I ruined some smooth frets

Lapyang

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"So stupid!"

That's what I told myself after I marred a number of frets by pressing the Stew Mac String Height Guage down too hard and then stupidly slided the guage up and down the frets in an attempt to check for any high frets. After I was done, I notice tiny shallow tool marks on a few frets. Barely but still noticeable when I tried to bend notes on the A string. I could feel a teeny tiny click.

How do I fix this? I figure probably smooth them out with steel wool? What number to start with? 0? 00?

I will tape off the wooden part of the fingerboard first to avoid yet another stupid mistake.
 
I would try 0000 first or go to the drug store and pick up one of those 4 sided nail files wrapped in very fine sand paper for buffing.
 
I wouldn't use steel wool as you might deposit the steel fibers into the fret board. Not a pleasant thing to do.

I have filed a few frets and the used a 600, 800, maybe 1000 wet & dry sandpaper (use dry). First mask the fret board next to the fret on both sides and then just smooth out the fret. Then move onto the next. It shouldn't take much. Surprised a steel edge left a mark to begin with.

John
 
I did that exact same thing on the softer frets of one of my less expensive ukes. The first thing I did was take some 800 grit sandpaper to the edges of the ruler to be sure it never happened again. I was able to remove the nicks using a set of fret erasers that Stew Mac and others sell, followed by metal polish with a Dremel tool buffer wheel.
 
It's best to tape the fretboard before you smooth the frets. It's also good to take off as little material as possible when smoothing the fret out. I use 320, 400, and 600 wet/dry sandpaper followed by a 0000 Liberon steel wool in a grooved piece of wood. (It has no oil and long fibers.) It's nice to maintain the crown and a file can flatten things if you're not careful.
 
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