Thin guitar picks slid under frets are dynamite shims. Also wadded paper. Many's the corner been ripped off one of my scores to fold a few times and stick under a loose fret. Little pieces of bamboo skewers are also useful.
Sent from my Ouija board > On Feb 9, 2014, at 5:25 PM, "Sterling" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Why replace the frets when you could just tighten them? Just burn the knot a > little more then put back in place. My frets last about ten years. The only > time I ever replace frets is to try a different size. Except for perhaps the > second or third frets which do wear out after a few years, then you just > scoot over the worn part to be between the courses. > Sterling > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Feb 9, 2014, at 4:35 PM, Dan Winheld <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> "I could whittle with a utility knife, but >> that would be wasteful and time consuming." >> >> "I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on >> Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13") is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with >> sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is >> actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics." >> >> Guys, >> >> Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing >> the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, >> during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal >> service & no spare gut) is another story. >> >> I could remove & replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to >> whittle a single proper shim out of a "1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( >> 1cm x 1cm x 20cm)" piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more >> traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a >> little more time. >> >> Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the >> rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to >> back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st >> fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as >> necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. >> So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily >> available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. >> A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a >> small pliers for the 1st fret. >> >> The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to >> do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 & up. He >> messed up my 9th & 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 >> minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. >> >> Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) >> >> Dan >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time >>> consuming. >> >> alexander r. >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
