering iron, which btw is often used in removing frets. He also makes a very professional video of his repair work. So, I would say he is a luthier showing an absolute emergency repair (15 minutes or less) for, as he said, a dumb mistake just prior to a gig. That's all it is. My big concern is that he apparently made no effort to be certain that the filled in fret was level with the others. I would hate to discover during the gig that I created a buzz.

[Rob Roy]

It's way too soft to stand up to wear. Unless you're only looking for a stopgap measure to get you through a few months, I'd consider it a waste of money. In 6 months you'll be right back where you started and out the money for the solder job. Bite the bullet and have EVO gold put in.