Chipped finish

[C Desborough]

Hello,

I recently took my guitar to my local luthier for a fret level and polish (which went well, albeit they are very low now). Upon getting my guitar home however, I was disappointed to see that the finish at the edges of the fingerboard has been chipped away in numerous places- I have included a photograph. I think that it is polyurethane and fender refer to it as satin polyurethane and I am worried that it may chip further now. Is there anything I can do to rectify this or fill it in/refinish?  

Many thanks,

Chris

[Mike Kolb]

Take it back to the fellow who caused the chipping and let him worry about it. You paid for the work and he caused the problem, so he can fix it.  If he's unable to do it right, take it to someone who can and ask the first guy to reimburse you.

[Gary Fried]

Well I'd contact whoever did the work and have them correct it.  With some fender necks this is unavoidable because the finish is already peeling from the wood. I have had necks like this where the finish chipped off while dressing the edge and normally I would wick some thin CA into the edge of the chip and then drop fill, level sand, and buff/blend it to the rest of the neck. Shouldn't take very long.

[Paul Verticchio]

I'd also be worried about the rusty plain strings.

Although I dislike "rating" another tech's work, the overall 'finishing' of the frets is amateur/hack quality.

I echo Mike's advice to return to the bandit that did this and make him correct it. Courtesy dictates that he should be given a chance to finish the job/correct his mistakes. An instrument should always come back from the shop in better condition than it was when sent for service.

If your guy can't bring it up to pro spec's, take it to a real pro, get the work done, pay for it & take the receipt to the original guy & tell him that's what he owes you.

I apologize if I seem overly critical but there are too many guys out there today who buy a few tools from Stew-Mac and immediately start advertizing that they can do fretwork.  There are several in the rural area in which I live that are doing $25 fret level/crown/polish jobs.  I've had to rescue a few guitars sent to them.  I always tell my clients that they "got exactly what they paid for".

And finally, if you're not satisfied with the height of the frets, talk to an experienced tech to determine if a refret is the appropriate solution.  As professional (professional defined as one who accepts payment for work) service providers, we expect to be paid customary industry wages. As a customer, you are entitled to a job well done and have the right to accept nothing less.

I hope everything works out to your advantage,

Paul

[Hesh Breakstone]

I agree with Paul and normally won't comment except to my shop mates on the poor quality work that we see in our shop but this work is lacking in nearly every aspect...

There is no polish to the frets and with the excellent pic posted I see scratches, virtually no attempt what-so-ever to shape the ends..., crowns that look like school bus roofs with a hard edge where the crowning file of which was obviously never rocked ends, and even where the frets are nipped off at the ends it's inconsistent and just looks like very poor workmanship.

What is throwing me off though is that the chipping is in regions between the frets of which for the life of me I cannot imagine why a refret would even touch this area (but not using the proper vise might...).  In addition, where chipping is most likely, at the tang ends the finish is either still present... or the ends may have been touched up with a drop fill or three.

Admittedly we all have our own personal standards but even if I drop mine about 50% this is a substandard job and I also suspect that the leveling may suck too with my meaning being that things are likely not level where we want level, relief where we want relief, and fall-away where that is supposed to be either.

When doing the fret ends we endeavor to not have the ends proud in any way and it's not uncommon to use a very benign file with safed sides and ramped front to "skate" on the finish edge and nip away at the proud fret ends.  When this is done you will see a bit of a bevel on the finish edge that will be uniform, consistent, and have that "intentionality" look to it that is indicative of a craftsman.  No evidence of this either with sloppy ends with large scratches and what looks like a very quick effort to break the edges.  There is no shaping at all to the ends and I also see the evidence of a "tonker" or, more specifically one who read a book that I have here indicating that we should tonk the ends down further even it is creates a slope off the fret.... surface...

If it were my guitar I would not take it back to the same person who did this in that you now have a shining example of the work to be expected there.  I would also be interested to know what you were charged as well if for no other reason other then to see if this is what to expect from the sorts who Paul described very well.

You may also want to check for loose frets and this can be easily done simply by lightly... tapping each fret with a metal object such as an engineer's scale.  Tap each one on both ends and in the middle.  If the tone that you hear changes from a solid sound you will know what you have.

Lastly how does the guitar play, is the action capable of being low which should be the case with a proper fret dress provided that there are no other limiting factors.

I'm sorry that this happened to you and your guitar.  Many of us who do Lutherie work have great passion not only for the work but how well we accomplish same.  It's a difficult business to be in and you won't find us driving Aston Martins but you will find many of us often agonizing over the smallest details that our clients may never notice.  Frets ends are kind of a signature thing in this trade in that many of us do them differently intentionally and as a show of our skill and attention to detail.  They may be a signature of sorts in this way or in other words one way of showing "pride" in our work and signing our work, proudly with a signature fret end or 44. 

From the looks of your again excellent, very large pics this person's signature is not what I believe that anyone should expect when taking their prized instrument to a professional Luthier.  Sorry again that this happened to your guitar and You.

PS:  I was just looking at the pic again and the chipping.  The peaks and valleys of the chipping look very similar in two of the instances.  As such I would not be surprised if this was caused by how and what the neck may have been clamped with, is....  Most of us have learned that leather and cauls are our friends....

[Robert May]

His file was loaded with fret metal and it knocked that finish off. He should have taken care of it, since it's not hard to do. I fill the fret end gaps with super-glue anyway, so I always take care of missing finish along the neck edges too, at the same time, even if the finish was already chipped when the guitar arrived, which is pretty common.

[C Desborough]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply- it's great to have professional opinions. As mentioned it wasn't a refret, just a level and crowning but I am still disappointed. You mentioned the action, the saddles are as high as they can be and the action isn't great but I expect that if I lower them It'll start to get some buzz. The luthier did mention that if it were a refret he would take the ramp off the bottom of the fretboard. This job cost £60 but I would have paid more to get a better job in retrospect. I will telephone the shop tomorrow and mention all of this, do you have any advice on what to say?

Thanks again

Chris

[Mark Pollock]

While everybody is piling on, I might as well join in -

Dude didn't even clean up the filings from the fretboard. They are just hanging there, waiting to go to your pickups and cause problems there.

As an amateur, I've done very little fretwork, but the little I've done looks way better than this. It takes time. Your service guy did NOT take time, and did a pretty lousy job.

[C Desborough]

I might also add: is it actually possibly to rectify this and make it level with the rest of the finish? Understandably, I am concerned with the ability of the guy that did this. I am myself, a very fastidious person and have no doubt that when working on my own possessions, I would do so meticulously. If i were to try and fix this myself, what would I need?

Gary mentioned thin CA- what kind of CA glue is this/is there a particular brand that you would use?

Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Chris

[Paul Verticchio]

Sixty pounds for THAT? That's over 95 USD!!!!

No offense C, but you got taken BIG TIME.

As for doing the fill yourself, given the unsatisfactory playing condition you say your guitar is in, I'd wait & have whatever corrective work done to get it 'right' and have the professional doing the corrective fret/action work do the fill as part of the job.

If you want to try to do it yourself, everything you need to know is available on FRETS.net under Frank's "Items for Luthiers" page. Another invaluable resource that covers the subject are the Trade Secret Archives at the Stewart- MacDonald website. I don't recommend this as a first time guitar repair job. Two guitar related tasks that have a steep and protracted learning curves are fretwork & finish work.  You've already experienced the work of an amateur with the fretwork.

 Let the guy who corrects that hack's work ( charging you $95+ for that job officially qualifies him as a hack) do it for you.

Hope you get your gtr back into a playing condition that pleases you (:

[John]

Looks to me like the fingerboard got dry and shrunk, the finish is popping at the fret ends and the top one looks like there is oxidation under the finish. This is not an uncommon problem when there is finish on the sides of a rosewood fingerboard. 

In a situation like this I would usually file the ends of the frets flush with the wood which will taper the finish away from the top of the fingerboard. 

For the record if you read the post and look at the picture this guitar had the frets dressed/leveled. Looking at the picture closely I'd wager the frets are original. So comments on the quality of the refret should be ignored. As a professional courtesy I don't criticize other peoples work. If I have it my hands (not  a picture on the internet) I will talk about what can be done to make it better. 

Chris asked his question "Is there anything I can do to rectify this or fill it in/refinish?"  from a customers point of view. Negative opinions on the quality of the work that was done do not answer the question, but they do make customers paranoid. 

[nick-p]

hi chris, i am also a uk frets.net  member. what part of the country are you in ?  there is a multitude of trustable luthiers you could have picked.. nick

[Andrew White]

To me it looks like he pulled the finish off as he removed the tape from the board assuming he taped the board.
To be honest the fiinish could have been loose and this may have been going to fall away with age and playing if you look at your fret ends the finish is loose on every fret. Reading your last post you need to address the playability first then worry about the chip. Discuss it with the guy who did he job or find another tech but dont try and fix it yourself . You need to practice on junk guitars first when doing fretwork. Also fine ca glue needs a steady hand wax and a bunch if fine grade polish papers and compound to get the finish good . Its not hard but dont give it a go on your main guitar.
Maybe go to the fender web sight and see who warranty repairer in your area is and use that guy :)