Chubbuck Guitars / Kevin Chubbuck, making & repairing guitars in an old building just north of Boston, Massachusetts.
Viewing entries tagged
fretwork
Six years of heavy daily playing has this guy back in the shop for new frets. I love how well this guitar has held up over the years, especially with how heavily Andy Mowatt gigs. Below you can see it's little brother Mousa 003 on the bench just before the neck was glued to the body.
Videos from the daily vlog of pulling the old frets and then leveling, crowning and fret end dressing of the new ones.
Fretjob & Bone Nut :: 1994-95 Japanese Fender Tele / Foto Flame [8.3 lbs]
A mid nineties Japanese Tele in for a refret. The fingerboard had a vintage 7.25" fingerboard radius and rise over the body was choking out big bends high up the neck for this player. We decided to flatten the extreme radius down to 10"R and plane down the body hump in the process. The tele cup jack was also swapped out for a more rugged electrosocket jack.
Note that this neck looks like a killer piece of flame maple, but it is some dubious trickery at play. The flame on this neck is actually a piece of film that is wrapped over the neck during the finish process. This technique is branded "Foto Flame" and looks really convincing until you move the guitar in the light. A true flame figure will roll in the light (light areas becomes dark and vice-versa). The dark spots on this stay consistently dark. Check out this link for more info on Fender's fake flame forgery. (There's a conspiracy that a worker placed the Hamburglar's face in the flame!)
Frets :: Chubbuck Kalliope 001
Now that the bridge and frets are on, time for the final fittings: nut, saddle and tuners.
Catch up on this build's photos here: http://www.chubbuckguitars.com/acoustic/kalliope001
Light fret dress :: 2006 Mirabella 17" [5.8 lbs]
I had a rare opportunity this week to have a beautiful 17" Cris Mirabella archtop in the shop for a minor fret level on the upper frets. The player has it set up with super-low action and it plays amazingly clean. I shot a video with this guitar to practice my video setup and workflow that I will be posting over on the blog soon.
Yet another guitar that I wish could have hung around the shop longer ... it will be missed!
Dried-out Fret Level :: Gitane DG-455 [4.0 lbs]
This past winter took it's toll on this thinline gypsy jazz guitar. The guitar had dried out to the point of the strings touching the frets, along with top cracks along the fingerboard extension. The fingerboard also developed cracks where the frets were pushing out the ends of the board. The cracks were all glued and the sharp / raised frets were leveled and dressed.
![Fretjob & Bone Nut :: 1994-95 Japanese Fender Tele / Foto Flame [8.3 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1440650633761-JEUCJM8RSMHTS6CYW8TJ/image-asset.jpeg)
![Light fret dress :: 2006 Mirabella 17" [5.8 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1430976723215-KQUYX22D88GUOHXYFV0N/image-asset.jpeg)
![Dried-out Fret Level :: Gitane DG-455 [4.0 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1430977447302-0BAIMRUH8OSS4D3AQ52R/image-asset.jpeg)