MIMF

I'm doing a clean-up / setup job on a 2002 Strat with a maple board.
It still has a lot of finish on the "slopes" of the frets.
I figure someone here has figured a clever way to clean all that off without scraping up the frets too much, or scratching up the board.

Anyone?

This is working reasonably well for the thick stuff, but the thin stuff is much more annoying.
Probably just leave it, eh?

I've used a nail tool like Mark Swanson describes with success on new finishes, but don't know how well it would work on old lacquer.

http://www.mimf.com/library/Removing_ni ... -2007.html

I've used a sharp knife used like the nail above.

Ultimately the cure comes when the guitar needs a refret. Then I refinish the fingerboard before putting the frets in. On old instruments I mix in a bit of amber.

Sweet Jebus, drop the dental tool and back away! I attempted this once, albeit on frets that had grown green in damp storage, and ended up refinishing and refretting a neck very poorly - I recounted this effort to you once over a pint - in my first and last repair attempt. If done again, I would use a very sharp exacto or razor to cleanly shear the lacquer at the base of the fret. The dental tool leaves a ragged and chipped edge that can easily and quickly spread to the fretboard surface. Oh, I shudder at the memory....

+1 for the sharp blade suggestion. Shear the lacquer - then scrape it off the fret

For sure, you have to score or cut the lacquer at the base of the fret a bit before you try to scrape it off or you will break chips off the fingerboard surface.

Hey guys,
The dental pick is doing a great job of scoring the finish film at the bottom of the fret, and as you can see in my photo, the thick stuff just flakes right off.
I've been just rubbing it with my fingernail now, and it is mostly coming off.
Nice that Fender leaves that on there to get all scummy, trapping grime in the crevices. Guess if you do something long enough it is "traditional". Still not tidy though - if you ask me.

No, I hate that "finish on the frets" thing.

Well ... I hate it now.

Custom lutherie ruins you for this stuff.
Apparently they don't even remove the protective film from the pickguard before assembling with pups and switches, because there are little bits of plastic film under every screw on the face (and back) of the guitar. Each screw has a nasty little pig-tail of torn plastic. Nice look.
How much do people pay for these things because they say Fender on the headstock??
I'm dead.

Oh Hell no, they leave that stuff on there until the customer has to pull it off. Some people never take it off, to "save" that new look...and they are later on screwed because if you leave it on too long you can never get it off.

Chuck Tweedy wrote: How much do people pay for these things because they say Fender on the headstock??
I'm dead.

Nah, you're in another market.

there is so many things on Fenders that annoy me working on them. Trusrod access, trem functioning, trussrodinteraction with neck!!, 0.05 trem screws electronica installation, fretboard finishes, pole alignment etc. just wanted to throw in some b%$#%ing
its the best sold not so best guitar by far

Don't leave out screwed-on necks.
A wood screw is not a bolt.

To be fair, fender sells their instruments at a pretty reasonable price for a domestically produced instrument. Last I heard some of them sounded ok too. Quality vs price today is miles ahead of what it was in the 1970s and 80s.

David King wrote:To be fair, fender sells their instruments at a pretty reasonable price for a domestically produced instrument. Last I heard some of them sounded ok too. Quality vs price today is miles ahead of what it was in the 1970s and 80s.

Yep, I agree.
And you can't go wrong with a Tele sound.

To be more than fair, Leo Fender created Strat's and Tele's...what we call "the very definition of electric guitars!" I've worked on them for over four decades and still enjoy everything about them. I used to bitch about the things said above but somehow that faded away from my awareness and now I only appreciate the fact that they've stayed fairly true to what was...great guitars for all players, including the very best we've heard on the planet.