Considering Fretboard Replacement on 1973 Gibson

[Pete Halliday]

I own a 1973 Gibson Les Paul Signature and am considering replacing the fretboard on it. I'd appreciate some feedback on what that would do to the instrument's value--financial or otherwise.

For those not familiar with the guitar, it is similar in construction to an ES 330 but with a big hunk of spruce between the top and back in the area of the bridge but not the full length of the body. It is a goldtop with walnut back and sides and a mahogany neck.

This particular example is in good shape but by no means mint. At some point the headstock was drilled out for Schallers which I replaced with Grover Deluxe keystone tuners to get the vintage look back but using the larger holes. The extra screw holes were filled and hidden fairly well. The neck had also been oversprayed at some point so there are no original finish issues.

The problem with the fretboard is that someone performed a sloppy refret some time and ended up sanding off about a third of the thickness of the fretboard between the end of the body and the bridge. In doing so they sanded through the ends of some of the inlays and through the binding to the top of the side dots so that they show through the top of the binding. The visual issues are irritating to me, but the biggest issue is that the action is still slightly higher than I'd like with the bridge adjusted to be practically in contact with the top--just high enough to not buzz, maybe a paper width.

Like I said, the guitar is mine and I am unlikely to sell it, but don't want to do something stupid. The guitar is playable but could be better with the work. Anyone have any thoughts?

[Brian Evans]

If you can do a credible job of replacing the fretboard, I would do it. A couple of thoughts. It's known as a neat, nice guitar but it never caught the imagination of the great guitar playing public, so it's kind of an orphan and the value probably isn't in the five or even high four digits. Originality is nice, but a guitar has to be a player for me to think it's right, so undoing the damage already done is very appropriate. You can take the opportunity to do a full refinish on the neck, clean up the tuner situation, get the action back to where it should be, all good things. In my opinion you will increase the value of the guitar quite a bit by doing a good repair on it.

You might be able to minimize damage to the gold top by planing the residual fretboard off rather than removing the normal way.

Brian

[David King]

Can't you buy a radiused, fretted, bound and inlayed replacement board for this guitar? I'd think someone would have cornered that market by now.

[Pete Halliday]

I'm pretty much thinking the way that you are, Brian. The good news is that there is a neck extension under the fingerboard so there is little or no risk to damaging the top. David, you can buy inlay sets which I might go ahead and do (probably shell rather than the original plastic) but I'd be too cheap to pay someone else for something I can do fairly easily. I'd also guess that there is some variability in the neck width from guitar to guitar so getting a replacement that was just right would be hard to do.

[Michael Lewis]

Then YOU will be installing the new board, trimming and binding it, fretting it, and finally, finishing it. It's not rocket science but it IS a procedure you need skill and care to end with a good result and to avoid causing any damage to surrounding areas. Go ahead, ask me how I know this.

[Brian Evans]

I bought a slotted, inlaid fretboard from these guys. I think this is the one you need; http://shop.custominlay.com/Trapazoid-I ... -2-107.htm

Frankly, I can't buy a fingerboard blank here for that money, so getting one radiused, slotted and inlaid is a total bargain for $71. Haven't received it yet, but in the next week or so I'll get it.