T2A 6 string

Heres my Thunder2



The frets and fretboard are pretty worn



Do you think it needs a refret, it plays ok? Fret height about 0.8mm. As you can see they are flat and my file cant recrown as theres not enough left.



Also has a fair few dings



Repairable? Any advice appreciated

Try crowning using a needle file held at 45 degrees. I bought a set in B&Q and the set includes a triangular file, which is ideal. I did grind the edge off each angle so as not to damage the board.

Chips are aeasily repairable using ink marker first then either superglue or clear nail varnish.

Worn board easily repaired using the method I flagged up in Sarc's Pantera thread.

All in all, could easilybe improved on a Sunday afternoon.

Ps - I nearly bought your guitar but your offer was a fiver more and I didn't want to up mine.

Hoax

Just thought that I would add this.

There comes a time when fret wear results, for me, in an unsatisfactory playing experience.

Personally, I prefer very wide, high frets to allow my fingers to "dig" under the strings for bends.

When a guitar feels like a "fretless wonder", I would rather just do a refret.

It takes a long day shift, including end shaping and setting up.

I always use medium jumbo frets.

Try the recrown and see how you get on.

PS Great work on the Thunder Bass - even the Wank-a- day Cage!!

Hoax

Loads of life in them there frets.

Fingerboard looks only slightly worn. Nothing serious.

Seen some a great deal worse than that.

Ok thanks guys. Will try re-crowning with a needle file first.

For the ink marker - how to tell when theres a colour match?

As far as ink marker is concerned. I use a brand called Promarker, which I buy from a local arts and crafts shop. I use Burgundy and Walnut a lot for wine red guitars and walnut guitars

The range of colours is endless, there are probably about a dozen reds.

Take the guitar with you if you want an exact match.

Hoax

Was more thinking about how to match up how it would look after varnish.

Couple of the frets lowest points are 0.6 mm so I think a refret is necessary

If it plays good, feels good why worry.

Too late now, frets pulled.

Theres a few cracks in the pup surrounds, do you know of same size replacements?

Just repair the buggers; I did on my SP1012 becasue there wasn't an off-the-shelf replacement I could find.
I just scuffed up the inside of the broken area with 60 grit and laid in some thin layers of plastic putty - panelbeaters bog - which held everything together when it cured; cheap and easy!!

Jumbo fret wire from Nottinghammusicshop on Ebay does the trick.

From memory, a metre will do 1.5 guitars and it costs about 7 or 8 quid.

Hoax

Ta guys

Here it is cleaned up, dings filled and re-fretted.

Always had faith in you Grogg - Well done!!

Hoax

Thanks, taken bloody hours, the worst bit for me was filing the fret ends. Sounds really nice now with new strings and in active mode really pumps it out.

Used the drop-fill method in the clip Barry put up and with the colour used acetone and the Indian red dye I had. Also filled the fretboard using the technique you put up Graham.

Onto the 250 next and re-plating the gold parts like Fish did on his.

Boo-ya! Well done grogg!

Love the color on it

Confession time, when rewiring it had no output and in trying to find the fault it slipped off my knee and dinged the headstock on my toolcase. So more repairs required, another day.

The fault turned out to be because theres so much wires and stuff inside one of these the components on the circuit board get squished and bent over, 2 had shorted.

Nice job grogg.

Could off cut "the cats whiskers" off. Wouldn't like one of them in the eye.

cracking job! beautiful colour, beautiful guitar

I wasn't happy with the action as the nut had been overcut for new frets and the slots were unevenly spaced. So a new nut fitted and made a TRC for it. Also wasn't entirely happy with the finish above so improvements made.
It now looks and plays like the DBs, Im not sure why but tonally it seems fantastic now a whole lot better, guess the nut may have been the issue.