65 Mustang back to life....(more pics!)

[-CB-]

Some update pics:

Getting the neck ready to refret.  There are some small pullouts that need to be corrected.

Here's "da bench"

The new caliper...very nice.

Closeup of the neck mess.  This is round two.  You cant see round one, because after sanding, its invisible!

Mic'ing up the new fret wire...about .081 wide (but not quite).

 

[vic108]

Wow! You sure got her down to bare bones there, Bro!

Can't thank you enough for doing this.

If'n yah ever need a kidney, lemme know!

BTW: Love the biz card: "MUDWOGWEAP ENGINEERING LTD" = Nice touch!

 

[-CB-]

And the address of the firm too no doubt

UPDATE- got fret #1 in.  That one was gonna be the real mother to do, as the wood at fret #1 was the worst.  My guess (only a guess) is the built up finger grunge in the wood softened it somewhat.

I see that I'm going to need to overbend the frets, leaving them a little high in the middle, then clamp them on tight, which will keep the ends down.  I've got a plan in my head for a radiusing gadget that I can make from hardwood.  Thats gonna be tomorrows project, along with making the step-stool for my tool box, which has grown, it seems, to a little over six feet tall, and which I can no longer see into the top drawers.  Tools I got, cabinet I got, floorspace I no got.... so we went "high rise"  <grins>.

Seriously... the neck cleaned up really nice.  The fret is in the way it needs to be at fret #1 - fully seated.  I'm trying for a "Warmoth job" here, where the board is flat (it is) and the frets fully seated, so I wont have to relevel and recrown.  We'll see how that goes.....

Here's the thing folks - I've never done this before. I know what I'm supposed to have in terms of wood flatness and such, in terms of slot width, and depth, in terms of fret fit.  And I have the manual skills to pull it off.... once a tool maker, always a tool maker, right?  I just dont have experience, so... this is all old, but very new to me as well.

 

[DangerousR6]

Nice, but you should have gone with digital, no moving parts to get jammed up, B&S are notorious for that...

Looks like a fun project you got going there tho... :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

Here's the thing folks - I've never done this before. I know what I'm supposed to have in terms of wood flatness and such, in terms of slot width, and depth, in terms of fret fit.  And I have the manual skills to pull it off.... once a tool maker, always a tool maker, right?  I just dont have experience, so... this is all old, but very new to me as well.

You'll be fine. It's highly unlikely Fender paid as much attention to what they were doing when they built the thing originally as you are now, and the guy doing it probably didn't have as much skill and experience, so I'd wager the thing will come out better than new.

 

[-CB-]

Nice, but you should have gone with digital, no moving parts to get jammed up, B&S are notorious for that...

Looks like a fun project you got going there tho... :icon_thumright:

The Mits are more notorious, and the Starrett (new) are not holding up due to Chinese made beams on a USA assembly (so says three metrology houses).  So... I got the B&S.  Mit went south, they say, on the geartrains, when they shifted to Brazil production.

I PROMISE, next caliper will be an Absolute Solar, water/coolant proof

 

[-CB-]

Been a while.... finishing the rings, valves and gaskets on the Harley's top end, then pneumonia, then the weather took a turn for the turds, then Holidays, and now... finally, back into the swing of things.

This guitar had frets so thin, that they folded when I took 'em off.  They'd been filed... and I mean FILED with rough marks... down to nubs that would make a "black beauty" feel like scallops.

This fretwire fits the slots ok, but there was some considerable rot, so I cleaned that, superglued it, and re-cut the slots where needed, and superglued all the frets in.  Worked ok!  There was a bit of a clean up, and I think there are some techniques that have been used, in order to make it easier to clean up, but... without further waste of time - here's the pics.  And no, the ends are not beveled yet, and yes, it may need a slight clean up level.  FWIW, this is a short scale Fender, and the radius is also tighter - under 7 inches, about 6-7/8... its a very tight radius.  Gotta remember, its a student guitar!

It still needs a little clean up where the metal meets wood in some spots.  It needs a light sanding, and it needs beveling and polish.  There's superglue on the fret tops in a few places.  I just sorta cleaned it up a little to see how it came out, and thought some folks may be interested in the pics.  And, at least now there's some metal to press the strings against!

 

[hannaugh]

Lookin' good!

 

[-CB-]

TY~

 

[B3Guy]

pretty!  :blob7:

 

[Cagey]

Damn! Pneumonia? Didja catch it early? That stuff can kill you. Almost killed me a couple years ago. I'm missing most of my right lung now because of it. Spent 2 months in the hospital over it. Torso looks like somebody took a chainsaw after me.

Glad to hear you got over it, anyway. Fret job looks nice. Did you hammer 'em in, or do you have a press?

 

[-CB-]

I have no idea how I got pneumonia, but I strongly suspect it was lung irritation (from paint stripper fumes), at the same time I had a bit of a sinus thing.  That was Labor Day weekend, and I was still getting over it at Halloween.  It definitely started "in the nose", but I soon developed a bad cough... first doc treated the nose.  Ten days later, the second doc just yelled at me, literally.  The third one... got to the problem.  I went to see her on a Wednesday (after seeing doc #2 on Saturday at a clinic).  She was all over it.  Sent me home with meds and scrips, pre-arranged for me to go to the hospital in case I got worse, called me at home on Thursday and Friday, and Saturday.  I went to see her again that Monday and that Friday.  Her plan - treat it, but be ready to pull the trigger on a hospital stay, and she constantly urged me to not BS her, and go in on my own if I felt any worse.  Good doc, practicing good medicine I'd say.

As for the frets - I used the StewMac fret bender to curve them, and it was at the limit of its adjustment - about  7 inches, and just barely got them where they needed to be.  I partially filled and recut some of the slots.  Then I used a combination of hammer and press, and superglue to get them seated.  They're pretty level, I did give 'em a pass with 320 paper to even things up.  Fret #1 is just a tad high, I need to lower it just a little, but the frets are tall, so no problem there.  And, there was an odd end or two that was uneven.  They're solid, so I'll recrown them whenever StuMac decides to make more files available.  Right now they've been on backorder "1-2weeks" since early November.

 

[Unwound G]

The frets look good.  You gonna dress them fret ends ?

 

[-CB-]

Oh yes, but crowning comes first

 

[B3Guy]

Oh yes, but crowning comes first

that's what the doc said . . .  :sad1:

 

[Firebird211]

That baby is starting to look better already.  It was looking pretty hit until you got your hands on it.