If you’ve been reading this
column recently, you’ll recall
we’re in the middle of restoring a
’72 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. In
my
September 2011 column, I
took you through the evaluation
process we used to determine
exactly what this restoration
would entail. In
October’s column, I covered extracting
the flat and pitted frets, and
explained how I prepped and
skimmed the rosewood fretboard
to remove any micro high spots.
When you’re dealing with
vintage guitars, some clients
don’t want us to even take a
polishing cloth to the instrument,
because it changes the
mojo for them. So when it
came to micro-spot sanding
this LP’s fretboard, I made sure
the owner was okay with the
procedure.
Once I’d checked the fretboard
with a straightedge and
radius gauge, I confirmed the
guitar was ready for its new
frets. After consulting with
the client and referencing the
original frets, we decided to go
with Wide/Medium fretwire
(item #149 at
stewmac.com).
This is slightly taller than the
old Gibson jumbo wire, and
its .046" crown provides ample
height for a precision leveling
after the frets are installed.
Preparation: For starters, I
used a Japanese Fret Slot Cleaning
Saw (#3616) to deepen any shallow
slots in the fretboard, measuring
the depth as I went with a
Fret Slot Depth Gauge (#5435). I
then used the Fret Slot Cleaning
Tool (#4870) to remove old glue
and debris so the new frets would
seat correctly.
Tailoring: Over the years,
I’ve occasionally chosen to bend
each individual fret by hand
before installing it, but typically
I use the FretBender (#0345)—
a time-saving tool that lets me
accurately radius 24 inches of
fretwire at a time. Once a strip
of fretwire was radiused, I laid it
across the fretboard slot, gauged
the length I’d need, and cut
it with a Fret Cutter (#0619).
This Les Paul has neck binding,
so I used a Fret Tang Nipper
(#1626) to undercut the fret
ends so they’d sit over the binding
properly.
Installation: A Deadblow
Fretting Hammer (#1296) and
brass Fret Setter (#1666) are
my tools of choice for this task.
As part of this process, I used
StewMac #10 Thin Super Glue
(#7001) glue to secure each fret
in its slot.
Dressing: After the frets were
installed, I used a Fret Beveling
File (#3759) to put a uniform,
35-degree angle on all the fret
ends, and then took off any
burrs with a Fret End Dressing
File (#1175). The next step was
to give the Deluxe’s new frets a
full dress. When it comes to fret
dressing, there are a variety of
tools and procedures for leveling,
crowning, and polishing fretwire.
You’ll find lots of information
online, including reputable demonstrations
on YouTube. If you’re
interested in this subject, my
advice is to keep an open mind
and really do some homework.
Bonus Trade Secrets: Before
we wrap up this installment of
the ’72 Deluxe project, I thought
I’d share a couple of trade secrets
we used during this phase. As I
mentioned in the September column,
the guitar’s original ABR-1
Tune-o-matic bridge had collapsed
and was unusable. Over the years
we’ve experimented with different
jigs for correcting this problem,
and we’ve now developed a system
that’s consistent and easy to use.
We call this device our
ABR-1 Correct-o-matic, and
it consists of two polyethylene
plates mounted to a vise. The
bottom plate is radiused, while
the outer wings of the flat top
plate have .015" shims added
to create the desired pitch. The
idea is to clamp the bridge
and—in a very controlled way—
bend it back into its original
position by applying pressure
to the vise. Once the bridge’s
underside is snug against the
radiused polyethylene plate, the
bridge is correctly arched and
ready to come out. This process
literally takes seconds.
My second trade secret
comes from a farm-and-horse
supply store. Such outlets sell a
tool called a revolving leather-hole
punch. It’s designed to
punch holes into leather straps
of horse saddles, but we are
using it to make mahogany
end-grain caps. This punch lets
you select multiple hole sizes—
from 5/64" to 3/16". Very
handy. As you can see in the
photos, the tool works perfectly
for capping unwanted screw
holes in the Les Paul Deluxe.
Thank you for allowing me
to share my world with you!
John Brown is the
inventor of the Fretted/Less
bass. He owns and operates
Brown’s Guitar Factory,
a guitar manufacturing,
repair, and restoration facility
staffed by a team of talented
luthiers. His guitar-tool and accessory designs
are used by builders all over the world. Visit
brownsguitarfactory.com or email John at
info@brownsguitarfactory.com.