I know this is hard- but sometimes ya gotta bite the bullet & replace
your frets. I hate it too- but you can get into a sort of rhythm with
it, once you've done the first two or so. The 3rd fret on my Baroque is
getting real ragged & nasty. Got a job on my own lute coming up real soon.
Have you tried pulling the fret back, and rotating the worn spots out
from under the strings? I can usually do that about two times before it
finally pops.
Cannot imagine smooth fingering with anything extraneous on the
fingerboard- I've only seen shims on the back of the neck to tighten a
good fret that was just a little too loose.
Dan
On 9/30/2012 7:23 PM, Herbert Ward wrote:
Some months ago I put shims under my second fret where
the strings had worn little U-shaped indentations.
At first they worked OK. But as time went on I found it
harder and harder keep them adjusted, and this morning
it was impossible.
I think the reason may be this. If you shim the bottom
of the U up to the the correct height, then
the string will buzz against the sides of the U when if
the plane of vibration happens to be parallel to the fret
instead of perpendicular.
So, apparently shims may useful with unworn or lightly
worn frets, but they are not a solution to deep gouges.
Printer paper, 3x5 cards, and business cards all shim
with no appreciable loss of sustain.
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