Fret Polishing Maple Boards

With the fretboard clean up done and the frets looking good, it's time to make them look and feel great! This process is identical to the rosewood neck, except these frets are in better condition, so we approach it a little differently.

Summary: Which grit to start?

As we discussed in the previous fret polishing section, you typically start at 1500 grit. However, this guitar is regularly maintained and therefore is already in pretty good shape on the frets. James therefore kicks off at 2400 grit, then quickly jumps up to 8000 and 12000. This is important to note as you can see how the process gets quicker, the more regularly you maintain the fretboard.

Checklist: Cleaning the board

Just in case you didn't quite pick it up the first time round, here is the checklist for polishing the frets. If you need to see this in more detail, step back to Fret Polishing Part 1 then move onto Part 2.

• 1. Place the fret guard on the fret and pull it to the radius of the fretboard (wrap it so it slightly curves with the neck)
• 2. Take your 1500 grit micro mesh paper and polish from side to side on each fret
• 3. Don't take too long on each fret and try to do it evenly
• 4. Once you've done all frets, take the next size micro mesh paper (2400) and repeat the process
• 5. Repeat this process all the way up to 12000 grit

By the end of this process, you should have even, shiny frets that your strings can glide over. This will improve how your guitar plays, meaning you will more than likely play it more! This massively helps to keep you progressing as a guitarist, so it's 100% worth it.