DMS-1 - mustang/duo-sonic short scale

[OliSam]

Just a thought - would tru-oil help to stabilise it and seal it up?

Thanks Colin.
That was actually going to be my first choice but now ive got 3. In order of difficulty?

1. Fretboard wax
2. Tru oil
3. CA glue


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[king casey]

Q. If i pulled the frets i would have to buy new ones and put them in. Is that right?
Q. If i did that would i need any special tools? Or could i McGyver something up?

Frets that are cut to size are cheap if you get them from Alibaba.
However they take friggin ages to show up in the post.

I was going to post a few photos to illustrate, however the photo upload has been disabled.

cheers, Mark.

[Sonic Mountain]

If you are carefu removing them you might be able to reuse them, but they do tend to get bent.

There are lots of tools that are really nice to have for fretting, but you can also Mcgyver a lot of the tools.

Some end cut pliers for removal, you'll probably need to grind them a bit so the edge bit can get under the fret.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/trojan-2...plier_p0126938

I use aviation snips for trimming

https://www.bunnings.com.au/trojan-r...snips_p6010533

But a reinforced cut off wheel on a dremel would probably be a better option, and what I'll do next time.

There are a tonne of options for bending the wire, which makes it easier to install

https://www.google.com/search?q=home...wmxFY5JkzU3ZJM

I've been tapping mine in with a mallet, but for my next one I 3d printed a caul to try in my drill press




It honestly isn't as scary as it sounds to do and is really satisifying. Just be careful and check out some of the many online guides and you'll be fine.

[king casey]

Testing testing is it just Chrome?
I got these from the green shed. Used my rotary tool to grind it flat and sharp.
Removes the frets well, just be careful and they shouldn't get bent.


I've rigged up a radius method to replace all the frets I removed from my 'King-Trem' guitar.


I have some tape and lay them out as the come off so they go back in the same groove.

cheers, Mark.

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah dunno what's happening with the forum uploader. I use Imgur anyway, so it doesn't seem affected.

[king casey]

Here's my fret replacing system.
Fairly cheap on ebay


Alright now officially switched to 'Opera' browser.

cheers, Mark.

[jugglindan]

Thanks Colin.
That was actually going to be my first choice but now ive got 3. In order of difficulty?

1. Fretboard wax
2. Tru oil
3. CA glue


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Something I didn't mention is that once the CA is sanded back, it retains much of the look of unfinished rosewood. I suspect that Tru Oil may look more like a clear coated board. But I have no experience with Tru Oil, so it's just a suspicion.

[Simon Barden]

My fear of pulling frets from an engineered board is that the barbs on the tang will tear out chunks of the board with it. It really depends on how well stuck together the board is as they do vary. But they also do vary over the length of the board as well.

Personally I wouldn't remove the frets unless you really need to. Thin CA on the board and scrape flat with a sharp blade and you can get right up to the frets.

If you must remove them, then I'd put thin CA on the board first to help hold it together, then remove the frets, then do a sand with a radius block (as we know that the boards aren't that well radiused), do more thin CA, sand flat and work up to fine grits, then re-fret. You'll probably need to CA the frets in place. You might want to roll the board edges a bit with the frets off.

It's a lot easier to use new frets as you don't have to be so careful about getting the frets in exactly the right place to avoid having a gap at one end. And you don't want to use the same frets in the same location without rotating them to avoid the tang barbs going back in exactly the same place, as they won't grip well on the already indented wood. So if you do re-use, use a Sharpie to mark one end and the fret number, so that you can put them back in the same place (to get the length correct as the board width varies) but the other way round.

[king casey]

Having done 2 of them thus far, you will 'tear out' some of the engineered wood.
However usually it's what's going to be under the actual frets when they've been replaced.
There are some low spots in other areas where fibres have been lost.
I would much rather pull off all the frets and then go over the whole thing with grain filler.

It's not rosewood so it's simply not going to be flawless.

cheers, Mark.

[OliSam]

Oh man. Thanks Simon thanks Mark
Phew it seems that ive got a big job on my hands with this fret board.
Tonight i just lightly sanded with 180 & 220. I thought it was smooth to start but after sanding with these two grits i can tell it is much better now. A few scratches have come visible on the top horn and bottom heel that will need a whole lot of gentle sanding to remove.


Thought deeply about the neck and all options.
In the past ive never gone down the hard road for fear of mistakes but i may do it this time with this fretboard. Or maybe not. Maybe ill tru oil the fretboard as it does seem very smooth and settled as-is.


Ill have this bl$$dy fret board issue in my head for ages now!!!
Better to sleep on it for now though.
More sanding tomorrow


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