Has anyone ever had a guitar with a painted fretboard?
I haven't but I do now. A friend of mine gave me an acoustic guitar that has seen better days and started to clean it up. The fretboard was full of gunk and detritus. I tried all the usual ways of cleaning but I soon realised that the fretboard had been painted black. I've decided to carry on scraping it all back to the original wood, I think it's quite nice.
What was going to be a simple cleaning job, fret polish and restring, has turned into something much bigger. This is where we all need to be careful if we are working on other peoples' guitars. I'm glad this is my guitar and not a customer's.
Anyway, it's an experience and I think it will look better when I'm finished.
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
@robin Yeah ok, that sounds good.
The one I have here and the one you are passing on to me, they will just be campfire guitars. If they don’t play well around the campfire then I can throw them on the campfire. 🔥 😆
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
Well, it turns out that what started out as a few cosmetic fixes needed to get this thing up and running, has snowballed into much more.
First I ended up stripping the paint off the fretboard and polished the frets. Strung it up and tested the playability, it seemed fine but with a bit of intonation trouble. Then I noticed the action kept getting higher as I was constantly tuning it. Then I saw why. 😂
It turns out that the bridge is coming unstuck. 😂
I don't have any of those fancy long reach acoustic guitar clamps for the bridge. Are there any other solutions or do I have to buy some?
Should I take the bridge off completely and clean up the body and underside of the bridge before regluing or just chuck a load of glue underneath and clamp it, hope for the best?
I think I know the answer. 😂
Has anyone used one of these clamps before? Would this be ok for this purpose? It’s what it’s made for after all. Don’t see why not.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186202572039
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
I think I know the answer
Yes, you know the answer, take off and do it properly. I looked at that bridge clamp before I glued mine on, it would be cheaper than buying three long clamps. But, when you build an acoustic (and you know that you can't resist) you'll need these long clamps anyway. On that metal clamp, looks like the two inner screws come up through the e string holes to clamp the middle part of the bridge and the two outer screws clamp down in the wings. Probably easier to set up than three bulky wooden clamps, to be honest, I struggled getting these three clamps in there.
@robin Yeah, I think you are right on all accounts there. I think the little metal clamp will do me for now but WHEN I get around to a proper acoustic build, I will definitely invest in the long reach clamps.
Thanks for the advice.
Cheers. 👍
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
Has anyone used one of these clamps before? Would this be ok for this purpose? It’s what it’s made for after all. Don’t see why not.
Hi @boo. I haven't used this clamp but I've seen someone else use it and it seemed perfect for the job. It's better than using any other clamping technique, I think.
🙂🎶🎸🙏
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
Hi @boo
I've got that acoustic here at the caravan now if you still want it, I'm only here for a few days, I suspect by the time you see this post I'll be away again. Drop me an email, my email address hasn't changed. I'll likely not be back here until easter.