I’ve got a couple of deep grooves worn on my 3rd string. I’ve heard that a quick fix is to fill them in with solder paste & using a soldering iron. Any thoughts?
I have my doubts ..... or whatever a stronger word than doubt is.
But, but, but, w.r.t metal work I'm more at home with chop saws, a 225 amp. stick welder and a grinder.
And I remember being wrong once before, so ....................... ????
Edited by - Owen on 02/17/2025 10:33:18
Sorry Chuck, solder isn't near hard enough, the string will slice through it on short order.
i have used Bondic to repair many things and i really like it.... i have not tried it to build up a fret, but i wouldn't be afraid to try it. it worked very well on a nut i had to build up. It would be temporary at best, i'm guessing.
are you speaking of the fret or the wood chuck--if it is the fret -When they get to that point I flat file the whole thing then do a little recrowning--but I am not anywhere close to a master at fretwork--I just did both of mine here lately
I checked this guy’s video,, seems legit, but ya never know
youtu.be/bblWms-WvPg?si=8Uv3pSmpKWKVgKyO
heres another https://youtu.be/aBEHt23Ee2I?si=jNh0ObULwiX4ViL4
Edited by - chuckv97 on 02/17/2025 12:05:05
If the groove is in the fret, the easiest and best thing is to replace the fret. Many luthiers will charge on a per fret basis. I've heard $15-30 per fret quoted.
I can do a full or partial fret job in cupronickel or stainless and can supply references if you feel like shipping your neck to Ontario. I'm cheaper than the above quote.
Fret wear is a normal and inevitable result of playing a banjo; the more it is played the sooner some fret wear will be noticed; usually it happens the most on the first five frets of an instrument. The standard approach is to have a luthier recrown the frets that are worn. This can be done a few times before the recrowning uses up too much metal and the fret needs to be replaced. Even a replacement is a routine part of the natural history of a banjo. My main banjo has been in daily use for thirty five years, and every few years I give it over to a banjo-skilled repair person for a full setup, head change, and a few new frets. It's all straightforward and routine maintenance that every working banjo will need from time to time.
Solder won't work at all; much too soft.
If you're at all comfortable with doing your own work on your banjo, you can get all the fretwork tools and materials you'll need from Stew-Mac. As long as you don't mess with the wood, you can't do any permanent damage, and you might find that routine fret work isn't too difficult.
If you're out on the road and need an emergency repair for a badly buzzing fret, sometimes you can get away with using a capo to the right of the offending fret, and retuning the banjo down a tone or so back to whatever standard pitch would be for your playing. Sort of a de facto "A" scale banjo, assuming the fret wear is on the first couple of frets. Also, in the midst of a performance and you're fighting with fiddles and mandolins, you might be the only one who hears the buzz, and you can just play through that gig until you can do some repairs.
When I first read your post my tablet wouldn't let me see those utubes. Watched them on my desktop just now and wow, silver solder > different story as that's much harder than regular solder.
Only thing is, this stuff need a lot higher temp to work with > VERY EASY - but not impossible - to cook the fretboard and ending up with a too-wide scorched fret slot...
Like Rick said, it's way easier to install a new fret. See if there's any luthiers near you and see if they have any fret wire that matches yours.
Thanks for all your comments.. but I’m trying to avoid the luthier trip if I can. Looking for a hack of some kind.
....west of Medicine Hat - just slightly a 5 hr drive from me, but we'll check out them frets neighborly like. Sort of a thank you for the many videos you've shared on BH.
....plus, we could chew over banjo stuff at the same time as I either dress-up the frets altogether or R&R the nasty one. That's Plan A - although the drive, with petrol, may be a deal breaker for you.
Plan B is, well, Calgary is much closer to you and a shorter drive but possibly though a shortage of banjo-exclusive techies there ?
With Plan A is included an overall checkup and minor adjustments as necessary. Would be happy to do it. I do not pay rent here btw .....but fwiw I like to acknowledge the good deeds of others.
PM me to coordinate details about Plan A if interested Chuck. b.
What I did, on my most expensive banjo, was to remove a couple frets from waayy up the neck, and put them where the badly worn frets were.
Then put new fret wire in the up-the-neck slots, and level them to the same height as their neighbors.
Can't tell by looking, that it's not all original.
There are topics on the HangOut about removing and installing frets.
PM me your address, and I'll mail you a few inches of fretwire.
quote:
Originally posted by mike gregoryremove a couple frets from waayy up the neck, and put them where the badly worn frets were.
Mike, this is smart. Thank you for adjusting my thinking.
Thanks, Mike… I have it covered. Good idea though. 
A friend once showed up with a nice old Vega mandolin banjo he had borrowed from a friend of his, and 2 or 3 of the frets were worn clean down to the wood in spots. I didn't have any suitably skinny fret wire around, and didn't want to risk chipping the fingerboard anyway... But I'd just bought some hard solder to use for joining a brass flesh hoop, and wondered if it would fill in those frets.
It actually worked amazingly well. Didn't need a temp high enough to burn the ebony, and stuck very well to what I assume was "nickel silver". Filed down level and recrowned, the repairs were virtually invisible. I knew the solder was not hard enough to last long, but he only had the instrument for a few weeks, and AFAIK the frets were still playing ok when he returned it to its owner. I had strung it SUPER-light (lighter than the lightest real mando set), which I reckon helped some in that regard.
So, in that instance at least, it was a quick, functional, TEMPORARY fix. If it were my instrument, though, I'd have replaced the worn out frets.
Chuck:
I recommend you replace the worn frets.
However, when I was working abroad, in third world countries and I didn’t have a suitable work shop or luthier available, on a temporary basis, I used metal based epoxy.
I won’t bore you with fret prep or how to shape the frets after the metal based epoxy hardens, but metal based epoxy has lasted me months until I got back my home workshop.
As always, YMMV
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