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I just did what I'll call my best fret job so far. Bound board. Hemispherical fret ends. Leveled after gluing neck onto body then installed frets. It was very fine right off the bench. But there are a few fret ends that are a bit loose over the binding and I'd like to clean them up.
So I tried masking off one of them and wicking some CA under it to see if it would hold it down.
When I pulled up the tape, the fret end held firm, but there was visible lines in the grain of the fret board where CA had wicked in.

I was able to scrape it off with a razor but don't really want to see this happen on the rest of the board wherever this is needed.

Does anyone have a solution or technique that might make this a cleaner process?

I was thinking of sealing the whole board with shellac, fixing the frets and then wiping the shellac off with alcohol. I just don't know what the alcohol will do to the nitro on the edges of the neck.


Thanks in advance,
Dave

I dab a bit of acetone on a cloth and run it along the fret. The acetone breaks down the CA and it wipes away. You might have to be more careful with the acetone with a bound fretboard.

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-Marcus
http://www.bailieguitars.com
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paste wax right next to the fret. CA won't stick to it and it's easier to clean up.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I have 20+ very small cotton rags(1 for each fret), I dip each in acetone just before I run the CA along the fret and immediately wipe the excess CA with the clean rag......I've found this works great, if you try to re-use the rags you will get staining.

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Gwaltney Guitars

The acetone use sounds scary to me at that point.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

In an article regarding classicals (ebony fingerboard), R. E. Brune said he now treats the entire surface of the board with CA. I think he then smooths it out.