ICTGoober
New member
I have this client who usually fingerpicks on several high dollar Taylor flattops that I've worked over. He likes his frets to be reshaped in the old Gibson fretless wonder style and the action ON the frets. It's quite a bit lower than I set electrics for metal guys. Which is a colossal pain to do - I usually charge him just over twice my normal rate because crowning those .020 tall frets is a lot of work. I can't even play them when completed - it's too low for me, and the strings buzz from my attack. He has the lightest touch of players that I work for, and there is no buzz when he plays.
Anyway - he bought this 20 year old Aria Pro II 330 style axe - a true hollowbody semi-acoustic. And he requested the usual fretless wonder setup. I used mandolin wire instead of medium stuff, very narrow and .037 tall. I didn't realize how flexible this wire was - and sharp as hell. Because of the 6 ply fingerboard binding I had to do some serious notching on the fret ends, and then glued them in with brown hide glue. As I said, recrowning was a royal beeotch, and the fret ends required finessing. Took several days to get right, but I finally strung it up tonight. I thought it was impossible to do - but it's stoopid low with light strings (.009's). Again, I can't play it - but with a really light touch, no fret buzz. Pretty sure he'll love it when he picks it up tomorrow.
Anyway - he bought this 20 year old Aria Pro II 330 style axe - a true hollowbody semi-acoustic. And he requested the usual fretless wonder setup. I used mandolin wire instead of medium stuff, very narrow and .037 tall. I didn't realize how flexible this wire was - and sharp as hell. Because of the 6 ply fingerboard binding I had to do some serious notching on the fret ends, and then glued them in with brown hide glue. As I said, recrowning was a royal beeotch, and the fret ends required finessing. Took several days to get right, but I finally strung it up tonight. I thought it was impossible to do - but it's stoopid low with light strings (.009's). Again, I can't play it - but with a really light touch, no fret buzz. Pretty sure he'll love it when he picks it up tomorrow.
