Board sanding.

[Dred]

I've been wondering about some refret jobs, and found myself intrigued about the whole business of fretboard sanding once the frets were pulled. How much of a necessity is it, and is there damage done to inlays such as MOP sharkies.

I'm not too hot on the idea of shaving wood off a fretboard, making it thinner and wearing it away, nor about having the need to re-radius a board once the sanding takes place.

[Grandturk]

One of the reasons why you would sand or plane a board is to remove a hump in the fretboard, but you might also plane the board for smaller imperfections. Unless the defect is really bad, not that much material needs to be removed and inlays can be replaced if they are damaged in the process.

I had a 7.5" Strat neck I had refretted and asked about planing it down to a flatter radius. The luthier recommended not doing that as on a vintage style neck (one piece maple), he thought he might plane it down too close to the truss rod route and wasn't really willing to do that. With a slab fretboard, you've got a little more material to work with, I think.

[Dred]

Aah, that clears it up. I wear my frets fairly quickly because I'm too heavy a picker and fretter, which isn't good, y'know With bolt ons, fretwear isn't much of a problem because you can simply replace the neck, but I was beginning to worry because I'm playing a set neck right now, and I really want to keep the changes and costs to the minimum. Thanks, Turk.

[sully]

I wouldn't say that it's necessary if the board is in good shape. I've used a file to knock the edges down, but that's it.

sully

[DonP]

I was going to suggest people sand to flatten a radius. Good think GT found out for us.

On my 1977 LP Custom, the ebony has little "digs" in it where the fingers have worn away the wood from playing. I guess this might be a cadidate for sanding, but I wouldn't want to loose the fret binding nibs.

[sully]

Aah, that clears it up. I wear my frets fairly quickly because I'm too heavy a picker and fretter, which isn't good, y'know With bolt ons, fretwear isn't much of a problem because you can simply replace the neck, but I was beginning to worry because I'm playing a set neck right now, and I really want to keep the changes and costs to the minimum. Thanks, Turk.

You may want to consider a stainless steel refret, as they're far more durable.

sully

[Dred]

You may want to consider a stainless steel refret, as they're far more durable.

sully

That's my only option really. Wouldn't go with anything else.