Can sweat corrode glue holding in frets?

[jjang1993]

Hey everyone,

 

I had my guitar fret levelled by a tech who re-fretted it a while back. He charged me for glueing in some frets. He said that the sweat (mine is corrosive enough to corrode EVO gold frets) corroded through the glue originally but in by the tech. Is this possible? This sort of left my head scratching.

[DeepEnd]

AFAIK it's not true. The frets may not have been seated correctly or otherwise been installed improperly but I seriously doubt your sweat will dissolve CA (superglue), which is typically used for frets: https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080417102112AAcmIvF&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABxqx2pZVMadVGAAOjrRPVwQlT-1W7qfTJYoh5RjzueLMaNJfd_mirVxuF47EKMmo5CKBjm_6wbvnu_cqP8zd6qzWWTuK0VYOlnHHjwPPvRMLCmdLOm0wHln1l0pWigzTfWvSoBBA2jTBAygZ0ZuNkZlkvA6KkyStpxFu5h1GbRC

[jjang1993]

Ok, that's good to know, probably time to find another guitar tech. I can rest easy knowing my frets won't move this time around (hopefully they actually glued them in this time).

[WRGKMC]

EVO gold frets aren't really gold. They are a copper alloy.

 

The acidic properties of sweat comes mostly from the salts which can eat away at certain metals over time. The amount of salts can vary from person to person of course. The way to combat it is to use some healthy habits cleaning your instrument. Using carnauba wax typically protects both woods and metals and the cleaners should remove anything that's built up.

 

If your guitar has frets replaced they must have been badly worn. The original frets are typically hammered into the fretboard which has slots slightly narrower then the bumps on the fret tangs. Once the original frets are removes and the slots are either cleaned or cut wider, the slots may wind up being too wide for the original frets. You then have to decide if its better to crimp the tangs to give them more grip when installing them without glue or simply glue the frets in.

 

What was more likely the cause of your frets coming out was the slots were recut to remove debris or to get the frets into the slots deep enough. This gave them less grip do the guy glued them in. They make special plyers that makes the frets grip better instead of using glue. They aren't cheap however. $90 at the Stu Mac site. Crazy glue only costs a buck.

 

I doubt your finger sweat had anything to do with the failure. Sounds like poor workmanship to me and its a rotten thing to blame your own failures on your customer unless you're are dead sure they did something to cause it like overtightening the truss so much it back bowed the neck and opened the fret slots, or used silicone lubricant on the fret board which got into the slots and allowed the frets to pop out. The only other one might be if this guy used wood glue to hold the frets in. Wood glue doesn't bond to metal, which is why CA is usually used. Properly applied, there is no way sweat will lift a fret.

 

[ATTACH=JSON]{"alt":"Click image for larger version Name:\tFret_Crimper.jpg Views:\t1 Size:\t23.1 KB ID:\t32514279","data-align":"none","data-attachmentid":"32514279","data-size":"full","title":"Fret_Crimper.jpg"}[/ATTACH]