How clean fret slots?

[viento]

How can the ends of the fret slots be cleaned from tads of glue that had creaped in
when I bound the fretboard? If possible I would like to leave the purfling uncut.

Here´s a photo:

[mirwa]

I have a curved hook amongst my refret tools, allows me to pick the edges away and keep the, clean, if necessary I use a small short saw and dig the edges away

Steve

[charles Tauber]

You can use the end of a fret saw to dig into the corners. I used to use an X-Acto saw blade in their knife handle. Stewmac sells two different tools for doing the same thing. They are tiny saws. I have one and it works well enough, but so did the X-Acto saw.

If you have none of those, a heated knife blade, in its handle will also work. The hot knife melts the glue in the slot, allowing it to be scraped out.

[Shuksan]

The StewMac fret slot cleaning tool with the hook works well for that.

If you choose to get one of those, here's a tip. Don't ever try to break the glue free at the end of the slot (or anywhere in the slot for that matter) by pulling toward the binding. Bad things can/will happen. You can use the tip of the hook to crush the glue and then pull it away from the binding toward the middle of the fretboard.

[viento]

Thank you all very much!
I´ll try to get one of those tiny hooks to get the glue out and the idea of heating the tool - whatever it is - is convincing!

[redir]

For so many years I simply used exacto blades and modified saws. Last year I bought this tool set and could have kicked my self for not getting them sooner. You won't regret it.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...yABEgJy0_D_BwE

[Alan Carruth]

I got tired of that and came up with a way to keep the glue out in the first place. I used the cutter I have for making veneer strips, and cut slices of soft plastic from peanut or coffee can tops to go into the slots. If you find the right top the plastic will be just enough thicker than the width of the slot that you can stretch it a bit, and it will lock in. I put the plastic fill strips into the slots when the fingerboard is just roughed out; a little wider than it's going to end up. I then shoot off the edges with a plane, and glue on the bindings, using Titebond. The plastic pieces come all the way out to the end, and keep the glue from being pushed into the slots. I leave the fill strips in place until I'm actually ready to fret the board. It's usually fairly easy to pick them out' you start by picking up one end with the point of an X-Acto, and then just pull the strips out. there's no glue or dust in the slot. The main thing to be careful of is that the slots are deep enough; better too deep than too shallow.

[Glen H]

I heat an exacto blade with a propane torch and slice right through it. Use the tip and pull up.

[viento]

I should have put some Teflon strips into the fret slots...but had forgotten that I had a piece of that material lying on the shelf.
I will buy some of these hooked exacto blades like the ones Stewmac offers and heat them before use.

[JLS]

I ground the hook into about a dozen feeler gauges, starting w/.019. Always pull toward the center of the fingerboard.

And they're still perfectly good feeler gauges!

I'd post a pic, but all my stuff is packed up for the move to ABQ.

[Rudy4]

Garage sales or resale shops will usually have a variety of old kitchen knives. You can grab something that's close , cut it off close to the handle and grind the end for a sharp hooked end. The blade thickness can be ground to fit the slot size you use.

I use this to clean out slot ends in bound boards or to remove any excess glue in the recess where a nut will be positioned. I also use it to square up the ends of partial fret slots for banjo fret boards, but this wouldn't apply for most users.

[viento]

Thanks for your help!
I have used a hooked carpet knife I heated and had success.

[bnjp]

Originally Posted by Shuksan

The StewMac fret slot cleaning tool with the hook works well for that.

If you choose to get one of those, here's a tip. Don't ever try to break the glue free at the end of the slot (or anywhere in the slot for that matter) by pulling toward the binding. Bad things can/will happen. You can use the tip of the hook to crush the glue and then pull it away from the binding toward the middle of the fretboard.

So TRUE! learned that lesson the hard way.

[redir]

As for getting glue in there in the first place, it doesn't take much to hold bindings on. So just wet the edge of the FB between the frets and leave about 1/8in dry before each fret.

Cleaning fret slots is typically more necessary when refretting. My advise again, just get the Stewmac tool... Trust me