Fret problem

Hey guys. Was working on my Ex-1 today and as I was finishing up the fretboard with dingtone wax I noticed a couple of the frets have lifted up in the middle. So how do I fix this? Super glue and clamp then down? Or is there another way to do it properly?

Cheers Chris

Hi Chris, somewhere on the forum I have seen a thread where you place a small sand bag or one of those heat pack bean type bags under the area of the neck to worked on to support it when you gently tap down the high riding frets with a nylon faced hammer. They can be quite expensive hammers and I have used a rubber mallet instead and it did the trick. Mind you, the better way to go if using a rubber mallet is to use a bit of scrap maple, usually from a headstock shaping off-cut, place some grit paper face up over the top of offending fret and gently pass the timber across the fret to sand into it a groove to match the fret profile. Once done, remove the grit paper and place the groove over the fret and gently tap away on the flat 'top' side with the rubber mallet.

If it doesn't stay down, then yes, some superglue should do the trick. The only problem is that it does tend to spread everywhere, and it's not the ideal thing to have on your fretboard. So mask off the board both sides of the fret before applying any to protect from any spreading. If you do glue it, then you'll need to clamp the fret in position for at least a couple of minutes. If you haven't got a fret press, then I'd make up a small block as Waz described to hold the fret down (using a suitable G-clamp); but don't forget to protect the back of the neck as well.

Cheers waz, I'll definitely be giving that a go tomorrow. Worst thing about being new to this guitar building thing is learning all the ways around fixing things haha

Thanks Simon, I'll give the mallet a try first and see if that works. Hopefully it doesn't come to glue but If it does after all the work I did on the finish and that I'll definitely make sure it's all protected

Chris, how did you go? If you are belting them down with a rubber mallet and and sand bag trick, its most likley that you'll need to level and re-crown the frets after. You wont get much movement by gently tapping, hence the need for a sand bag. I'd be surprised if the fret tangs wont hold it down....unless you have a lot of up-bow int he neck. I would probably check the straightness of the neck first before any adjustment of the frets in case you need to adjust the truss rod first.

Hey Andy, I tried giving them a bit of a tap but it didn't really do anything. I ended up spitting the dummy with the finish I did. I just wasn't happy with how it came out and I want to take more time to do it probably and be something I'm proud of, so Iv spend most of my time sanding it down now instead of on the frets

Fair enough mate. I've sanded off finishes that i haven't been happy with either. Good luck with the build.