My OM-02 is 20 years old.
It is still my favourite (sapele is so well balanced).
It's the guitar I'd grab out of a burning building despite recent purchases. So it is highly valued to me.
It's been 20+ years and within the next 2-3 years it is going to need either a re-fret or fret dress.
--> Unsure which to get.
Fret dress means lower frets and unsure if will notice the difference.
For a second, I considered doing a fret dress myself then thought "no way"
I think if frets are dressed, the nut & saddle needs to come down to match the newly reduced fret height.
As it is, the action is perfect so I'm loathe to have that touched but maybe it would need to be done, regardless.
Apparently, nut wear means that it naturally comes down a bit, anyway.
I'm not sure if tusq (the nut on it) wears more slowly than bone.
As an aside, I like tusq - self-lubricating and is synthetic and thus "uniform."
This video is great.
In the arpeggio section, tusq sounds fantastic. Anyway. also thinking I could just bite the bullet and get a full new fret job.
And who to use. I know some places straighten the neck and have at it. I think Feline do it a bit differently and I'm impressed with the write-up on their site, though it's a long way to go to get that done (but I would, so that it's perfect). Anybody got any specific recommendations (I'm in Scotland) or comments?
The other thing is that some of the fingerboard wood has slight depressions / divots. Nothing major.
I've read they can either be steamed out or wood shavings of the same material can be glued in.
Probably something I'd get done at the same time. Anybody had similar fixed?
It's great to have a well-used 20+ year guitar, there's real history there and I swear it really does sound better after all these years.
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Do you have a picture of your frets?
I'd leave the fingernail fretboard wear if I was you. It's largely an aesthetic thing.
You can see the divot and although not the best pic for showing fretwear, you can sort of see it (I'm out just now so no more pics as yet). Doesn't need it right now but in future... Larrivee frets are quite flat.
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Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Have had a lot of great suggestions, thank you (@Mellish et al).
And thanks @FelineGuitars - your blurb on your website re how you do your fret work does read well.
Haven't used Chris but good to get the recommendation.
@BillDL Billy is who I got my PRS from at guitarguitar many moons ago!
So I want to get some stuff recorded with this and it's over a year away (especially given all my new ones, so it gets a bit less play time) but all the above duly noted - thank you!
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I would leave the fingerboard wear as it is. It provides a tiny bit more clearance for your nail in that position (which is why it's there, of course) and if you have it filled it will just rapidly wear out again.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
Points taken re leaving the fretboard wear as-is.
I quite like seeing a well-used fretboard! These things are meant to be played!
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It's not always for the worse. My friend had a partial refret on his Takamine and it improved the action by quite a margin - especially around the top frets.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Number one point for me is to make sure the person doing it is highly recommended and I'd pay for that, when the time comes.
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With a partial refret you wouldn't be doing that - maybe just a local clean up around the slots where the frets were pulled out.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
My YouTube Channel
Otherwise your luthier might be able to do the old superglue and wood-dust trick. It looks like it's an ebony board right? Prob wouldn't show up too much on that. I've done it myself on an old Squier tele with rosewood dust and and the results came out pretty well - a bit of a darker patch, but then that was on a rosewood fboard.
Either way, I'd let your luthier advise. Feline are my local and I trust them.
My Lowden needs a set up, pity you're not nearer Newcastle!
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