Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Gonso
Speaking of, blackmagic:
Any basic tips for fret leveling a compound radius 10"-16" fretboard the right way? I've been kind of winging it by feel and there's really limited information online about it. I'm getting okay results but I think my approach could be fine tuned a lot, it doesn't feel very precise the way I'm doing it. I'm not even sure I'm radiusing the saddles enough.
I think you will have to wing it. Jackson, Warmoth and others are doing those but I know Jackson/Charvel is using a CNC machine and I assume that Warmoth is as well. I also have a small CNC machine that I use but it can be done by hand if you take your time, use some radius sanding blocks and fine tune. The guy that I learned from could do them with a wood plane but I don't have that kind of touch with one. He is from Croatia and his father built the old style wood barrels with the metal bands around them, and he started assisting him when he was a kid. He was small and would go inside the barrels and use a wood plane, so he has tons of experience. GL!
The finish on my Tele was actually pretty easy to do- the mahogany took a lot of sanding and then quite a bit of vinyl sealer as it is so porous. The transparent black was done with an alcohol based stain so it wouldn't make the grain rise like a water based one. I just used a rag and wiped it on, making sure to do it very quickly and evenly because if you hesitate, it will make it darker in that spot. Then sprayed the whole thing with sealer, wet sand, then multiple coats of lacquer. Wait three weeks for the lacquer to cure, then lots of wet sanding and then buffing.
Michael