Please Treat this Section as Incomplete.
The Blue Hyperlinks will take you to the various sections
REPAIR
Top Nuts . A 'Fret Job' . Re-Frets . Electrics
'Touching in' - Damaged Bodywork & Lacquer
Repairing or Replacing Damaged 'Inlays'
Repairing Damaged Fingerboards
'Plugging' and Re-Drilling
MAINTENANCE
Hardware Maintenance . General Maintenance
Intonation . Re-Polishing . 'Setting-up'
Replacing Banding and Purfling
Replacing Fingerboards
Replacing Necks
Re-Spraying
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Please Click on the Links
below for
Detailed Information.
These
Pages
may take a while to download as they contain
Pictures.
There is a lot of 'ground' I'd like to cover..... if possible.
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A 'Fret Job'
First I'm going to
show you what is involved in doing a 'Fret Job'.....
..... a 'Fret Job'
is when the frets are 'dressed'
or 'stoned'
to level
them over
after either : - use,
or in some cases
new guitars
that may have uneven frets.
After this stage, the frets have their edges
re-beveled, the frets are then
re-profiled and then polished.
I'm going try to incorporate some pix
to help
you to understand the process.
'Fret Jobs' can be done with just a few
specialist
hand tools
A "FRET JOB" ON A NATURAL FINGERBOARD..... 'ELECTRIC'
A " FRET JOB" ON A LACQUERED FINGERBOARD..... 'ELECTRIC'
A FRET JOB ON AN ACOUSTIC
GUITAR
The Tasks have to be approached
slightly differently for both
Natural Wood
fingerboards and
Lacquered
fingerboards. As I've got a few pix to hand..... I'm going to start the
section on the Electric types first.
If you read through both 'Electric' Sections for Natural and for Lacquered types
you will see the differences in approach for each.
Acoustic Guitars can be a
bit more tricky
!
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New Top Nuts
Essentially, there are 3 types
of Top Nuts - listed below.
Making them can be pretty tricky and can take a
while. They have to fit perfectly, and the grooves
for the strings have to be very precise.
There is a
huge variety of materials available these days..... plastics,
bone, graphite and
bone substitutes etc. They also now come in a variety
of colours..... from the more standard White,
through shades of Cream
to Black.
Some of these materials are lubricated
or have 'slippery properties' so there is less
friction - helping the guitar to stay in tune.
I will try to get some pix
organized showing the different sorts of materials available.
Top Nuts can be made relatively easily with just a few specialist
hand tools.
MAKING A NEW TOP NUT..... F*-Style Electric.
MAKING A NEW TOP NUT..... G*-Style Electric.
MAKING A NEW TOP NUT..... M*-Style Acoustic.
REPAIRING TOP NUTS.
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Re-Frets
Re-frets (done properly) are complicated
jobs and have to be approached very carefully.
It's not just a question of 'whipping out' the old
ones and 'banging in' the new ones.
Once the job
has been started it has to be finished and to do the job should be quite
a commitment, usually with all sorts of little problems along the
way.
Re-frets require quite a few specialist tools,
some needing custom modifications.
Please note.....
It is not common knowledge that there are different types of hardness
/ softness of fretwire, apart from different widths and heights.
Some can be reminiscent of butter... and I'm not joking. Some is so soft that a
player will start making grooves in it within a few weeks and another re-fret
will be needed very shortly. This type of wire could be put in by anybody,
including my 11 year old daughter, with about 30 minutes instruction..... it is
that easy. Beware !
Some wire is so hard that it can last 20 years of constant
use. This wire is very difficult to put in correctly... which is where
the skill comes in. If you are thinking about having a re-fret you must be
specific on the type of wire you require when you ask for the job to be done by
somebody else.
A RE-FRET ON A NATURAL FINGERBOARD..... Electric.
A RE-FRET ON A BOUND FINGERBOARD..... Electric
A RE-FRET ON A LACQUERED FINGERBOARD..... Electric.
A RE-FRET ON A NATURAL FINGERBOARD..... Acoustic.
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