|
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3611
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Hi folks,
Probably blessed with more guts than brains, I am attempting to restore an old warrior with severely notched frets in the first three positions, somewhat less in the fourth and fifth, and virtually no wear after the twelfth (go figure!).
Anyrate, anybody out there have some ideas for rebuilding the frets on one of these old aluminum fretboard critters? THANKS!!! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2002
Posts: 17
Location: Colorado | What the heck is an:
"old aluminum fretboard critter"? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Received wisdom is that these guitars can not be re-fretted. The idea was that when they wore out the guitar would be returned to a service centre for a new neck. I'm sure an engineer could mill slots for conventional frets, but I don't think that would be cheap or pretty. It's probably time you had a guitar just for slide.
[ November 03, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3611
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Hi Guys,
Thanks for the info, Paul. Unfortunately, I surmise you're probably right. Guess I'd better start learning some Delta Slide, eh?! I don't have much to lose, either way."When Life gives you lemons.....make lemonade!!" Thanks again; I'll keep you posted on my progress. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | seesquare
Slap a capo on that thing and drop the tuning down or not, if you like it. If everything else is OK, tuning and capoing can get around those bad frets for another 10 years or so.
bc
Some Ovation built guitars had alumimum fretboards, where the frets were cast as part of the fretboard, it was stable but hard to repair as you can imagine. I can't remember the brand name.
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | The Matrix and Medallion guitars have aluminum necks. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3611
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Yep, Mr. O, it's a Matrix, made in, or about, 1975, based on the serial number 059XXX.
OK, here's the latest development. I have "refinished" the fretboard, cuz it had grooves worn in it also, in the first three positions. This has given a bit more relief to the relative fret height. I will shoot a couple of coats of black lacquer on it and find some pearl dots to replace the missing markers. The nut was pretty thrashed, so that gets a replacement, too. I'll worry about the saddle when the time comes.
I have another question, however. Is the neck-set adjustable, simply by removing the neckbolt? Seems too easy, but then again; I have a gift for cynicism. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | These guitars had a nickel silver coating applied to the "fret" which was cast into the fingerboard. It might be worth asking the factory about this, it may be possible to re-coat. I doubt it, but it's worth a shot.
As they necks were designed to be interchangeable they should just unbolt. The fretboard wont be fixed to the top like a conventional build. But because of the unique materials & contruction resetting the neck-pitch will be very tricky.
I don't think the dots are missing, there were never there in the first place, the position markers were just drilled into the ali & contrasted with the black paint.
[ November 04, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Here's a terrible folk story to think about with old instruments.
Cowboy ride horse till horse stumble, than he take off walking, Mexican jump on same horse and with spurs and whip, ride him 20 more miles, Indian set fire to tail and ride him 50 miles til he die. No matter how bad they look there is still some life in those played out wrecks.
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3611
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Bailey, you may be missing your "calling"! How very allegorical. I wholeheartedly agree with you. This old warhorse is not ready for the glue factory, just yet. And, Paul, you are an amazing fund of information! I'm going to at least paint the marker spots (maybe a nice shade of ivory?) anyway. The black lacquer looks pretty good on the neck, and I would like to make some small embellishment (honestly, for my presbyopia). I'll see how the ol' critter sets up before messing with the neck angle. Thanks again! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Seesquare
You should never praise an allegorist because his affliction will lead to another one that is not even relevant. When an Indian was found in the dead of winter huddled around a small fire under his worn blanket, and asked why he didn't build a bigger fire to keep warm he responded, "Indian build small fire, keep warm, White man build large fire, keep warm hauling wood". There is a touch of Indian in my ancestry.
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3611
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | OK, Bailey, I get the message. Basic reinforcement theory, genetic and discriminative learning paradigm. And....I surrender.
On the original issue, THE OLD WARRIOR HAS ARISEN!!!! Another example of clean livin' & right thinkin'! I replaced the nut, shaved another .03125" off the saddle, installed a new set of medium 80/20's, and wound 'im up. Pretty nice bass thump, and clear treble. I'm not real satisfied with the sustain on the high E, but I'll keep tweakin' 'til I resonate harmoniously with the ol' critter.
Not bad for a total outlay in the neighborhood of $80.00, including shipping from coast-to-coast!! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | seesquare
Good work, if you check some of the postings, there is a trend towards the members sticking their necks out and tackling the problems of their instruments. This is a great trend as there are fewer and fewer reliable repair shops or technicians any more as we have lamented in other posts. The value of this board IMHO is some of the great technical advice that helps to develop this self reliance. Your posting of your experience and techniques then helps some other member solve their problem.
You didn't set the tail on fire, did you?
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3611
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Bailey, that would imply skills I am still bereft of. I struggle simple scales and chord progressions, if that is your reference. The neck & strings are settling in, but I'm still getting some weird attenuation on the high E. I think I may investigate the seal on the treble end of the bridge- could be in tenuous contact. Doesn't buzz or anything. I may try a another nut material- current one is deer antler (points for creativity?). I'm hesitant to hone anymore off the lower frets, but that 4th fret keeps buzzing on the B string, despite adjusting the nut slot and shimming the saddle .010". Gotta be that "wire" is comparatively high. I surmise what I lack in "smarts"; I compensate with persistence.
As to your observations about information dissemination; I wholeheartedly agree. I can learn something from anyone. Maybe not useful immediately, but still noteworthy. Thank God for "search engines"!!
See ya! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Play it for a while if just the B string is buzzing, sometimes the twists and turns of adjusting to string tension temperature etc will cause the problem to go away, Now everyone is going to rise up and say "an aluminum neck can't be effected by humidity" but the guitar top is wood and can sink or rise with the changes in weather. Acoustic guitars are sensitive to everything but thats where they get their presence. If you want perfect acoustic tones, get a Gibson arch top from the 50's, the top had a 3/8 in thickness and the perfect tones were lucky to be heard 20 feet away from the guitar.
Bailey |
|
| |
Refretting an 1132-4?!
