I'm relieved to hear you didn't miss it on Saturday. That's a weight off my mind.

We'll be waiting patiently for a NGD thread...

Cheers - C

_________________

PARTICLE BOAAAAAAAARDS! o.O

Only kidding. Let's not argue about body materials...

Here's my zero fret contribution: Framus from the 60's.

How's that carved steel for a nut? Well, "string-in-place-holder", in this case.

Question: Why wouldn't one level the zero fret? If usage wears out all other frets, and those get levelled, surely for height compensation it would make sense to also smoothen out any grooves (see what I did there?) on the zero fret? Just my two pennies.

Cheers

Nutter

thats the guitar in question. my brothers holding it, im at the back throwing some shapes in my ninja turtles PJ's. late '80's photo id say. the guitar is a bit older though, probably mid '70's.

Exactly it's all relative. It would still be easier to lightly stone the fret and recut the nut slots than it would be to replace the fret. After all if the zero fret has worn you can bet your life that frets 1,2&3 have worn too.

Mine, gig gear

_________________
No no and no

Ah-ha! Back from the FedEx depot, I see.

Congrats! How does it sound? You pleased?

...Anyone care to take bets on who Nick's childhood guitar (anti-) hero influence was?

Cheers - C

EDIT: typing.

_________________

90 mph all the way.

It plays pretty bad and sounds worse.
The intonation is way off. So much so that I initially thought the low fret placement was off. The action is high and the neck very flat. So I'm going to give it an hour to acclimatize to the house out of the box. Then get the spanners on it.

Gotta do something about how neck heavy it is. The bridge pickup is horrible too. The lead that came with it is a joke. There is no literature at all aside from a registration card and a mini brochure showing other models.

Still if it were perfect, I'd feel unfulfilled once I'd blasted it for a couple of hours. At least this way I get to tinker.

On the plus side, the tuners (I know you hate em, Rotomatics) are some of the smoothest I've ever had the pleasure to turn. The bridge is lovely too.

_________________
No no and no

Will you spend that hour cutting holes in your jeans? Or do you already have a suitable pair?



Blimey - do what? You could snap the headstock off, I suppose.

Cheers - C

_________________

I was thinking of screwing a door handle to the body to aid balance and resonance.
Like this one.

_________________
No no and no

By the way, what have you got against the second fret position on your Strat? Judging from the wear on the fingerboard you don't seem to play any notes there at all. Not fond of the open A and E chords?

Something very odd about that B string saddle too - but I know better than to doubt you on intonation!

Now, remind me what the scale length on the Johnny Ramone lookalike guitar is, please.

Cheers - C

_________________

The B saddle is to suit the compensated nut.
The wear on that neck is all chipping from the bottom of the fretboard, not wear through but wear... up???

The Eastwood is 24.75" scale and currently sporting .011"s to go with the les paul sporting .008"s.

Though there is method behind that madness. One thing thicker strings do actually do is not break as often when you whack em. So their a bit of a security blanket.

_________________
No no and no

ok heres a similar question - i just went to restring my 1985 '62 custom tele, and when i got the strings off noticed the first 5 frets are worn

i can feel it if i rub my finger over the fret, but the strings arent catching on the worn bits. a few questions :

how bad can it go before it needs a re-fret ?
can you refret only some of the neck ?
how much roughly shoudl it cost ?

Hi Moochy: can't remember if you've told us - are you in London? If so, there's Andy Gibson (truly) who has a workshop in the basement beneath Chris Bryant's guitar shop in Denmark Street, and at the other end of the same road an excellent luthier named Graham lives in a similar basement beneath Andy's. (That's a different Andy; pay attention.) Either of those will do a refret for you: I was talking to Andy Gibson just today and he said he can turn that job around in a day or two if required, so no need to be without the guitar for a long time.

Mind you, those central London people are not cheap: well over £100 for a full refret. Though partial refrets are perfectly normal and cost proportionately less. If only the first four or five frets need doing then that's all they do. And the price includes a full set up.

If you are out of town it can be cheaper. I was having lunch with Forum user AndyBigHair today (that's the third Andy in this post) and he said a full refret is £80 at GAK in Brighton.

That help at all?

Let us know which bit of the country you're in and someone can probably advise you of a good local luthier for refrets.

Cheers - C

_________________

yeah thats a great guide thanks. im in norfolk though, right on the coast. the closest place to take it is in norwich, but i cant get a quote for the work without him seeing the guitar, and with my car off the road right now its a bit of a mission just to go find out what it will cost, as i might not be able to afford to get it done right now. im in no rush though, so i may just leave it unstrung for now and take it with me whenever i next find myself in the city - probably when im buying a JA-90 thinline

Nikininja is not so very far from you (not just down the road, but...). Perhaps he knows someone who can help?

Cheers - C

_________________

Moochy.

Can you post some pictures mate? If it's not too deep wear, I'll level your frets for you, pro bono.
I'm right on the south end of Linc's.

_________________
No no and no