RobbieZ wrote
Alan, can you not just mask out the frets or better clear coat the fretboard before installing the frets?
Masking the frets would take far, far longer than just simply cleaning them off after. Anyway, you
should be dressing frets after a fret job, which gets you most of the way there. Cleaning off the frets as I've described is usually only needed with a refinish. Plus finishing a fretted neck fills in any spots where the frets are not perfectly seated with the bottom of the crown flush against the board.
Finishing first will fill in your fret slots with finish and polishing compounds, making it harder to get the frets to seat properly. You can fill the slots first with an acrylic wood filler, then finish, then recut the fret slots and fret, but then there is a good chance that you damage the new finish on the board.
