Fret Polishing - edges ...

[Dolamon]

I've seen a few thoughts and approaches to this on Frank Ford's web site (frets.com) and wonder about the desired final surface of the top of the frets, and - what tricks are useful for polishing the edges / corners?

The question actually is for marginal touch ups of older instruments. What is the best polishing / burnishing technique for frets? My Weber and a few of my big fret guitars are polished to a slick lustre. This makes for an easy playing instrument ... can you use a micro-mesh or 1500 grit or Simi-Chrome / Flitz on a taped off fret board? Would burnishing with a hardened steel tool harden the frets and keep them from wearing? #

I have a couple older instruments from the twenties which need some attention. Before I do anything wrong - I'd like to know what options I have.

[crawdad]

I wouldn't use a burnisher. If you want nice shiny frets, the way to go is fine sandpaper. First, mask off your fretboard with masking tape so only the frets show. Start with 600 grit and work your way up to 800, 1000, maybe 1500 grit. You can use micro mesh or the automotive 3M paper. By the time you get to 1500, those frets will be real shiny. I usually finish off with 0000 steel wool. You can use a Dremel tool with a wheel and some rouge for a final polish. In fact, you might try that on a fret or two and see if that gets them shiny enough before you start with any fine sandpaper at all.

The idea is to start with a fine grit so you aren't really changing the height of the frets, unless you want to do a level and crown--which I don't think you do. If you sand, don't just do the tops of the fret--do the whole thing--sides and edges too. At 600 grit, you will be basically polishing and removing tarnish. The finer grits will polish even more. You should have jewelry like frets when you are done.

[grsnovi]

STEW-MAC sells polishing wheels in two flavors that are intended for fret work. They also sell a thin stainless steel shield with a slot cut in it for manually masking one fret at a time. I've done guitars with the wheels on a Dremmel - granted this was just polishing. If you need to level and crown you'll want to use files first.