Maple fretboard's finish comming of, yelp!

[Silverburst]

Hi all, I'm new here, learnung luthier stuff.

Been working on the fret ends of this fender neck, they were sticking out on both sides in such a way, the thickness of a credit card. Not really acceptable.

So I used the lightest tape I had to project the fretboard when working on the fret ends, without taping over the edge, even taking care removing the tape in the length direction of the neck and even then some finish came off on some fretboard parts as you can see. After I filed off all the end, I still have to finish a lot of sharp corners, burrs... 2nd stage stuff, but I do not dare to put any tape on there. So, 1. how can I fix this the easiest way and 2. how to proceed for the rest of the fretwork ?

Thx!

[thefishinmusician]

Good one , Robert!

[Ned Knepp]

Just my own  2 cents but I in my opinion, being able to  fix or build a guitar is a completely different skill set than finishing it. I've seen quite a few well built or repaired instruments with bad finishes.  I've know several wood crafters that jobbed out their finish work because they could do beautiful wood work but couldn't get a finish right to save them. It's just a different skill set that is often not taken into consideration when a project is undertaken..

[Silverburst]

true. Tried to refinish a complete body once... uhm also just different tools you need. Hope I can fix this little emergency case, should be do-able with some decent research and common sense. (Un)fortunately when doing some technical interventions like fretwork, you learn a few extra things.

[Ned Knepp]

To me, that is what it is all about. I keep learning new things. I haven't had to throw anything out yet and I often learn more from my mistakes than anything else. It's do-able, just don't get into a hurry.

[Silverburst]

that is indeed golden advice nr 1. Doing anything with finishing, do not hurry. although I know, I still tend to be impatient about it like letting stuff dry, light coats at a time in stead of one thick coat....

[Silverburst]

Phew.... what a quest.... learned already a lot of things on the way, as well as here on the forum.

If I'm finished and happy with the result, I'm going to post a little post mortem.

So far a pain in the *: The existing finish is ridiculously thin! Adding some poly on a spot, np, but when sanding is flat, sanding trough the esisting poly around the spot is extremely easy... So getting everything level is a royal pain.

So far, the brownish poly I got seems to match fine colorwise. Also found out that poly retouch is not the easiest thing since poly finish do not dissolve anymore.

on with the quest.