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superglue is best because you can dislodge it with a tap from a hammer, where epoxy is basically forever.
If its a good guitar someone will wanna replace those frets some day.
I've had to glue the odd one, particularly when I've done part frets, but really when it happens its a sign that something's wrong, when you cut the slots right they don't need glue.
sometimes just working a little sawdust into the slots can help, try that first.
I agree with Kid. Epoxy is so strong that I never use it. (??)
3M brand Super Glue seems to me to give the most reliable bond when I'm gluing down bobby pins, wires, and nails for a "truly rustic" fretboard.
If the frets fit well then white glue will suffice but super glue or cyanoacrylate is brittle and has nice tonal qualities no matter where it used on an instrument. I know I can't spell for beens.
I use Titebond 3, just place a tiny sliver along each fret before you tap them in, clean excess with a tissue then leave 24hrs before dressing - frets need glueing, fretting without glue is risky as once you start off with the file any even slightly loose frets will come off, and temperature change and vibration over time will make them come loose. Superglue is brittle and will deteriorate over time, better using wood glue, believe me I've tried everything!.
If you buy good quality nickel frets they should never need changing in your lifetime, unless you're Eric Clapton doing 400 gigs a year! ;-)
If a neck does need refretting, maybe if the neck has warped, it is best to strip all the old frets off and sand the surface flat back to the wood, recut over the slots and treat it like a new fretting job.
I use Titlebond II instead of III--mostly because it's easily available, but also because Type-III glue seemed more permanent than I really wanted. Gorilla brand wood glue claims to be "Type II" rather than III.
Over the weekend I saw an expensive TV commercial explaining that Gorilla brand super glue (that's "super glue", not "wood glue") would endure when other super glues became "rubbery" and failed. I'd been using 3M brand super glue as my preferred product, but this may change my mind.
I don't know who Gorilla is and I don't have any stock in the company, but they are aggressively trying to get into the adhesives market--at least in my part of the U.S.
I never use titebond 3 because it is waterproof. It cant be undone.
never used glue on the frets , get the right saw I'd say..
For the "folksy" look, I've made frets of bobby pins, finishing nails, and wire from electric fencing--all with surprisingly good results, but they all involve cutting a rough slot to align the fret substitute and then gluing the fret-like item to the plank. Glue failure is fatal, so quality glue is essential.
A visit to the Museum of Appalachia (Norris, TN, USA) revealed a number of folk instruments with fret substitutes hammered into place. Usually these were staples designed for wire fences or else nails driven part-way in and "cleated over" to form a fret. There are also examples of frets created by wrapping wires completely around the neck.
I don't think glue is historically accurate for improvised frets. It didn't get that reliable until the late 20th century.
I've found evidence of fretwire (with tangs for attachment) available from Sears & Roebuck catalogs in the late 19th century. Anyone know at what point European craftsmen (or others) started extruding these things?
Aargh!
Before I get too huffy about your version of lutherie's evolution, I'm reminded that banjo pickers actually do use the tiny spikes made for O-gauge model railroading to facilitate quick pitch changes on their short 5th strings. (Type "guitar frets model railroading" into Google.)
If it's now on the Internet, it becomes officially true.
There is an early 20th century Ford manufacturing film showing workers in the Nunes factory in Hawaii building ukuleles. The worker is seen tapping a sharp knife against the back of the brass fret wire which is, as we know from surviving examples is plain rectangular in section. The sharp knife makes the wire uneven so it will stay in the uniform depth fret slots by friction much like fret tangs do now.
Of course, being on an island in the middle of nowhere may have restricted the availability of the latest and greatest technology.
There are people out there doing replicas using the same methods.
Hadn't considered fashioning my own tangs. Fret wire would have to be large and soft. Hmmm... Working on it...
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