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Hi all,

I am also posting this to the Restoration and Repair forum. I need to pull the frets from a classical fingerboard and am concerned to minimize potential damage. Do any of you builders/repairers have tips?

Many thanks,
Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Heat the frets with a soldering iron and gently pry from one end to the other.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

some use making tape on ether side of the fret to help keep the fretboard chips in place for regluing with Ca.

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Something I've thought about, but have never done. Do people ever score the fret board slightly, right next to the fret with an x-acto, before they start pulling? Seems like that could at least help stop just how far a chip would go if one happened?

That and let the fret nippers/pullers do the work. By that I mean don't pull the fret. Just go all the way along the fret squeezing the fret remover, gently easing the fret out. Pull the fret with upwards force and you usually end up with more damage. Most of all don't rush. That's when you are tempted to take a shortcut of 'pulling' the fret out. Always ends up worse.

No, that would probably end up causing more chip outs.

If you press directly down firmly while you are pulling the fret, if you are using a commercially available fret puller, or one you've made in the same fashion, the face of the puller touching the fretboard will hold the wood in place while the fret lifts. I heat them with a soldering iron too. Start from one end and gently loosen the fret just a little as you work your way to the other end, then go back and do the same thing to the same fret to gently remove it.
Fret removal IMO should take two passes.
I've literally done hundreds of refrets.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Yeah, I guess my thinking was it would limit the chip out to under where the new wire would cover, but it sounds like getting the right tool is the better play.

Interesting thought. Potentially if you were going from a really narrow fret to a really wide fret, no one would notice, and it likley could limit a potential chipout to a certain area of damage.

However, seperating the fibers would also increase the likelihood of getting a chip in the first place.

Beyond that specific instance I don't see much practical application for that technique.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

lemon oil the board before starting and allow it to soak in as a dry board is more likely to chip

I use a soldering iron on each fret with good success. I never understood why it works... at first I thought that heat would make the tang expand and create more problems, but it works with no chip out almost every time. Maybe with enough heat the moisture content in the wood drops enough to make it shrink back more than the heat expands the fret tang? Maybe the wood is somehow more chip-resistant when heated?

The heat causes the glue/wood resin/whatever adhesive is securing the fret to release.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I've only re-fretted 2 boards. The first, I just pulled them out cold and tore up some chips on the edges of the slots. The second, I used a nail that fitted my soldering iron and filed a radius in the nail-head with a rat-tail file. I heated the fret along its length momentarily then, with an eye-dropper, added one drop of water at one end and hit the fret with the iron again. After a little 'sizzle' I lifted the fret from that same end with fret pullers and didn't get a single chip.
Before I re-fretted I put a very fine chamfer on the slot with a 3-cornered file to minimise chip-out in the future.

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I've got a mind like a steel......whatsername!!?

i am no pro at this, but i am thinking a fresh application of lemon oil or whatever is used, the night before, would soften the brittle/rotted wood under the frets, and ease removal. i have had brutal tearout, most notably on my personal guitar, and i believe this might have helped somewhat

I like to rub some water under the fret/into the slot before hitting it with the iron. Then let it sizzle and pull...

The heat transfers to the wood and softens the lignin so the fibers can slip and bend out of the way as the barbs move past.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Many thanks to all for the great tips and insight.

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan