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Post subject: Chainsaw Fret Dress
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:55 pm
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Hi all, I was able to pick up a Strat neck off Craigslist real cheap but it looks like someone tried to file the fret ends with a wood chipper! Anyway, while it looks terrible up close, the neck actually feels pretty nice and if possible I would like to try and salvage it. Is there anything that can be done with this? In the past, I have used rosewood dust and superglue on small blemishes, but never on the edge of the board like this. Any suggestions on how to tackle this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Here it is:

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Post subject: Re: Chainsaw Fret Dress
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 10:27 pm
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Rosewood dust and cyano-acrylic glue is likely your best bet for this situation as well. While you're at it, rolling the fretboard edges will also help conceal that disaster.

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Post subject: Re: Chainsaw Fret Dress
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:33 pm
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Thanks Arjay


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Post subject: Re: Chainsaw Fret Dress
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 3:08 pm
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This is just my own $.02 for what it's worth, but if the neck otherwise feels nice, honestly...I wouldn't worry about it. To be totally honest, some of my older guitars have WAY more dings and dents then what you're showing there (btw...nice use of DOF on the pic there). If there's a sharp edge there or something that affects your playing, then yes, go ahead and address it...as you say, some saw dust with a small tich of glue should do it. However if it's just something that bothers you when you look at it...seriously, I wouldn't sweat it.

Don't let yourself get wound up about the wrong thing...


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Post subject: Re: Chainsaw Fret Dress
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 6:53 pm
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lomitus wrote:
This is just my own $.02 for what it's worth, but if the neck otherwise feels nice, honestly...I wouldn't worry about it. To be totally honest, some of my older guitars have WAY more dings and dents then what you're showing there (btw...nice use of DOF on the pic there). If there's a sharp edge there or something that affects your playing, then yes, go ahead and address it...as you say, some saw dust with a small tich of glue should do it. However if it's just something that bothers you when you look at it...seriously, I wouldn't sweat it.

Don't let yourself get wound up about the wrong thing...


Hey lomitus, thanks for the insight - I appreciate your insight, really. You definitely make some good points about leaving well enough alone! In all honesty, I am my own worst enemy when it comes down to stuff like this - neurotic! Truth be told, I can't feel a thing when I play it. I only feel the pain when I look at it up close!

Oh yeah - I had to Google DOF by the way! Thank you. For a minute there, I thought you might have been giving me the business - haha!


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Post subject: Re: Chainsaw Fret Dress
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:08 am
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Fisharm wrote:
lomitus wrote:
This is just my own $.02 for what it's worth, but if the neck otherwise feels nice, honestly...I wouldn't worry about it. To be totally honest, some of my older guitars have WAY more dings and dents then what you're showing there (btw...nice use of DOF on the pic there). If there's a sharp edge there or something that affects your playing, then yes, go ahead and address it...as you say, some saw dust with a small tich of glue should do it. However if it's just something that bothers you when you look at it...seriously, I wouldn't sweat it.

Don't let yourself get wound up about the wrong thing...


Hey lomitus, thanks for the insight - I appreciate your insight, really. You definitely make some good points about leaving well enough alone! In all honesty, I am my own worst enemy when it comes down to stuff like this - neurotic! Truth be told, I can't feel a thing when I play it. I only feel the pain when I look at it up close!

Oh yeah - I had to Google DOF by the way! Thank you. For a minute there, I thought you might have been giving me the business - haha!



Glad I was able to help. It's kind of interesting when it comes to guitars the things people get hung up on...some folks like pristine, some like "road worms", etc.. Personally I try to keep my guitars looking as nice as I can and whenever I bring home a used guitar, I'll do my best to clean it up. I'll even go so far as to admit that I have a serious thing about chrome...might be just that I'm an old car guy, but in my book "it just ain't cool of the chrome don't shine", LOL!!! On two of my MIM's, I've replaced the bridges just so the chrome wasn't rusted and ratty looking. On the other hand, I've also learned to accept that, yes...sh_t happens. In my years, I've had guitars get knocked off stands, I've had guitars come off the strap while playing (before I started using strap locks of course), once had a rhythm player bang his guitar neck into mine on a very cramped stage, yadda, yadda. A couple years back when my father was in the hospital just before he passed away, I had a few drinks at a show...me and Captain Morgan got real friendly that night (normally I only have 1 or 2 beers at a show) and after the second set, yea...tripped over my own guitar cable while I was hopping off stage and knocked one of my guitars right off the stage. No serious damage (thank goodness) but she took on a couple new dents and bruises. A couple of my guitars do have cigarette burns at the headstock from having done the whole Stevie Ray Vaughn thing with my cig while play. I have an older Memphis LP knock-off that bears MANY scars from, shall we say, "the indiscretions of my youth", LOL!!! One of my newer acquisitions (got her about a year ago)...a '96 MIM...when I got her, she looked like someone's Pitbull chewed on the body in 3 different places. I had thought about leaving it as it...it was a pretty distinctive look, however there were some serious rough spots there that were REALLY annoying while I was playing (particularly under my right palm). I got her for pretty cheap so I just sanded down the rough spots and sharp edges and that's the guitar I use for my Roland synth now (I -love- my mid 90's Latinas!).

I will say that I still just do NOT get the whole relic thing...I just don't understand why someone would pay, let alone pay extra for a guitar that was faked and beat up like that at the factory. To me that's like buying a brand new car where someone at the factory smashed out a headlight, keyed the door panels and painted 1 rim school bus yellow...why would you pay extra for that? Just doesn't make any sense to me at all. Natural wear on the other hand goes with the turf and is part of the mojo. It shows the guitar was loved enough for someone to have actually played it (instead of being locked up in a closet somewhere) . To me, a few (natural) dings, bumps and bruises tell me it's a -real- guitar :-)

Either way, to me it's about how well the guitar plays. As an artist, yes, aesthetics are important, however the bottom line is that if you can close your eyes and "the feel" is there, THAT is what's important.


On the Depth of Field thing (DOF)...absolutely no crack was intended. Among other things, I'm a photographer and I tend to notice when such things are done well. It's an amazing artistic tool for photographers that allows you to put the focus (literally) right on the important part of the composition. Unfortunately A LOT of people don't always do it very well, even with decent cameras. In any case, whether it was intentional or not - well done :-)


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Post subject: Re: Chainsaw Fret Dress
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:09 am
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lomitus wrote:
Fisharm wrote:
lomitus wrote:
On the Depth of Field thing (DOF)...absolutely no crack was intended. Among other things, I'm a photographer and I tend to notice when such things are done well. It's an amazing artistic tool for photographers that allows you to put the focus (literally) right on the important part of the composition. Unfortunately A LOT of people don't always do it very well, even with decent cameras. In any case, whether it was intentional or not - well done :-)


I like to mess around to get a good pic. I can honestly say, that I have sold many a guitar based in part on the pics I posted when advertising. This goes for cars too, or just about anything you might put on Craigslist or eBay. A good set of pics will get them out to see what you have and that's half the battle when selling gear. Believe it or not, my favorite camera of choice (blasphemy here) is my iPhone! It's always on me and it truly takes great pics provided you put a little thought into the lighting, angle and shot. It's a lot of fun.

As far as the road worn look goes - I'm kinda with you there. I just picked up an '82 Peavey T-60 that was clearly played A LOT over the last 33 years! I like the look and it feels authentic. It looked beat to $@!& and dirty when I got it, but after a thorough cleaning and set up, only that played-out mojo remains! Funny, I never worry too much at all about the minor dings and dents my guitars pick up, (I have three dogs and three boys, so there is peril around ever corner of my house). My guitars are out of their cases pretty much all the time, ready to be picked up and played and I almost feel liberated after a new guitar takes it's first scar (Now I Can Really Play It!!). Don't get me wrong - I really do appreciate a new - pristine guitar as an object of beauty. But guitars were meant to be played, not hidden in their case or hanging as a piece of art - as pretty as they may be.


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