Tarnished frets

Hiya,

The frets on my Martin S1 (new Mexican) have gone slightly green and tarnished. They were already on the way when I got it second hand but I'm sure it has gotten worse.

Any advice how to prevent further corrosion and clean them up? I'm scared of damaging the fretboard.

Thanks loads,

Matt

Clean the frets with 0000 steel wool and then oil the fretboard, its simple.

I do just as Black Bear Ukes says....except I tape my fret boards with blue painters tape before I rub down the frets. So, one piece of tape on either side of the fret, then rub it down. Then, move the tape to the next fret....and so on. Then you can oil your fretboard with a bit of mineral oil if you want. You can spend all kinds of money on fancy fretboard "lemon oil", in which the main ingredient is mineral oil!

Thanks guys. I'll give it a go.

careful use of a q tip wet but not soaked with TarnX will get rid of the corrosion, but the frets still may need a little light "smoothing/polishing" May have to re-apply and let sit a few minutes. Note, the frets may have a roughness that you don't notice and the corrosion can "hide" in the micro depressions and just under any "lip" the fret wire may have that steel wool won't reach. The TarnX kills all of the corrosion. Steel wool generally works, but may not get it all. I think it's better to do both, kill the corrosion completely, then polish the frets. I fell in love with 000 and 0000 steel wool first time I tried it.

BlackBearUkes said:

Clean the frets with 0000 steel wool and then oil the fretboard, its simple.

Click to expand...

that;s what I do. if you use a pretty small piece and are careful, you don't really touch the fretboard, in fact , the really fine wool actually is good for cleaning one that is dirty.