All this sounds right as rain. For a burning tool I use a non-sharp
knife with the tip of the blade on the stove heating element (electric
or gas work equally well). Your work table should be close by.
On Nov 23, 2010, at 1:51 PM, David Tayler <[email protected]>
wrote:
Take a piece of Fretgut--I use Pyramid fretgut--or the right
thickness gut string.
Create one loop or half hitch near the end
Shimmy the knot down to the end of the string, and leave just enough
space--a little hole, sort of-- for the other end (later) to go
through
NB: This is a slip knot, which is what you want. You want it to slip.
Burn the stub end with a soldering iron or match to make a mushroom
end. Be carefull.
Placing the half-knot on the back of the fingerboard, two thirds of
the way "up" (towards the bass side) and run the long end
around--(under the strings, DOH!) and through the little space in the
knot you left.
The inserted string will slide easily through the hole you made, and
you want to make that string do a 180 turn eventually.
Pressing the knot with the thumb, pull hard upwards. Hold don the
fret with the fingers of the same hand on the fingerboard side.
The knot will slide and the fret will become tight. The harder you
pull, the tighter it gets.
Make sure the string is about one fret from where it will end up.
Cut the long end, leaving 4mm stub, then burn or heat the end untill
it is flush with the knot. Don't burn the knot.
Move the fret up
I use a lighter, but for finer control use a pencil type soldering
iron, available on eBay for $5
There are many other knots you can use, but this one gets the first
fret super tight. Also, you don't need to cut the fret till you are
done.
The harder you pull, the less the knot slides--it is adjustable.
dt
At 09:01 AM 11/23/2010, you wrote:
My lute has needed some new frets for a longish time, and I've been
putting it off. Got the fret gut maybe 6 months ago. Well, I
decided I must do it. I looked at all the different knots people
suggest, and decided what to try. But the first attempt went badly
enough to justify my fear and putting it off.
Here are my questions from that attempt. How do you get any sort of
knot to tighten up with such a stiff, unpliable material? Should
the place where the knot is going to be be worked to loosen it first?
And how do you really get that nice melted lump on the ends? I read
that a soldering iron is safer than matches or a lighter, and that
is what we tried. But in all cases (iron or lighter) the gut seems
more likely to burn or char than melt into a nice lump. Its clear
that these knots really only hold well because the lump won't go
through the knot, so the quality of the lump seems important. Any
tips on getting a nice, melted lump instead of a rough, charred end?
Thanks in advance.
Suzanne
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