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A simple question.
For those of you who use bound fretboards and press in your frets, how do you glue them in if at all?
I don't want to make a mess on a nice fretboard

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I put a tiny drop of white glue on the bottom of the tang, tap them in and wipe the squeezeout up.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Andy,

I just press them in - no glue at all.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Thanks
Dave, to this point I have been doing the same. I was just wondering if I should add some glue???

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I only glue stubborn ones. I use thin CA, just a small amount wicked into the slot using a very fine capillary tip on the CA bottle. If I have some squeeze out I wipe quickly with a acetone wetted cloth. If I can't get to it fast enough I make a scraper out of a razor blade and carefully clean it upMichaelP38994.5333564815

Thanks
I have always bound my fretboards, but I was getting the impression that most people glued in their frets when I hav just pressed them in. I guess there are more than I thought that just press them in

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

My personal opinion as a part time repairman is it is nice to not have to heat old frets to remove them. If your slot/tang relationship is right I don't think you really gain anything by gluing but we have a slot or two that gets a bit out of gauge.

Glue, any glue, is as much(or more) a lubricant than an adhesive when used here.

I'll never tap or press another dry fret in my lifetime.

I use it more as a lubricant also. I use LMI white and run a little in the slot and wipe the excess before I tap the fret in. I never have any excess after.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

i usually only use glue on older, worn slots.

as for the issue of heating frets to remove them, that is just standard good practise whether or not you know glue has been used or not, if for no other reason than if you start pulling old frets which have been glued without heat you are likely to make a mess of the fb. and if no glue has been used, the heat gets the frets out with a much reduced liklihood of chipping the fb, particularly on old ebony boards.crazymanmichael38994.6451967593

Michael is right, for example I just refretted a 20's Stella parlor guitar that someone had previously refretted. The last person chipped the board severely. I used heat to remove them and there were no chips at all. I think I spent more time filling in the previous chips than the refret itself. I wicked CA in the slots just to be sure when I was done. I test every fret with a .0015 feeler gauge. If I can slip it under anywhere I have done something wrong.
When everything is seated properly the leveling at the end is tiny.
Hope this helps
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com