Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: Ian Price on December 06, 2008, 03:51:53 PM
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I took my tele in to Jonathan a few weeks ago for a bit of a health check. It now has a new nut, new frets and has had the fingerboard levelled. The result of this is nothing short of exceptional - it has turned the guitar from one I never really played to a guitar that I want to play all the time.
At the time, and no disrespect intended, I thought £201 was a lot of money to pay just to sort the neck out. I now realise that it was money very well spent, worth every penny and has cured my GAS for a new tele/strat.
Thanks Jonathan!
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I'm currently having this dilemma...
My cheap as chips SG200 is wonderful - with the Mules it sounds as good as anything I've heard.
But the frets need some serious (and expensive) work. My dilemma is - pay for someone that knows what they are doing (Jonathan sorted the neck out on my Charvel, and it's great), OR treat it as a learning experience and have a crack at it myself... it'll cost me some tools, and it'll never be as good as having a pro sort it out, but chould be fun.
I'd find it hard to justify a couple of hundred quid on a guitar that only cost me £180 (OK, the BKPs pushed the price up a little...)
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Feline has done work on several of my guitars (including 4 refrets & several other setups). His work is outstanding. It's like getting a new guitar.... :)
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Ian - I am delighted that you are enjoying the tele so much
Fender refrets on guitars made between 1965 and 1983 are trickier as the frets have to be knocked out sideways, as they were installed sideways, and extracting them normally would tear up the fingerboard
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/workshop%20pix/P1050026.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/workshop%20pix/P1050022.jpg)
Buying tools and learning to do this sort of work is a pretty noble thing to do but like anything it takes a lot of practice to build up the skills and for some people life is too short to master everything.
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Cheers Jonathan - I knew I paid for quality!
Have you got any more pics of the repair work? Would be good if you could post them up on this thread!
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Buying tools and learning to do this sort of work is a pretty noble thing to do but like anything it takes a lot of practice to build up the skills and for some people life is too short to master everything.
A concept I try to live by on a daily basis...
:)
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I think I ought to treat my old Strat to a bit of Jonathan's care. She has been tweaked to keep here playable but needs some TLC from a professional methinks.
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I'm currently having this dilemma...
My cheap as chips SG200 is wonderful - with the Mules it sounds as good as anything I've heard.
But the frets need some serious (and expensive) work. My dilemma is - pay for someone that knows what they are doing (Jonathan sorted the neck out on my Charvel, and it's great), OR treat it as a learning experience and have a crack at it myself... it'll cost me some tools, and it'll never be as good as having a pro sort it out, but chould be fun.
I'd find it hard to justify a couple of hundred quid on a guitar that only cost me £180 (OK, the BKPs pushed the price up a little...)
Sounds about rght for a pimped guitar. I've had all mine done and they play 100% better :D
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Yeah I can chime in on this one as well - Jonathan replaced my Baja's frets a while back.
Same as you Ian, it was "how can I justify this on just the neck??!", but since having it done I'm looking at my other guitars with a view to fret work of some sort and the GAS for new guitars has somewhat diminished for the moment (that's the "planned GAS", mind you, I still don't rule out the impulse buys if the right thing appears in front of me when there's enough money in the pot!! :lol:).
I'm sure I could do frets myself, BUT what it would cost me in tools, practice time (and b*ggered necks/fingerboards!) kind of rules it out for me. One of the things I've learnt this year is that worn frets are not the end of the world - they can be fixed/replaced. It is a pricey job (whether you pay someone else or decide to take it on yourself), but boy does it make a difference when they're done well... It's like you've got a new guitar in your hands, but it's still your old favourite at the same time.
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I wish I could learn all this. I find it really interesting. Got a job for me Jonathan? :lol: