• Quick Questions

  Refretting a Richlite Fretboard

  Posted by Bobby Davis on January 5, 2025 at 6:11 pm

  I need to refret a Richlite fretboard and, from everything I’ve gathered, the process of removing the frets (glued-in with CA glue) is exactly the same as wood. Is this correct? I plan to use a soldering iron to soften the CA, but please let me know if I should avoid this for any reason–and what a better alternative might be.

  • This discussion was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by  Bobby Davis.

  Doug Proper Guitar Specialist replied 3 months, 2 weeks ago 3 Members · 2 Replies

  • Refret
  • richlite
• 2 Replies

• 

  Adam Blahut Stay Tuned Guitar Repair

  Member

  January 5, 2025 at 6:45 pm

  Hi Bobby,

  I’ve done a couple refrets on a Richlite fretboard and found it to be the same as working with ebony. I used my old soldering gun to warm the frets prior to removal and used the hammer-in technique when installing the frets. It held the new fret tangs just like wood, and I didn’t need to use glue, but YMWV
• 

  Doug Proper Guitar Specialist

  Member

  January 5, 2025 at 8:48 pm

  Hi Bobby,

  Adam is absolutely spot on. You’ll find Richlite to behave quite a bit like a traditional ebony boards. While it might not visually look the same as ebony, it is not very different to deal with while fretting.

  Pulling frets goes pretty easy, and with a soldering iron, they should come out without incident. Richlite is pretty forgiving in this regard.

  I too hammer in my frets and generally do not use glue.

  Have at it and let us know how it goes.

  • This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by  Doug Proper Guitar Specialist.

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