Polishing Frets

[Dave Trickey]

As a non-luthier short on cash, what might be the best/easiest/ most economical way to polish my own frets? I've heard of a few products that are touted as doing a good job, such as Gorgomyte fret polishing cloth and Planet Waves fret polishing system, which utilizes superfine sanding papers.

Any other recommendations?

[thefishinmusician]

Masking..I will try to explain, and will post photo's soon..A strip of masking tape on each side of the fret you're working..then another piece on each side to hold the first 2 strips together....making a long rectangle, just like the metal gaurds..then cover the intitial 2 strips of masking tape with electricians tape,going over the re-enforcing bits of tape...You can now polish a fret, pick the whole thing up and move it to the next fret..I can usually do the entire fingerboard with this, altho sometimes I just re-do the taping thing at the 12th fret..Start at the widest part of the neck and work your way down..P.S. nasty Fender 70'S..80'S "THICKSKIN " finish...De-tack your tape by touching it to your shirt or pants a couple of times before applying the tape to the fingerboard..That finish want's to jump off..And,...remove it slowly back against itself and keep your eyes open for pieces coming up...Stop and superglue...Anyhow thats how I do it and I figure that my saving on tape is about $2.13 cents a year!!!!!!