How To Clean Frets And Fretboard On Old Bass

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Last Updated: August 16, 2022

Have your frets lost their luster? Maybe bending doesn't feel equally buttery and effortless as you lot remember–back when you first bought your guitar and the frets had a mirror shine on them.

Well, allow'south get it back.

In this tutorial I'll show you how to put the polish back on frets that accept go a piddling funky. Even so, this method will piece of work well for dirtier or even slightly rusty frets too–y'all can utilize the aforementioned technique, you lot'll but need to add more elbow grease or perhaps repeat the procedure a few times.

If y'all similar working on your guitar (or don't heed it), this is an easy DIY project that you don't demand to pay a pro to do.

Our Demo Guitar

To the untrained eye, the frets on our demo guitar may look fine (my mediocre photography skills don't aid), but they've actually become a little hazy, and definitely aren't as shiny and slick as they one time were.

This haziness is the result of buildup from wet in the air and me not thoroughly wiping all the sweat off after I play. They're non totally destroyed just definitely not as make clean as they should be. Angle doesn't feel glassy and effortless, the way it used to.

Polishing Frets: The Easy DIY Mode

At that place's more than than one manner to make clean and shine frets, depending on how bad they are, but here I'm going to demonstrate the easiest, fastest method I've found for putting a slick smooth dorsum on frets that have go a chip dirty, and only need a footling beloved: I'll use metal smoothen and fret guards to blaze through all 24 frets really quickly.

If you were hoping for a demo of how to rehab really unsightly, disgusting frets using stuff like steel wool, sandpapers, etc., well, that'll have to wait until I go my hands on a guitar with really terrible frets (which doesn't happen very often).

The Supplies You'll Need

Here are the bodily supplies and products I'll use in this demo:

Frine fret polish
Fretboard guards
Microfiber suede material (for applying polish)
Soft cotton fiber fabric or towel (for buffing-off the polish)

Music Nomad sells the all-in-i Frine Fret Polishing Kit (shown higher up), which contains everything I'll use in this demo, except the separate cotton wool cloth I use to buff off the polish. To be honest, the separate cotton wool cloth isn't 100% necessary. The microfiber suede cloth included with this kit can exist used to apply and remove the polish. It'southward simply my personal preference to use a separate, softer towel for removing the polish.

The Frine polishing kit comes with 3 fret guards, but you'll but use one of them–depending on the size of your guitar's fretwire.

Let'south Exercise This!

1. Remove the strings from your guitar

The get-go affair you need to do is remove all the strings from your guitar. We need complete, unobstructed access to those muddied frets. This'll permit us to move fast; nosotros don't want this chore to take all twenty-four hour period.

2. Identify a tiny drop of the Frine onto the microfiber suede cloth

Wrap the microfiber suede fabric around your finger, equally shown, and place a dot of polish on the tip. You only need a very tiny dot of polish–no bigger than a modest grain of rice.

3. Place fret baby-sit over the 1st fret to protect the fretboard

Cull the correct size fret guard–one with a slot just large enough to fit over the entire fret. I have colossal fretwire on this guitar, so I'm using the fret guard with the largest slot. These Music Nomad fret guards are the best I've used, considering they're the but ones with a built-in curve and therefore lay flush confronting the fretboard. The handle is a big help likewise.

Other generic fret guards exist, but these Music Nomad fret guards are the best I've found. Since they accept a built-in curve, make certain you lot've got the curved side facing downward.

Alternating option: taping-off

The old-schoolhouse way of protecting the fretboard (which is withal used for other types of fret work) is to tape off the fretboard with masking record, similar this:

You're welcome to try taping-off if y'all'd like, but the fret guards are Then much faster for a simple cleaning procedure similar this.

Y'all'll occasionally get a little polish onto the fretboard forest, despite the fretboard guards (or tape). Don't sweat information technology, only wipe off any shine you find on the fretboard.

4. Rub Frine polish onto the fret

Using medium pressure, rub the smoothen back-and-along briskly on the fret for almost 10 seconds. Remember to get down onto the sides of the frets likewise (don't only rub the tops). We use the microfiber suede for this part because it'due south not a very absorptive material, therefor more polish transfers onto the fret instead of soaking into the textile.

While y'all're rubbing, y'all may notice the smooth turning a footling (or a lot) black. This is expert–it ways the polish is doing its job and removing any crap that's not supposed to exist there.

5. Remove the fret guard and buff off the Frine polish

As I mentioned before, I like to utilise a carve up, soft cotton fiber cloth to remove the polish and vitrify the fret. Using the same medium pressure, buff dorsum-and-forth for a few seconds to remove the polish and reveal a mirror shine.

One of my all-time favorite things to use for something like this is… don't express mirth… a cotton textile babe diaper. That'southward what I'one thousand using in the photos hither. They're ultra-soft and absorbent. Neat for buffing shine off gloss guitar finishes also.

Like all metal polishes, y'all'll come across black stuff coming off your frets when using the Frine, and that's a skillful affair. After I've removed all the Frine, I like to use a make clean spot on the cotton material to requite the fret one final vitrify before moving on. Recall, besides wipe off any polish you see on the fretboard wood.

half dozen. Optional: repeat steps ii-5 once or twice more than

Yous can do the same fret once or twice more if it's really dirty or if you're just feeling ambitious and desire to meet how shiny you can get the fret. Oft though, simply 1 or 2 passes is enough to bring a fret dorsum to life.

seven. Proceed this procedure on all remaining frets

Echo the procedure on all your remaining frets. As you get to the smaller frets farther upwardly the fretboard (roughly the 20th – 24th frets) you'll discover that your fret guard is also wide to fit betwixt the surrounding frets. Just do your best. As I said before, a trivial fret smooth on the fretboard won't damage information technology, as long every bit you thoroughly wipe off any excess.

8. Cord it back upwards and bask your slick, shiny frets

Once you're done with all the frets and you've cleaned off any shine that might've gotten onto the wood, install a fresh fix of strings, or maybe use the opportunity (since all the strings are off) to thoroughly clean the fretboard before restringing, if information technology needs it.

If you're not certain how to clean your fretboard, fear non, I'll be creating a tutorial on that very soon.

The Final Results

That'south it. Yous're done!

In spite of my poor photography skills, I'll do my best here to show you the frets before polishing with the Frine, and how great they expect later on. You'll accept to take my discussion for it when I say that, in person, the difference is even more hit.

Earlier:

After:

Before:

Later:

Limitations of This Polishing Method

It'south important to point out that this method does accept its limits. Merely using a polish in this style is great for frets that are in good physical shape, and don't accept tiny surface imperfections similar scratches or pits.

However, polish alone isn't abrasive enough to remove scratches or pits, so if they're present yous'll be limited on how shiny yous can get your frets. If your frets are scratched or crude, you'll need to exercise some labor intensive piece of work offset… using products similar Micro Mesh sanding sheets, buffing compounds, etc. At that point, you've moved beyond the "uncomplicated DIY" technique this article was meant to teach.

Other Cleaning & Polishing Methods

For frets that are really bad and/or have some scratches and pitting, later on I've taped off the entire fretboard I'll brainstorm with #0000 steel wool, followed by successively finer grades of Micro Mesh sandpapers, and so finally hit it with a tiny buffing wheel (loaded with polishing compound) on my Dremel. Annotation that if you lot use a Dremel or other ability tool to buff your frets in this manner, you can potentially generate enough heat on the fret to unseat information technology. So, use caution if you do this.

Subsequently all that work, the frets will have an insane mirror cease. Even so, that whole process tin can have 2-iii hours, depending on how bad the frets are (and how much coffee I've had). It's an all-around more than time-consuming ordeal that requires more than prep, materials, and cleanup.

Yous don't demand to worry about all that right now. It's total overkill for 90% of you out there.

Notwithstanding, if you're interested in learning that stuff, I'll be teaching it in a future web log mail service if I ever get my hands on a guitar with actually terrible frets.

Source: https://www.guitaranswerguy.com/clean-polish-guitar-frets/

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