Wrnchbndr
Wholenote
Posts: 353
Formerly Known As: WRNCHBNDR
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Post by Wrnchbndr on Mar 11, 2020 20:13:59 GMT -5
Brand new Corona California Deluxe Strat. It had the minimal amount of fret sprout. The guy wants it addressed. The guy wants me to do it as the alternative is guitar center and a tech he does not trust. The bad part - Its a maple fretboard.
The fret tangs were probably .003" above the satin finish. I used my diamond block to make them flush. I then individually dressed each end rounding away any hint of a sharp edge. They're pretty. A microfinishing pad brought up a mirror finish on the rounded ends. Being super careful with the whole process on this fingerprint-free new guitar, I made no errors and had no failures of muscle control or glitches. It took me about an hour. However...
Fender finishes the necks after the fretwork is done. They do a far better job than they used to of cleaning up the finish from the fret crowns and its almost imperceptible that they do this. You can't see on this neck where the finish has been worn through to the wood but I know that it has in quite a few random places where the movement of the tang slightly distorted the wood on either side of the fret slot. You can't see any glitches where I used my 3-corner file to round the fret ends but since there was finish on the fret ends, it stands to reason that some is now missing. This is all gonna show up as the guitar gets played. It could get ugly fairly quickly.
If this were an old guitar or if this had a rosewood fretboard, my typical action is to take a cotton cloth wet with thin lacquer and swipe the fretboard edge. All it takes is a single swipe. A second swipe is not allowed because the new lacquer immediately begins to soften the existing lacquer and a second swipe will make a mess of everything. I'm not sure this satin finish is lacquer either. Testing with lacquer thinner on the back of the heel shows no effect with two applications.
All I want to do is provide a thin seal of something where the finish has been worn through so skin oils don't discolor the maple any sooner than it normally would.
You thoughts please.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 11, 2020 20:23:59 GMT -5
it's most probably poly-u.
The lacquer trick will work fine. Swipe some on there, let it dry for an hour or two, and follow with a wipe with a cloth containing acetone or lacquer thinner. That removes any lacquer that's on the existing finish, but does not remove the stuff that has soaked into bare wood and keeps it sealed.
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Wrnchbndr
Wholenote
Posts: 353
Formerly Known As: WRNCHBNDR
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Post by Wrnchbndr on Mar 12, 2020 8:13:06 GMT -5
Thanks friend. Sometimes you need a little reassurance.
There's a disconnect when staff takes in a guitar at the front desk and you don't get a chance to discuss things with the client. Insecurity escalates when the problem isn't really a problem indicating that the client may be a hyper-perfectionist or worse. Its possible that I may have turned down the job had I been there when the client was at the shop. But in the end, the fret ends are much more friendly feeling so it wasn't a waste of time or money.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 12, 2020 8:44:31 GMT -5
Many players that don't work on guitars are unaware of the time it takes to do careful, quality work.
Knocking fret sprout off does remove finish (and sometimes wood), and the only way to achieve the look and feel of 'factory new' is to progressively sand the worked area, shoot new finish, wet sand it, and polish. This is a good option for a player that wants perfection and has lots of money.
Alternatively you could use a very small file, work under high magnification, and attack only the metal fret ends without touching the surrounding wood. Needless to say, this is extremely tedious and it takes several hours to do. This is the way to go with vintage guitars that are valuable but get played.
The more sensible way is to buzz off the fret ends with a smooth file, dress the fret ends, lightly dry sand the worked area, wipe on some finish, and send it back into the game. This takes about 45 minutes to do, and results in a perfect feel when playing. It's not factory-perfect to look at up close, but from a foot away it's undetectable and it's going to wear in anyway.
Many techs charge in the neighborhood of $60/hour plus materials. If a guitar is a collector piece, spend the big bucks on it for good work. If it's a player, you have to balance value vs. cost and make a choice.
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Wrnchbndr
Wholenote
Posts: 353
Formerly Known As: WRNCHBNDR
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Post by Wrnchbndr on Mar 12, 2020 13:22:55 GMT -5
Of concern was an inappropriate gloss witness line. I tested a standard 50:50 lacquer swipe on the inside of the heel edge and determined that the lacquer was too thick even when applied with a q-tip. I thinned the lacquer down to 12% and got a good result with a q-tip that was only moderately moist with lacquer. It'll be enough to keep the wood from being a dirt magnet.
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