Anyone use this?
Stew Mac fret slot cleaner tool
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| Keeping glue out of fret slots. http://www-.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=4269 |
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| Author: | Bill N [ Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:23 am ] |
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A builder, in another forum, had asked about keeping glue out of the fret slots when installing binding on the fretboard. I assume that most of you have your own methods that may well be better than what I do, but just in case anyone needs a method this is what I do...I started doing this as a procedure when doing inlay and just carried it over to building. I have the teflon strips from StewMac that are used when doing shell purfling. I take a length of that material and roll it out so that it is thin enough to put it into the fret slots. I then glue up my binding to the fretboard and remove the teflon strips once the glue is dry. It makes for a very small amount of cleanup needed out of the slots. |
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| Author: | tippie53 [ Thu Dec 29, 2005 4:21 am ] |
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You can do 1 of 2 things. Since I like economy , you can take wax paper folded and work that into the fret slot. A utility knife blade works pretty good or you can wax the fret slot closed with parafine john Mineral spirits or scraper to take the wax out works. Since I started glueing frets in I don't worry about that because I open the fret slot with my die grinder through the inner binding if I am doing pearl and that removes the glue john hall |
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| Author: | RussellR [ Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:20 am ] |
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Bill I use little plastic strips I cut from non glued pickguard material, I picked this up from a post by Alan C, he said something about using the lids from peanut butter, so maybe he can explain this part. |
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| Author: | Terry Stowell [ Thu Dec 29, 2005 6:15 am ] |
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Anyone use this?
Stew Mac fret slot cleaner tool |
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| Author: | RussellR [ Thu Dec 29, 2005 7:00 am ] |
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Hi Terry I used to, but I decided it was better to keep the glue etc. out rather than risk damage cleaning it out after. |
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| Author: | Paul Schulte [ Thu Dec 29, 2005 7:43 am ] |
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I bind all of my fretboards and use Titebond for this application. I think part of the trick is using the right amount of glue, too much glue, lots of squeeze out that finds it's way into the fret slots, too little and you get a starved joint. Making a good glue joint without tons of squeeze out while not starving it is an art and comes with practice. That being said I use the Stew-Mac fret tang nipper and undercut the tang length just a bit to clear any glue that gets into the slot. |
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| Author: | Alan Carruth [ Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:14 pm ] |
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It's so much easier just to keep the glue out in the first place! I use strips of polyethylene cut from the tops of peanut or coffee cans. The stuff is almost always just the right thickness. If it's a little tight you can bend it upward, which thins out the lower edge enough to get it started, and then push it in. I put the strips in as soon as I've cut the slots, and leave them until I'm ready to fret, which, for me, is one of the last things I do. This keep all the dust and crud and glue out of the fret slots. |
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| Author: | TonyKarol [ Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:49 am ] |
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I try to keep the glue used (titebond) in attaching binding to a minimum. Smooth it off with the finger to a nice light coating seems to work for me. I use the stew mac blades in a big Xacto handle i had around to clean out the sanding dust and any little glue bits prior to fretting though. |
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| Author: | Todd Rose [ Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:24 pm ] |
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If you heat the blade in a propane torch it makes quick work of cleaning out the glue. But I'm going to try the coffee can lid idea - I'd been thinking it would make more sense to stick something in the slot to keep the glue out in the first place. |
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| Author: | Alain Desforges [ Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:28 am ] |
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... Todd, great idea just heating it up... I found that even though I over-radiused the frets, they still won't seat properly if there is too much space from the tang to the edge... Darn, I wish I would of read this post last week! |
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| Author: | Todd Rose [ Mon Jan 02, 2006 6:00 am ] |
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[QUOTE=Alain Desforges] ... Todd, great idea just heating it up... [/QUOTE] Got that from Sergei de Jonge. |
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| Author: | Steve Saville [ Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:12 pm ] |
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[QUOTE=Bill N] A builder, in another forum, had asked about keeping glue out of the fret slots when installing binding on the fretboard.[/QUOTE] Bill, I don't believe I'm ready to be called a builder yet.  Give me a few more years.
Thanks for asking! I believe I'll try to keep it out by putting on less glue next time. I'll be saving my coffee can lids too, in case that doesn't work well. |
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