Basslab Heat-Activated Fret Resin

[andvari7]

Good afternoon,

At some point, I'm going to need to replace the frets in my Basslab STD-VI. I know they used a heat-activated resin to glue them into place, but I don't know what resin they used. Unfortunately, Basslab's owner/luthier/physicist/genius, Heiko Hoepfinger, recently died, and I don't know if the company is going to continue.

Since this will become an issue, sooner or later, I'm going to ask you: What would my tech need to use, in order to replace the frets in my bass?

Thank you.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Good afternoon,

At some point, I'm going to need to replace the frets in my Basslab STD-VI. I know they used a heat-activated resin to glue them into place, but I don't know what resin they used. Unfortunately, Basslab's owner/luthier/physicist/genius, Heiko Hoepfinger, recently died, and I don't know if the company is going to continue.

Since this will become an issue, sooner or later, I'm going to ask you: What would my tech need to use, in order to replace the frets in my bass?

Thank you.

He would just need to use a soldering iron, the usual technique for loosening glued-in frets.

 

[andvari7]

He would just need to use a soldering iron, the usual technique for loosening glued-in frets.

Thank you. What resin would that be, though?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Thank you. What resin would that be, though?

I don't know specifically what they used, but it was probably a thermosetting phenolic or epoxy. Most of them will soften and release at around 180 degrees F.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Actually my guess is they are just glued on the fingerboard like the early Parker Fly's were.
No fret tang at all, so the same soldering iron trick should help loosen them.
They had their own brew of fret glue, that works very well on CF fingerboards,
which is what I'd guess your Basslab is, right?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Actually my guess is they are just glued on the fingerboard like the early Parker Fly's were.
No fret tang at all, so the same soldering iron trick should help loosen them.
They had their own brew of fret glue, that works very well on CF fingerboards,
which is what I'd guess your Basslab is, right?

Hey Dirk;

No, I don't think they are that crazy. The Parkers had round piano wire glued into half-round notches in the fingerboard surface. It was a tricky process. The benefit was the super hardness of the piano wire. Almost impossible to wear out.

Most builders using carbon fiber or Richlite fingerboards use standard fretwire with tangs. But they cut the slots wider than normal, usually around 0.027", to reduce the force needed to press the barbs down in. And then they use some kind of glue in the slot to lock them in. Some folks use CA glue, others use phenolic or epoxy glues.

I'm guessing this is what Basslab does. They probably lay a thin bead of thermosetting epoxy down in the slot, press the fret in lightly, then heat the fret for a few minutes with some kind of contact heating element. Quick and simple and neat. To remove the fret, heat the fret the same way with something like a soldering iron, just enough to soften the glue, and pull the fret up.

I've been dealing with this issue myself these days. I supply radiused and slotted Richlite fingerboards to a few carbon fiber builders, and we're experimenting with what's the best width to cut the slots.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Hey Bruce, way cool to know. And that seems much more sensible than the Parker rout.
Fortunately the only CF neck and fingerboard was a fretless, which of course made things much easier.
Isn't Basslab a German company? I seem to remember some interesting designs.

 

[walterw]

The Parkers had round piano wire glued into half-round notches in the fingerboard surface

never saw that!

every "real" parker fly i've ever seen had half-round tangless frets glued right onto a smooth board

neat, until a fret would just fall off (seen that more than once too)

or are you talking about the later high end archtops ken parker made himself?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

never saw that!

every "real" parker fly i've ever seen had half-round tangless frets glued right onto a smooth board

neat, until a fret would just fall off (seen that more than once too)

or are you talking about the later high end archtops ken parker made himself?

Hey Walter;

I'm remembering something from the original Parker Fly promotional material, about round piano wire glued into half-round slots. I've never worked on a production Fly.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Yeah I have an original '94 and yes they are indeed tangless SS frets.
Does not look like piano wire to me.

 

[walterw]

the round fret idea totally rings a bell, i've seen it somewhere too

 

[Bruce Johnson]

the round fret idea totally rings a bell, i've seen it somewhere too

Yeah, I distinctly remember it too. The main point was to use commonly available piano wire, which is really hard and would never wear out.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

My '94 is fairly early (Ken started in '93) so later ones may have done that though.
It's a fine idea for sure, do you suppose they grind them or you think they could actually split the wire?
Now I'm curious.

 

[Murivan]

Ken Parker discusses a lot of these topics in the YouTube video series. E.g. here:
He discusses the first prototype with brass tubing cut in half, and then moving to the rolled 304 stainless steel frets. He explains that it was not possible (from the manufacturing perspective) to get a normal fret (tang an barbs) with that steel (technically you could probably do it, but it would be astronomically expensive).

The entire video series is a masterpiece.