polishing frets

Hey guys, just wondering has anyone used a dremel with polishing wheel to shine up there frets? Tips/techniques??? Thanks in advance Ace

Yes, I've done that before. Worked decently. Prepped with steel wool of varying degrees after a level, etc. Also taped off the fret board first with painters tape. I thick I used some dremel red polishing paste. Not sure though.

If you're using the polishing wheels like those that StewMac sells, you have to be very careful with your pressure, and make sure not to keep in steady motion, never slowing down at any one spot. They give a beautiful polish, but do so by moving metal, and if you bear down on them or hover in one area, they can really move some metal. Some people get by with them just fine, but the risk is enough to keep me from using them, as one little mistake and you can drastically affect the level of your frets.

Interesting. I had never noticed these in the StewMac catalog before.

http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/5269

The description says they are ceramic. That will definitely take something off.

I used a cotton disk with polishing compound. I think I also used a pointed one to get all the way down to the edge (where it meets the fb). I didn't have any problem with too much material being removed. But, I did keep the dremel moving. I think that's good advice either way.

Interesting. I had never noticed these in the StewMac catalog before.

http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/5269

The description says they are ceramic. That will definitely take something off.

I used a cotton disk with polishing compound. I think I also used a pointed one to get all the way down to the edge (where it meets the fb). I didn't have any problem with too much material being removed. But, I did keep the dremel moving. I think that's good advice either way.

I don't know if I subconsciously saw this thread yesterday or saw the Stew Mac product yesterday for the first time yesterday and decided to act, because this is exactly what I did last night after work.

I recently picked up a Chinese Squier neck with heavily worn frets, so not much to lose if it didn't work out. I taped off the neck with painter's tape and used a dremel, medium speed, felt pad and some J&B Bore Cleaning Paste I happened to have lying around. If I had to describe J&B I would say it is like a fine to medium grit, jeweller's rouge in a paste form. Did a great job polishing, and did a good job in breaking some slight edges that were forming on the frets. Not a professional job, but for what I had in it, I'm pleased with the results.

With a cotton wheel and compound I think you would be just fine, and have to work pretty darn hard to change the shape of the fret. The compound still moves metal, but the cotton wheel conforms enough to the fret shape that this movement is pretty much limited to the microscopic level at the surface. You'd probably have to bear down pretty hard in one place to really change the shape.

With the rubberized ceramic wheels however, you can really plow a divot in to a fret without that much effort. I do know people who use these and get great results, but it certainly involves being careful and conscious of your pressure, speed, and movement.

I currently use a setup of radial bristle wheels up to a 1 micron wheel for final polish, though this is a setup engineered for high volume work (the wheels alone end up costing about $250, not to mention the arbors and drive they are mounted to, and the space the system takes up). Before that I had tried all sorts of methods, and had a hard time matching the results I could get with good old elbow grease, sandpaper, steel wool, and micromesh.

Of course these methods were never really just to shine up the frets, but a final polishing stage in the typical fret dressing procedure. If all you want to do is clean and shine them up, some good old 0000 steel wool will give you pretty darned good results very quickly and cheaply. For a bit of extra shine, you can follow this with some 6000-12000 micromesh paper and a quick waxing of the board. Of course most of this beautiful shine will be gone once you touch the board, so take it for what it's worth.

If you're just wanting to hand polish the frets, as mentioned try some fine steel wool, on a maple board I'd probably tape off the wood.
I have also used metal polish which shines them up real nice.

And the easiest method IMHO, if you have a scrap piece of soft leather, use the back side of it, just rub it over the frets , it will shine them up real quick and easy.