Pulling frets.

[63bass]

Yes, I know there's a ton of available info, but a) I'm at work, and b) I've not been able to find exactly what I need, so here goes...

I already have a '66 P and '91 reissue of a '62 Jazz... but no fretless. About a month ago, I found a '96 Squier Jazz languishing in the back corner of a nearby flea market. After stewing on it for a week, I finally went back and made an offer; $35.00 later, I was the 'proud' owner of a beat-to-hell Jazz that not only was perfect for resurrection but also fretless conversion. And by 'beat to hell;, I mean that the previous owner must have been a wanna-be punk star or something, because there were stickers all over the thing, dents, a few serious cracks in the body, small chunks missing, E-tuner was broken off, A-tuner was bent, electronics were hanging out. Half of my brain was seriously wondering what the other half was thinking.

Regardless, the body is now hanging in my garage, with one of a few coats of primer drying. I'll post some pics later, of the process I've been through thus far.

SO ANYWAY.... it's a '96, Korean. Rosewood. I need to pull these things cleanly (who doesn't?), but I have no idea if they're top-loaded or side-loaded, or if they're glued, or...? Does anyone around here know definitively how these frets were installed and how they best come out? I'm seeing recommendations of lemon oil to soften stuff, but that makes me nervous, that I might get it too soft. Using a soldering iron to heat stuff is no problem, with my trusty Weller. I just want to be sure I'm starting off on the right foot.

Thanks!

[Musiclogic]

Pressed in, no glue. Fender wire is barb tanged, thus it can't be side loaded, I don't believe anyone has used a barbless tang since the early 70's. Look at youtube, there are plenty of good fret pull tutorials there showing how to heat the fret, and how to keep the board sealed with tape or steel shims on each side of the fret to keep chip out to a minimum

[63bass]

Last I knew, my '66 P was side-loaded (tangs, too), which seemed to be the practice up until the full CBS buyout. So with all this resurgence and rebirth of vintage-style guitars, I figured maybe some of the technique would have been revisited, as well.

[giacomini]

Never heard of side loaded frets, but my experience in luthiery is not great...

[63bass]

Yeah... I've seen a picture - I believe it was in Dan Erlewine's book - of a Fender employee standing at a machine with a neck bolted onto it and a great big bar-thing pushing the frets in all at once.

[Turnaround]

Side-loaded or not, the removal method is by vertical pulling. The whole trick is to do it with the minimum chipping of the fingerboard. Lots of info about this on this site and others. Read all you can find if this is your first time defretting.

[Pilgrim]

Correct, the side-inserted frets were back in the 60's...no longer done, and frets are pulled straight out in any case.

Get some end nippers, heat the frets, pull slowly and glue the chips back in. Fill the fret lines with solid material to prevent the neck from bending forward under load.

[Remus_Redbone]

See if you find instructions to run a razor blade down each side of every fret before pulling. I had a luthier tell me that's the best way to prevent major splintering of the fingerboard, but I've never tried it. Sounds like it would help.

[Baron Von Vik]

STEWMAC.COM : Fret Puller

Soldering iron, painter's tape. Heat the fret, pull from the ends incrementally. They shouldn't be glued in, but they'll be barbed or anchored so take it easy. Be gentle, don't burn yourself etc. Good luck!