Fret removal

Next thing to tackle was the removal of the frets. The entire fretboard will need removing sooner or later, but as these frets will need replacing I figured I'd remove them first.

First up was to knock up a block to temporarily bolt the neck to so I can hold it in the vice without damaging it. I roughly planed a 2x4 to size and drilled the (wonky) holes by marking through the body. It wasn't perfect, but I'll make a far sturdier block at a later date once I figure out what I'm doing.

Fret removal usually involves a set of fret pliers which can be quite expensive, so I did what everyone else seems to do and ground down a cheap set of nipper pliers so the front faces were flush. In my rush to try them out I hurriedly removed the 21st fret chipping a small piece of fretboard away with the fret. Luckily the chip glued back in with a dab of superglue, but it demonstrated that I needed to be far more cautious in order not to damage the fretboard.

To help with the fret removal, I modified the tip of a 100 watt soldering iron by filing a small groove into it. The idea was that the groove would help keep the iron on the frets as I applied heat to them. The heat helps release the natural oils from the wood to keep splitting and chipping to a minimum whilst pulling the frets. I also decided to mask up the frets to provide an extra layer of protection should I slip with the iron. I also figured it would help keep the chips in place just in case it did split.

I was amazed how easy the extra heat made the fret removal process. Within 20 minutes I'd removed all the frets. The only stubborn one being fret zero which is a slightly bigger gauge wire.

Flushed with success, I hung the neck up and left it alone before I got carried away and buggered something up.