Taming Fret Sprout

[duhvoodooman***]

One of the few objectionable things about the Fullerton guitars that so many of us Fretters bought during Music123's recent closeout extravaganza is that most (all?) seem to have a noticeable case of "fret sprout". This can potentially chew up your fretting hand pretty badly if you slide your grip up and down the fretboard a lot, as many of us do. There are several ways to remedy this--using a sandpaper block, fine flat files, etc.--but I came across a method I found to be very fast and effective.

I work at a manufacturer of heavy industrial equipment with extensive metal machining and finishing capabilities. While out in the shop asking one of our machinists for a very fine flat file to do this fret smoothing with, I noticed that he had a small block of fine abrasive stone about 1/2" square and 4" long. Apparently, our machinists use these for smoothing burrs and rough edges on machined parts. In any case, it was perfect for the job. The abrasive material is hard enough to effectively grind away the protruding sharp fret metal, but fine enough that it doesn't put scratches in the wood on the sides of the fretboard. Also, being 4" long and perfectly flat, it slides nicely along the side of the neck, much as a sanding block would, but without the hassle of needing to replace the sandpaper as it wears. I did all the frets on both sides of the neck of my "Fat Fully" in about 20 minutes this way. I did a little finish polishing at home with fine steel wool, and the neck is as smooth as a baby's butt now.

The abrasive stone I used is called an "india stone". The one I used was a "fine" rating, but we also stock "medium" ones. We buy them through an industrial supply house, but apparently they are also available through sellers of knives & sharpening tools, and you may be able to find something similar in a hardware store.

Just thought I'd pass this along....

** EDIT ** - Here's a photo of these "india stones". The top orangish one is the "fine" and the bottom tan one is the slightly coarser "medium".

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks for the tip DVM! I was going to have to go buy something to use and was considering a fine file, and/or a good "diamond" file which I need to get anyway to add to my ski tuning tools for de-burring steel edges after the edge has hit a rock. I was a little afraid to start taking a flat file, even fine, to the neck of a guitar. The thing about a diamond is that the ones for skiing are designed for smoothing and removing burrs without reshaping the edge. I guess kind of like using a steel for a fine after sharpening on a stone. This india stone sounds like a good idea.

As far as technique, I am thinking about following Spud's advice and loosen the strings up to move them out of the way. We discussed even removing the neck entirely, as mine needs to be set up to lower the action anyway. We discussed this on the phone as I was driving so my recollection of the details is fuzzy. But as I write this, if I could just adjust the action with the truss rod without removing the whole neck, and just loosen the strings to move them and used a stone, then steel wool to dress up the frets, that seems easier. All these things are firsts for me so any advice will be appreciated.

[Robert****]

Great tip! I used sand paper on my Squier '51, and that worked as well. My Fullerton did not actually have any fret sprout issues, believe it or not!

[marnold***]

Great tip! I used sand paper on my Squier '51, and that worked as well. My Fullerton did not actually have any fret sprout issues, believe it or not!

My '51 had no sprout. I think it was after they started getting complaints about it. As a matter of fact, some of the fretboard near the heel has been sanded down in an apparently overzealous attempt to deal with sprout.

[Spudman***]

I've been using a two sided whetstone for fret sprout. It is coarse on one side and fine on the other. It's a little heavy but straight.
Hopefully I won't have to do the 15 Fullertons I ordered to sell on Ebay.

[LagrangeCalvert]

yeah...my girlfriend got me a really good knife sharpening kit, and it had one med. stone like your talking about. The package read something to the effect: Once angle accuracy is checked on the blank (piece of metal your working into a blade) use this to deburr and start with the extra course whet stone at the appropriate angle.

Well thanks to you DVM I know another way to clean up those hanging frets. I always used - like you stated - little FINE files.

Awesome idea.

[tot_Ou_tard]

I've been using a two sided whetstone for fret sprout. It is coarse on one side and fine on the other. It's a little heavy but straight.
Hopefully I won't have to do the 15 Fullertons I ordered to sell on Ebay.

Did'ja really buy 15 to sell on Ebay?

This guy bought 5 & is doing the same thing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fullerton-Guitar...QQcmdZViewItem