Fender Eric Clapton Blackie Stratocaster

   

Yustech isn't a luthier II.

Haven't you wonder since the beginning of my tech journey there's not a single feature about maple f/board fretwork.I have done a couple in the past and I have to say the results are far from good.Though I was told its not too bad.I like to believe they said that for the sake of being polite.Ha ha.Off this blog I have had request from people but later had to be turned away.What's the reason.? Well its the finishing chore that bothers me and as a matter of fact its quiet mind baffling.I just don't quiet understand how its done.I hope Dan Erlewine would come up with a DVD about it one day.I've had suggestion that I just refret it as it is(without sanding) but the thing is I just don't trust my fretwork if I can't true up the fingerboard.It means sanding to bare wood at the same time correcting the radius from minor twist and hump.I believe it has to be done in order to not have a lot of guess work and shaving off frets more than I should.Its not a general rule but its what I like to believe for now.

At first only the neck was brought to me for evaluation.Conversing with the owner over the phone details he is currently using a generic neck on his EC Strat.He's very unsatisfactory about that want to be strat neck.I guess you could say he misses the actual neck on the body itself.I can only promise him 2 things.A good fretwork with a botch finish.Ha ha.He didn't mind that as long as it plays again.

The owner is a professional performer and the neck indeed has that beat up look to it.Its even has deep dents at open positions.I wonder how that happened.There was one weird thing occurred during the fretwork.One of the fret pops out on its own.Can't understand why is that but after a day with the clamps,it looked fine.Several coats of Lacquer prior to frets leveling work.

Guitar facts - This particular model has 3 Lace Sensor with a mid boost which I very much like.It doesn't have the vintage tones on it.The clean has dirt(lots of it) and when you max out you amp gain,its sound heavier than your average single coil.Not to mention the fulfilling amount of almost infinite sustain.I guess Eric Clapton had thought about we young output hungry players.When did that thought became a reality exactly? I don't know.All I know is a set of Lace Sensor is good but wire it to a Mid Boost,its even better.Bear in mind that the new EC Strat doesn't have the Lace sets.Only on the old ones.

Noobie with MAPLE f/board and do not accept COMPOUND radius fretwork!
Yustech