Dressing the frets on the maple meck
I covered fret dressing in this earlier post but will repeat the steps here for completeness. The pictures should tell the story but I’ll add some text where I think it’s necessary to explain further. The first job, before the frets can be leveled is to remove the lacquer from them. The easiest way to do [...]
Read MoreSpraying the neck
Before spraying I sanded the neck again, checking that everything was clean and wiped over with a tack cloth to remove any dust. I then sprayed another couple of coats of lacquer to seal before moving on to the tinted coat. You can spray with the neck hanging vertically, but I like to spray with [...]
Read MoreFretting and finishing a guitar neck
I thought I’d demonstrate fretting a neck and finishing it with nitrocellulose lacquer. The neck is from Guitarbuild who have recently started making copies of 1969 specification Stratocaster necks. The neck I received is very nicely made, with a compound radius fretboard which progresses up the board from 7¼” to 10″ radius. The back is [...]
Read MoreScalloping a Jem Fretboard
A regular customer of mine asked me to scallop the last four frets of his Ibanez Jem. Once the scallops were cut and sanded, I sealed the bare wood with a couple of coats of Clear Satin nitrocellulose lacquer.
Read MoreGretsch 1967 Firebird Jet Refret – mystery holes
When refretting this 1967 Gretsch Firebird, I noticed two small holes in the 14th fret slot and another two in the 2nd fret slot. I’ve never seen these before but imagine that they are for locating pins to ensure correct positioning of the fretboard when it’s being glued to the neck? There is not much [...]
Read MoreAnother LSR Nut Refit (rosewood this time)
Here’s another LSR roller nut rescue, this time on a rosewood board Stratocaster, the previous LSR roller nut repair being on a maple ‘board. This time the fitter had cut the slot too far back, and had removed the rosewood behind the existing nut, rather than just 3/32″ in front of it. They had also [...]
Read MoreJedson Les Paul copy inlay re-set
When doing a general setup and fettle of this 70s Les Paul copy, I noticed that a couple of the inlays were standing proud of the fretboard. This is a common problem with these old guitars – the celluloid shrinks, warps and comes unstuck. You can see that they were never a good fit and [...]
Read MoreDressing the frets on a 90s Fender USA Stratocaster
Before doing any levelling, you need to be sure that you are working with a straight neck. I’m using a Stewart MacDonald notched straightedge which allows me to read the fretboard. I adjusted the trussrod until the fretboard was flat. I have marked the top of each fret with a marker pen. This is so that [...]
Read MoreRefretting a Squier Vista Series Jagmaster
The Squier Vista Series Jagmaster is one of my favourite guitars. The Squier Vista series was made in Japan to very high standards and comprised around 4 models. If you are going to do this remember that rosewood dust can be an irritant so wear a dust mask when sanding and cutting it. This Jagmaster [...]
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