Two years ago I bought a used Fender FA-135CE acoustic for $105 and $20 shipping. So not a big investment. I just wanted something to bang out some chords when I felt like it. I didn’t play it much. And between the Wisconsin winter and the very dry heat in my apartment, it dried up quite a bit since I bought it. Consequently, it had developed some unpleasant fret sprout.
I’ve seen many videos on the subject. I do own the appropriate fret file to deal with it. I even have painters tape in three different widths. Still, I’d never actually done this before…
Time to learn, I figure. Better that my first try be on a hundred dollar guitar that I don’t play a lot rather than one of my expensive basses. So I cut the strings off it and taped up the fingerboard.
Once it’s taped, I have a strong urge to do some fret leveling. But I don’t want to have to recrown everything, so I resist. Instead I get my fret end file and get to work. I have a growing fear that I’m not getting the job done. I also worry that I am damaging the fretboard. It’s hard to feel for sharp fret edges with tape all over the place. But I do my best.
I pull all the tape off and…it’s pretty good! It’s not perfect, but it’s a noticeable improvement. Somehow, I have succeeded.
After that, I oil up the rosewood with Music Nomad F-One, and I don’t forget the bridge. I wipe down the whole guitar and put a set of Ernie Ball phosphor bronze “Earthwood” 12s on it.
Next time it’ll be my Squier Strat under the fret edge file.