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Post subject: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years Eve
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 9:12 am
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Well it all started innocently enough...
I have had my Butterscoth Blonde Telecaster for just over a year. A real beauty:
Image

I was playing my Tele and because it is Winter here in the Northeast portion of the USofA and it has been extremely dry, the frets on my guitar were starting to be more pronounced. "fret-sprout" is the term I've seen used to describe this.
I've been reading thru all of the guitar Build-Threads on this Forum. With the incredible talent on this Forum of folks who have built guitars I've been picking up ideas with the thought "one of these days..." So it came to me to start trying some of these ideas in a small way.

I decided I wanted to to something about the "fret-sprout" and also wanted to do some work on "rolling the edges" of my neck.
Here are a couple of pics that will hopefully show what the edge of the neck looked like:

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Image

On the first pic you can see how "sharp" that edge is.
On both you should be able to see how "flat" the ends of the frets are. And it's these ends that have been catching my fingers lately. In the other seasons, the neck must be bigger and they don't bother me.

So I decided to use my New Years Eve Day to do some guitar work! :idea:

Having watched others do this I knew I had to get things in order and laid out my work surface and started the taping job of my frets....Boy! is this a long process! Luckily I also had some "courage" to help me along....

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I remembered reading how folks had used a file to "round" the frets ends over. Also remembered that it was a special 3-corner file that had one of the edges made smooth so as not to cut into the neck. Didn't have the proper tool so I decided to make one.

I have a number of 3-corner files and with the use of my bench grinder and a home made guide, shaved off one of the edges.Image
I was hoping the picture would show the edge better but it did come out nice and flat and more importantly "smooth"!

With that out of the way it was now time to round the fret edges over...

Image

I'm right-handed and trying to show the technique I used while taking a picture at the same time was impossible!! All I can say is that I used a "rolling" method as I pushed the file over the fret end. So that the file would start off almost horizontally but end up after the roll, at about a 45 degree angle. I did this on one edge down the neck and then did the other edge going down the neck. Then flipped the guitar 180 degrees to do the other side. Long slooooow process but by necessity. I've never done this before to any guitar much less my own and had no idea if this was correct! Talk about nervous :oops:


I then went back and used my "sanding stick" which has multiple grades of grit. I started out with a 280 grit followed by 320 then 480 and finished off with a 660 grit. Again, a long process but I wanted a smooth edge.

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Here's what it looked like afterward...

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Hard to see but the fret edges are now "rolled" nicely.

With that out of the way, it was time for a little cleanup and polish..and a drink! Can't have any type of "build thread" on this forum without a local brew!! Boy did that hit the spot after all that work!! :lol:

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I'm using "000" grade steel wool to buff out the frets.

Knowing that I was going to start "shedding" thousands of small steel filaments all over my guitar and workspace, I remembered I had a magnet that might help contain the contamination!

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These magnets were used in the "old" days of CAD-CAM design. They were used to "wipe" a palette connected to the computer to rid it of build up of magnetic energy. Essentially, a de-gausser".
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I have a few of these that I keep in my shop. Usually they just hold up pin-up calendars! :D Of scenic scenes of New England of course.... :lol:

Turns out, it worked very well!!
Hopefully you can see the huge amount of "fuzzy" steel filaments on the magnet...reminds me of the kids toy that used the same shavings to build a head of hair and beard or mustache on a face!

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Well it was time to take a peek after the polishing...
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Looks nice!

Now to roll the neck edges...
Another idea I stole from the "build-threads" was to use a screwdriver as a tool to roll the edges over on the fret board. At first I was going to remove the tape from the neck but because it's Maple, I decided to leave the tape on for this step. Glad I did!!

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The reason I say that is that the tape allowed me to see much better what I was doing to the edges. These "old eyes" of mine just ain't what they used to be. :roll: And the "darker" tape made it easier to see what I was doing.

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Again, the pics don't show the detail I wanted to show but trust me the edges seem to be nicely rounded now!

Time for a peek!
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Looked nice! What a relief!!

Time to take off the tape and clean the neck off of residue.
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And a little polish .

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The neck really shines!


Homestretch now....it's just about 10:30PM now...time to "string 'er up"! Have another "brew" from Pennsylvania that my daughter brought up for Christmas! Yueng-Ling Premium Ale..."oldest brewery in the USA"! :wink: Going down easy too.

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In the end...I'm very happy how it came out! The fret-sprout is gone! My fingers fly over the ends of the neck now without getting caught. The "rolled-edges" are a dream! Really feels nice. Something I didn't do...I was too nervous to use the file down at the very bottom of the neck, where the low-E string resides. It's just too close to the body and I didn't want to chance scratching the guitar. I would have hung myself! :( I never can get my fingers down that area of the neck anyway so I didn't chance it and it's a reminder of what used to be.

To anyone else that may try this...be aware that the thickness of the tape also prevented me from getting that little bit on the fret-ends. I used my sanding-stick to "finish off" this after all the tape was off. Not a huge deal.

Still have the setup and intonation as well but I do this over the course of the next few days to let the new strings stretch and the neck to settle down.

All in all, I had fun doing it. I have the folks on this Forum who have done the various "builds" to thank because without you folks taking the time to describe what you are doing and why, I never would have attempted this. Thank you!

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Happy New Year!
And may you all have a Healthy and Prosperous 2011!

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 9:52 am
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Great job Tyronne, enjoy to play with it now ! 8) 8) 8)

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:20 pm
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Nice going, Tyronne! Just think what you could do sober! :lol:


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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:13 pm
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Tyronne

This may not be a smart question - but since the frets were extended on the dried out neck what will happen in the spring and summer when there is again moisture in the air and the neck recovers. Will the frets be a little short?

I keep my "music room" well humidified in the winter so I don't have this problem.

Nice job though!!
:wink:


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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:55 pm
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Nice job T.

Thanks for sharing. I'm having the same issue with one of my maple neck strats and I'm going to give it the same treatment. Looks like you did an awesome job.

~Kong

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 5:52 am
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Awesome presentation and results, tyronne!

Have a great New Year playing it. 8)

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:31 am
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Cambo wrote:
Tyronne

This may not be a smart question - but since the frets were extended on the dried out neck what will happen in the spring and summer when there is again moisture in the air and the neck recovers. Will the frets be a little short?

I keep my "music room" well humidified in the winter so I don't have this problem.

Nice job though!!
:wink:


Yup...as the humidity returns in the Spring I expect the wood to swell again. The amount of fret-sprout is really tiny and our fingers being sensitive as they are, pick up just the smallest amount of difference. It wasn't like I was shredding my fingertips just enough to let me know it was there and annoying the heck out of me! To answer your question though, I don't expect the frets to be that short that the strings roll off. Time and humidity will tell. :)

I was in the Boston Guitar Center store couple of weeks back (huge store) and with their hundreds of guitars I was shocked at how many Fender guitars, both Strat and Tele had this problem! :shock: And at all price points too! Mine is a MIM model but I was holding AMERICAN models costing 3 times as much as mine and they had even a more pronounced fret-sprout. Really was an eye-opener to me.

The question came to mind though of the necks that have binding on the edges. How do those necks stay stable enough to not pop the binding off?? May be due to the necks being Rosewood and not Maple. Not sure.

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:41 am
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GTG wrote:
Nice going, Tyronne! Just think what you could do sober! :lol:


Keep in mind I did this over a 5-6 hour period...2 beers and a couple of shots of Patron tequila weren't going to do much other than quench the thirst! The champagne at midnight however between my wife and myself... :wink:

The usual warnings should apply...do not consume massive amounts of alcohol, do not use heavy machinery, do not use flames, do not drive, do not stick bare electrical wires up your bum...(unless you're into that sort of thing)

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:45 am
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You`ve got more nerve than I do. I would never have attemped to do that job. But now what happens in the summer when everything expands, will those frets now become too small in length and not reach the width of the fret board ? just a thought....

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:50 pm
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Tyronne,
Regarding bound edges, I have two mid-priced guitars with bound edges. They are awesome to play from the standpoint of no fret sting. I have never had any difficulty with the frets impacting the binding and I wonder why Fender has not attempted to use this. I suspect it is tradition and added cost. Both guitars have rosewood necks so I don't know if it would be a problem or help the problem on a maple neck. As I said earlier, I do watch the humidity at home. A cheap humidity gauge can tell you when you are heading for trouble. My new Tele has a beautiful maple neck and I will watch it closely now.

Yes, I have been amazed that some guitar stores fail to take precautions against drying necks except in the case of the premium guitars. The acoustics seem to suffer more than the electrics.
Dumb !!!!!


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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:52 am
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I was able to find a better background and light source to better show the detail of the work I did.

Here's a shot showing the rounded edges of the frets:

Image

And here you can see the last frets on the neck which I didn't touch for fear of scratching the pg. You can see how all the frets used to look.

Image

Have done the setup and intonation and it plays very nicely now. Come to find out my hi-E and B strings were up higher off the fretboard compared to the other strings by about 2/64". Wouldn't have thought it would make that much difference but it did.

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:46 am
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Tyrone

That really is excellent work mate, well done.

Here's a tip for the next time you do fretwork on a Fender guitar. The neck comes off quite easily. In all seriousness, some find it easier (me for one), especialy upper frets. Some prefer to have the body weight anchoring the neck down.
Your choice, just offering the suggestion. Having the body well away from the neck also stops the pickups attracting those tiny shavings from the frets.

Well done mate, sterling work. 8)

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:53 am
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Thanks Nik!

I have this fear of taking off the neck for some reason! :oops:
Don't have problems taking sharp tools to it though...very strange hang-up. I plan to do it next time I change strings just to prove I can.

I took off the pg though and saw that it's routed for a hb and 3 very strange holes to the upper-right of the pg, to the right of where the neck pup route is . Only about 1/2" (12 mm) in depth and about 3/4" (19mm) in diameter! Anyone know what those are used for? I should have taken a pic of it... :roll:

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:51 am
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Yeah there has been a lot of conjecture about what those holes are for. The most accepted theory is that they are holes used to position the lump of lumber on the CNC machine.
You'll likely see one on the floor of the neck pocket too.

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Post subject: Re: What Tyronne did to his Butterscoth Blonde on New Years
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 6:32 pm
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Tyronne,

Very nice job! You have more guts than I....

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