I purchased My American Deluxe Ash in late 2008. The guitar plays amazing and looks beautiful. The only issue I am having with it is the finish on the fretboard seems to be chipping away in certain areas. When it first started I really didn't think to much about it at first because it was just a small area on the bottom side of the neck, but the more i play the guitar the more i see the chipping. It is now all over the neck and even on the sides of the neck wear the fret wire and wood meet. Is this something that i should be worried about? How bad will this get? And is anyone else having this happen to their fretboard/frets?

Natural wear mate. The lacquer should have worn off the fret tops ages ago. It usually takes me 3 weeks to get the lacquer off the fret tops. Board edges too are a natural wear thing from the way your hand cups the underside of the neck. Dont wear rings whilst you play and that should help slow it down a good bit.

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No no and no

Also of note regarding where it is breaking off on the end of the frets, the neck/fingerboard wood expands and contracts to its environment whereas the frets themselves do not. Consequently, separation of the finish is inevitable in these areas due to the wood 'breathing'. Consider yourself lucky that the neck hasn't contracted to the point where the frets protrude from the sides of the fingerboard and due to their inherent shape, are sharply digging into your hand (AKA, "fret sprout").

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Thanks for the information guys. Martian, i know what you mean about the "fret sprout" as i can feel a little of that starting in some spots, not bad enough to cut or dig into your hand yet but certainly the fret wire is sticking out a bit, this i'm guessing would explain some of the finish chipping off on the sides, This would also explain what is going on with my white MIM strat, it almost feels like the fret can actually cut your hand if your not careful. Thank you very much guys.

You're welcome and unfortunately, you've described bonafide fret sprout with both your guitars.

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