Emergency Repair for Dented Fret

[@victimoftheage]

I tried this on my #1 guitar (1980s Strat) that needs a new 3rd fret. It worked! It took me a longer than 15 minutes (more like 45) as I had to go back and re-file and polish the fret several times, but I’m super happy with the result!

[@HRpuffnstuff23]

Nice job!

[@mikemarcos3734]

nice quick fixed and tidy

[@jelly.1899]

Great video. To the point, no "bla bla" & great voice over. A nice way to reduce the amount of the youtube-esque rambling. Loving it and subbed right after I saw you video about capacitors.

[@marioluigi5848]

Genius! And chosing lower temp paste is even more brilliant! Im breaking out my iron because my Traveller’s B sounds like a sitar, I don’t-a balalaika no-a sitarro no!!

[@restlessascension3260]

I've always considered this as a solution 🤔 glad someone took the chance to prove it valid

[@wasichu66]

This tip is gold, thanks so much. This kind of cut may also happen when a guitar is shipped without protection between strings and fretboard, a slight frontal pressure on the box, and steel strings will cut into the nickel. This is a life saver. Just need to see if this can be found in Europe now :)

[@walterhambrick8705]

It worked well. You had a good idea. Scotty from the Enterprise & Excelsior would be proud of you !

[@mandolinic]

For a "temporary" repair to last 6 months of professional playing is very good.

[@DH-tj6tf]

I normally wouldn't hang out on Vid like this, but your voice is calming and the Vid didn't start with a wailing guitar, nice job ❗💯

[@jimijack100]

Thanks for the great tip. All my guitars have dents in the frets. Not ready to dive into fret replacement yet. Definitely looking forward to your next video.

[@guitaranswerguy]

An awesome little secret that guitar techs use backstage in emergency situations. Good stuff!

[@pdp977]

Thanks a bunch. I have a similar problem and don't want to rip the frets out from the guitar right now. Brilliant!

[@fattommy4436]

Liked as soon as you said 'Sole-der' haha! Thanks from Oz :)

[@hemalwanguru2696]

Danke.... Something I looked for years... I'm gonna do that right now for my guitar... Bless you friend

[@stephencastro1437]

I had thought of doing the same and wondered if solder would work on fret dings, but unsure which type of solder to use. Obviously a temporary fix, but happy to see it works. Thanks.

[@paddyodriscoll8648]

Thanks,,, I have the exact same issue.

[@Jenisonc]

I didn't expect that nor did I expect the outcome. Great stuff. Like music murder mystery, you've got me intrigued and guessing. 🤙

[@rolandjgutierrez7737]

Great job I'm impressed and sold on your idea..

[@gb1978gb]

Great vid and tutorial. I came up with the same solution about 2 years ago restoring my brother’s 67 Tele and also on one of my lesser used Epiphones that had some battle scars from the same scenario of a fall during recording. In the case of the Tele a full fret job or even a single fret replacement would involve severe damage to the heavy lacquer that was on this particular neck.(for whatever reason it had what appeared to be multiple coats on the neck and fingerboard until it pooled up around the edges of the frets like a ski ramp which basically sealed the frets). Never seen another quite like this and it is all original as it’s been in my family since 67. It had a similar dent from an accident and some extreme fret wear from countless gigs and while servicing my 65 Super Reverb I got the idea while soldering some components to the board. Used a similar paste as you did and since it’s not being played regularly it’s held up great. Thanks for sharing this great tip for everyone as I had almost forgotten until i ran across your channel.

[@johnplanetz]

Great to hear! Thanks

[@JesseJamesArmijo]

Just did this to 3 guitar. Works amazing

[@brunolevasseur]

Great tip ! Nice trick ! However, the final touch is to check the right height of this repair with a fret rocker, otherwise the string can buzz at previous fret.

[@johnplanetz]

Good point! I demonstrated the fret rocker in my followup video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0

[@ThunderboltWisdom]

Thanks. I'm planning on doing a repair on my frets TODAY so this helped. 🤓👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎸

[@martin-1965]

Great tip - only difference I would make would be to use high grit (2,000-5,000) sandpaper instead of the wire wool as I've tried both and find I get much shinier and smoother frets with the sandpaper. Also use one of those fretguards when sanding as it protects the fretboard better than builders tape. Both ways work fine, just my preference :)

[@johnplanetz]

Good tips, thanks.

[@TMoody]

WOW..... this is absolutely brilliant.

[@musicmore8315]

Thanks you for sharing this. Very very helpful.

[@jacktoddy9783]

Thank you - 'solder' it is, not 'sold-ur'. Your wit made me watch the video all the way through by your having a sense of humour and cultural understanding. Very informative video that is useful. Many thanks.

[@samaitcheson7057]

Great video John. Thanks for sharing this useful tip.

[@chriskrueger1865]

Thank you for an excellent quick fix. May I ask why you didn't just replace the dented fret versus a complete re-fret?

[@johnplanetz]

Replacing the fret was certainly an option, but I would have had to do the overall fret leveling anyway. It seemed there was enough life left in these frets to proceed without replacing any frets. In my followup video, I showed the process of level/crown/polish.

[@mywaveinwoodswoodperfumes]

Very clever idea, thanks A lot

[@JacobWDalsager]

I have this exact issue on the 7th fret of my lawsuit-telecaster thinline. I was considering some sort of industrial liquid metal solution, but this solder paste seems more readily available. Thanks a bunch.

[@jonahguitarguy]

That's great for a temp fix. I'm unless the other frets were fairly worn you could just replaced the one fret. Wouldn't much longer really to just level in with the others. But it's cool I haven't seen that product before.

[@johnplanetz]

Dane Nichols - I discussed replacing the fret with a luthier, but he said that would be unnecessary/overkill (and expensive). After replacing the fret, he’d have to level/crown/polish the entire fretboard anyway. Without replacing the fret, the same leveling process would lower the frets by a few thousandths, enough to clean up the dent. So that’s what I did (and I’ll show that process in the next video).

[@jonahguitarguy]

@@johnplanetz, oh I thought you said you refreted it not just level, crown and polish. Plus I could replace the one fret and level with the others with out touching them. I would just dial it in with a fret rocker. Not saying what your guys way isn't a valid way of fixing the problem it just takes longer so is more expensive. Check out my channel I do a lot of repairs and I'm not a Mickey Mouser.

[@alanst.4417]

Dane Nichols do you have a vid covering this topic? I have a similar problem on my epi sg, the luthier says I have to do a full refret job, which seems unnecessary/too expensive to me, as the other frets are not too worn...

[@johnplanetz]

@@alanst.4417 See my followup video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0

[@emilycooper1602]

Great job with the HD video and amazing footage!

[@daxie1026]

Great !!! I'll do mine. Thank you !!!

[@bluesyjazzcat31]

Great video! Just had two of my strats crash into each other and ended up with nasty pits on one of the frets. Will definitely try this out

[@jerbear97]

great video! just curious, how is the fix holding up?

[@johnplanetz]

I re-did the quick fix once more after like a year. And then haven't been playing that guitar as much, so it's holding steady!

[@bonerici]

@@johnplanetz only one year doesn't seem like it's long enough. good silver solder is around 50kpsi same as brass at around 50kpsi. I'm thinking maybe you skipped a step? You always want to mechanically rough up the surface before you apply the silver solder and maybe you skipped that step. Or maybe the silver solder wasn't the ultra high strength stuff. the cheaper silver solder is only 20kpsi and will break down before the rest of the fret.

[@johnplanetz]

@@bonerici - I showed roughing up the fret at 2:00. I'm not sure how the strength of this IsoTip 7459 solder paste compares to others.

[@bonerici]

@@johnplanetz ah thanks! I missed that. isotip 7459 is only 2% silver about 20kpsi compared to something with more silver, maybe around 10% silver that will give you something closer to the strength of brass around 50kpsi, but thinking on it again I'm wonder if that won't work. Once you get up to super strong silver say 15% you need an oxy torch to meld it at around 1500F, and the low silver content stuff melts so much easier with just a soldering iron. So I'm thinking you can go up to 5% silver with a low temperature solder and get roughly twice the strength. Good luck shopping for 5% low temp silver solder by the way, I couldn't find any when I look online.

[@bonerici]

@@johnplanetz My thinking is if you match the strength of the brass with the solder it will be an excellent permanent repair.

[@brianharbut4054]

Excellent video! Very clear & informative. Many thanks 👍

[@lb1923]

Exactly what i needed. Thanks

[@wolfgang4136]

Cool fix

[@adamhumphreys8333]

Top video John!! Thanks Fella

[@Nighthawkrun]

Great idea

[@freeslave8824]

Excellent job, and great video! Thank you!

[@billthorton6388]

Very nice! I wonder if you could use JB weld?

[@johnplanetz]

I haven't tried! Not sure whether it would sand ok.

[@steady_pulse3216]

I did the same thing but used gorilla glue gel, worked perfect still going strong after a year

[@danc3746]

Thats awesome! The same thing happened to me one time, the guitar fell and left a dent in the fret. I wound up getting the single fret replaced.

[@gabrielramos2238]

How much did it cost you? For the single fret repair?

[@w.c.fields7355]

Nice Job ,Thanks for the Tip

[@startreker8591]

About soldering lead? I had thought about it but haven’t made any dent to move..,😂❤🎉ty where do you buy that paste?

[@johnmikojavier5868]

I didn't expect johnny sins is also a luthier

[@LosRockson]

At this point he has had more professions than Barbie.

[@0000song0000]

Awesome. There's no Luthiers in city... So, this looks awesome (and there's no good solder materials either,they only sell the 50 cent per meter one ) so I may get that silver syringe one)

[@sophiecooper]

Good job!

[@par4ezTroy]

I have the same issue on my Maple neck Strat with on 2nd & 3rd fret, G & B (my son was wrestling with his friends in my sound room and they knocked it off the stand). 2 x ?: 1) Do you think the heat gun & solder paste would/could have an effect on the glossy finish on the Maple neck? 2) Why didn't you just refret the one damaged fret? (Beyond the obvious, that you're uber equipped to do so) I am thinking push come to shove, I'd just replace the two frets.?? Not sure how your videos came into my feed, but glad they did. The way you explain it, is the the way I learn it. Great job. I look forward to watching more of your content.

[@johnplanetz]

Cost and speed. A local luthier said it would be expensive to replace the single fret- he'd have to remove/replace it, then level/crown the whole fretboard. He recommended just level/crowning without replacing the fret, which would lower all the frets by a few thousandths of an inch, and eliminate the dent -- this is what I eventually did, also DIY- I'll eventually get around to editing that video! But at the time of this repair, I needed it done quickly for a gig, so this was the quick fix. As for the maple fretboard, I think you'd be fine. You can see I didn't apply heat to the fret for very long.

[@alessandrobarbosa2955]

Thanks, awesome video, it helps me with my guitar

[@Spinnifuchs]

Nice. Did you play the guitar very often in the 6 months it was holding up?

[@johnplanetz]

Spinnifuchs - yes I played it every day!

[@BloodBoughtMinistries]

No need for a full re fret, you can just replace that one fret with the same size fret and then so a level and crown.

[@devenlama4741]

I have a same problem! Many stores ask me to refret all !but its expensive 🥲

[@dreamoficarus1]

Great video, thanks! In the UK we have Cooksongold Assay Quality EASY Silver Solder Paste in 3 consistencies - is it best to get the easy, medium or hard version?

[@johnplanetz]

I'm not sure tbh, but I think I'd lean towards medium or hard.

[@dreamoficarus1]

Thanks@@johnplanetz

[@xavierpacheco7297]

Great tip! One question, why not just replace the damaged fret?

[@M5guitar1]

Good tip

[@The.Last.Guitar.Hero.]

That is genius I had a strat that had that problem, wish I'd seen this video first

[@Matt-pk6vp]

Great video, great idea... Could you post the full fretjob and frets dressing video? It would be very useful!👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻

[@johnplanetz]

Stay tuned- it's coming very soon! Just doing final voiceover and editing.

[@johnplanetz]

@Matteo Zambon- The new video is finally up! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0

[@Panufo]

Are those Steinberger tuners?

[@johnplanetz]

Yes, this 2013 model Gibson SG came with Steinberger gearless tuners

[@bigbasil1908]

I recently made my own lemon oil for fretboards by soaking grated lemon rind in baby oil for a day or two. The oil works great and soaks into the fretboards nicely, and gave them a darker look and also a nice polished looking shine. I probably have enough lemon oil now to last a lifetime (200ml of it in the 200ml baby oil bottle and another 50ml in an antiviral hand gel bottle)).

[@mid2139]

I think some paste wax could protect the fretboard from the flux. Great Video!

[@山田太郎-f6w9k]

Hi. I am considering purchasing ISO-TIP. There are some questions. 1. Is the soldering iron tip temperature 750 degrees Celsius? Or is it 750 degrees Fahrenheit? 2. If the soldering iron tip temperature is 750 degrees Celsius, why did you choose this soldering iron? The liquidus temperature of the alloy of tin and silver (the temperature at which the alloy melts) is to be about around 221 ° C to 240 ° C. 3. Are you frequently play a bendeing or deep vibrato? Its purpose of this question is to confirm the progress of wear according to the player's play style.

[@johnplanetz]

The soldering iron was set to 750 fahrenheit. I chose that empirically - it seems to work well. Yes, I frequently bend and play with vibrato.

[@山田太郎-f6w9k]

@@johnplanetz It will be helpful. Thank you.

[@AngeloLuis22]

Whats the best way? To fix only where have low frets or sanding it all? Or lastly refret?

[@johnplanetz]

If you have enough life left in the frets, then sanding/leveling is the way to go. See my video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0.

[@MrKkprince]

Why you did a complete refret having just one fret damaged?

[@johnplanetz]

I answered that in the first minute of my followup video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0

[@babounce100]

Your a genius

[@pitbikehype5281]

Could you use regular solder wire?

[@johnplanetz]

I've only used the silver paste. You could try regular solder- I guess it'll be a little harder to apply, and the result may be softer, and may not last as long. If so, you can always re-do it with the silver paste.

[@andydove7563]

Definitely something to practice on an old guitar before applying to something more expensive ...great work though :-)

[@SimaVG]

what kind of oil did you use? I have an acoustic guitar, and honestly I never used oil for it, which I guess is not very smart :D.

[@johnplanetz]

Lately, I've been using premium bore oil - www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003B1KTGK/planetz

[@terryaustin5976]

I had a fret with a deep groove and asked the music shop if I could silver solder the fret. They laughed at me. He tweaked the truss rod and new strings and it was better. He told me you cannot ever fix a fret, and that I needed to do a complete new fret job. The Fender Acoustic cost me $50.00. I was NOT doing a $200 fret job. I sold silver solder and solder paste for 35 years. Should have went on my instinct and product knowledge and did this same repair.

[@johnplanetz]

On the one hand, it's a non-permanent fix, which perhaps they thought was a waste of time. But it sounds like they were kinda harsh about it! Really, if it lets you get back to playing for a few months, and avoids an immediate full fret job, then it's worth it, right?!

[@TruthSurge]

I wouldn't oil a fret board very much. Sure, it darkens it and makes it LOOK nice but it'll turn it to putty over a few short decades if you oil it frequently. Interesting fix, tho. How a person could have played a PREVIOUS gig with that gouge, though, is beyond me so I don't know how this could be an "emergency" vix and I'm sure replacing one fret isn't that costly at a good luthier shop.

[@thesuccessfulbarber]

Awesome video! You could further polish the fret down with some metal polish after the 0000 steel wool.

[@animetoonshd3889]

Yeah that happened to me like 3 hours ago

[@johnplanetz]

Sorry to hear that!

[@stricknine8623]

Has anyone ever encountered a broken or cracked fretwire ? I tapped down a high fret yesterday and played it afterwards and the B string hung up on a bend. So I looked and it and it looks like an actual split or crack in the fretwire that I tapped down. I used a nylon tipped hammer and I didn't hit the string between the hammer and fret causing a gouge.

[@125kid8]

What to do when the the fret silver line dissapear

[@coreymihailiuk5189]

Ingenius!

[@bvs5164]

Why not replace the damaged fret rather than lower all frets with the fret job?

[@johnplanetz]

I talked about that in my followup video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0

[@MAYLOSZYARR]

750 degrees of what? Fahrenheit?

[@johnplanetz]

Yes Fahrenheit- sorry I didn’t specify

[@MAYLOSZYARR]

@@johnplanetz Thanks. It's difficult to guess if a movie in english is from USA or other part of the world :)

[@ramonzeira]

why didn't you swapped that one single fret instead of all of them

[@johnplanetz]

I talked about that in the followup video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0

[@kazu.k.1828]

How can i get this Iso Tip ?

[@johnplanetz]

From iso-tip iso-tip.com/product/silver-bearing-solder-paste-7459, or on amazon: www.amazon.com/Solder-SILVER-SOLDER-PASTE-piece/dp/B001S32FUG

[@kazu.k.1828]

@@johnplanetz Thank You!

[@Bmxmusikian]

Nice!

[@jumpercable20]

This is great, I'll be giving this a try over the next few weeks. I've got the first four frets on the B string that are very deep and right now I just can't afford to pay for any fixes since the scamdemic keeps so many people hermit like. Really, I don't know why they call is social distancing, to me? it's anti social distancing.

[@muzerino]

So many people mention the pronunciation of solder in these guitar videos, when it’s correctly pronounced both ways. Sol-der and Sodder.

[@Stratisfied22]

That was a great idea. Couldn't you have just replaced the one bad fret vs doing an entire fret job?

[@johnplanetz]

If you replaced the one fret, you'd end up having to level all the frets anyway.

[@joemasse4568]

@@johnplanetz why would you,cant you use a straight edge and file the new fret exactly the height of the remaining frets? Not rocket science?

[@tommilitello198]

@@joemasse4568 use a fret rocker and level it with the ones on the one before and after it

[@stuart8663]

Thanks for acknowledging the finer points of the Aussie language... hahaha

[@LeeJCander]

Trust the yanks to interpret 'Solder' as 'Sauder' (Sowder?)

[@johnjonesToffeeman]

Why not just replace one fret?

[@rizkydadayeuhan3436]

Terimakasih

[@harrytuttle8161]

My wall bracket pulled out of the sheet rock ,the guitar Got a good dent in my Ibanez frets . And I am so lazy I'm going to just buy a new guitar , I want a Schecter CR-F1 S SLS , with the active Fishman and sustainiac .................. I'll put it on credit before the dollar crashes .

[@BatEatsMoth]

I've never had that happen, and I hope it never does. That would suck to have a dented fret.

[@kommi1974]

You didn't even bother to level the fret against the others? What was the point? Yikes.

[@johnplanetz]

The point, as stated, was an emergency quick fix. For the full fret job, see my followup video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpjYm62JftWjgs0

[@rustynail7110]

I'd be tempted to mask the fret off, apply superglue to the dent and press the guilty string into the groove using two capos, one either side of the fret applying pressure to the string, until fixed. I'd also ensure the contact areas are cleaned prior with alcohol and a cotton bud. Next, snip the string ends to fret width and file to shape. Might work short term.

[@PaulPauliePabloPaolo]

Intersting solution... but tbh, you could have just replaced the one fret that was damaged for roughly the same amount of trouble.

[@johnplanetz]

MrPaolo101- (copied/pasted from my previous reply to Dane Nichols): I discussed replacing the fret with a luthier, but he said that would be unnecessary/overkill (and expensive). After replacing the fret, he’d have to level/crown/polish the entire fretboard anyway. Without replacing the fret, the same leveling process would lower the frets by a few thousandths, enough to clean up the dent. So that’s what I did (and I’ll show that process in the next video).

[@mariojuwani2527]

Its not a good idea better change fret

[@youtubeceaer823]

Шикарный лайфхак.. Теперь не нужно из-за 3 "блатных" нести гитару на замену ладов!!!

[@mpachuca1313]

♍️🤘🎶🎵🎶

[@stevenleek1254]

NO! The "right solution" is NOT a "full fret job." Just replace that ONE FRET.

[@TheEarthling78]

Are we just going to ignore the fact that this dude only has ONE guitar?........

[@johnplanetz]

Crazy talk! 😂 I have others- the SG was just the most comfortable for a 3+ hour gig. It’s like 3 pounds lighter than the Les Pauls!

[@falconeasel6293]

This is a disaster.

[@mattroberts4201]

I know right? Why pronounce solder “sol-der” and not “sodder”? Beats me. Next you’ll be saying aluminium like condominium ;-)

[@Themheals]

I think this entire story is bullshit. I think this falling guitar story is completely made up in order to give you subject matter around which you can act on video in order to get youtube views and therefore make money. To this you also mention StewMac and have a link in the subscription. We all know companies pay for such exposure on youtube channels. People who play stringed instruments know that even the slightest bump or fall means the neck will break due to the extreme tension the strings put on the peg head of the instrument. Apparently yours didnt break but only suffered a dented fret. You remind me of the people who pretend to save animals for youtube videos, animals they use as props to generate feelings that keep people watching.

[@johnplanetz]

Yay conspiracies! My guitar actually did fall at band practice, and the fret was actually dented, and I actually did repair it in the way I showed in this video. And I mentioned stewmac because they sell the files that I needed, but otherwise I have no affiliation with them. I have received no compensation or direction in this video, or in any of my videos ever. The only thing I might make some money on is if someone buys something through my affiliate links to amazon, as listed under this video. And that has amounted to maybe a few dollars per month, if I'm lucky. So yeah, don't quit your day job to try to make helpful KZbin videos, and try not to take it personally when people shit on your efforts.