CTN
The Drama Dude
I have a Slammer Explorer copy...or a copy of the Hamer Standard, however you wanna think about it. Fretwork and construction is really surprisingly decent for how much i paid for it ($250). Electronics are kinda crappy, but that'd to be expected. At least it plays fairly nicely.
I've had it for at least 8 or 9 years. Barely used or cleaned it in that time. Approximately 6 or 7 years ago was the last time I changed the strings, and while it got a decent amount of playing since then, I really stopped caring about it all that much ever since i had better guitars to play. All these years of neglect had made the guitar dusty and old, strings were rusted and dead, fretboard dry and caked in grime. It was on the verge of death, and it showed.
The other day, I felt really bad about it, so i took off all the strings, wiped the whole body down, gave it a good polishing, same with the headstock. I have an old toothbrush with soft bristles that i use for cleaning my guitars, more specifically fretboards, and i painstakingly sat down with it for at least 45 mins to an hour, getting every last speck of grime cleaned off.
Finally seeing the grain on the fretboard after so many years was surprising. It's a rosewood fingerboard, and from what I can tell, pretty good quality. The grain looked nice, but the board was dry as hell. I got a little bit of olive oil (didn't have lemon, but i figured that cold pressed extra virgin is probably just as good if not better) and slowly rubbed it in with my fingers, until the grain was brought out and the fretboard was noticeably absorbing the oil.
I rubbed in a couple of coats of oil just cuz I've neglected it so long and because of how readily it was sucking up all the oil. left it overnight to get itself back in condition, and then I restrung it. It's amazing, I feel really connected to that piece of wood now. It's totally forgiven me for the years of neglect, cuz now it feels smooth and buttery to play on. the brand new strings probably help that a bit too, but it's really a nice neck.
All the guitar needs now is a new set of pups and electronics and it'll be something worth playing on a regular basis.
I've had it for at least 8 or 9 years. Barely used or cleaned it in that time. Approximately 6 or 7 years ago was the last time I changed the strings, and while it got a decent amount of playing since then, I really stopped caring about it all that much ever since i had better guitars to play. All these years of neglect had made the guitar dusty and old, strings were rusted and dead, fretboard dry and caked in grime. It was on the verge of death, and it showed.
The other day, I felt really bad about it, so i took off all the strings, wiped the whole body down, gave it a good polishing, same with the headstock. I have an old toothbrush with soft bristles that i use for cleaning my guitars, more specifically fretboards, and i painstakingly sat down with it for at least 45 mins to an hour, getting every last speck of grime cleaned off.
Finally seeing the grain on the fretboard after so many years was surprising. It's a rosewood fingerboard, and from what I can tell, pretty good quality. The grain looked nice, but the board was dry as hell. I got a little bit of olive oil (didn't have lemon, but i figured that cold pressed extra virgin is probably just as good if not better) and slowly rubbed it in with my fingers, until the grain was brought out and the fretboard was noticeably absorbing the oil.
I rubbed in a couple of coats of oil just cuz I've neglected it so long and because of how readily it was sucking up all the oil. left it overnight to get itself back in condition, and then I restrung it. It's amazing, I feel really connected to that piece of wood now. It's totally forgiven me for the years of neglect, cuz now it feels smooth and buttery to play on. the brand new strings probably help that a bit too, but it's really a nice neck.
All the guitar needs now is a new set of pups and electronics and it'll be something worth playing on a regular basis.
