Thickness of sharkfin inlays?

[JAMESAK51]

Hello all!!
I've got a model 4 neck with sharkies that has a little rise on the tongue (or heel).The right way to remedy this would be to pull the frets and take the rise out of the fingerboard according to Dan Erlewine.

My question is,does anyone know how thick the inlays are? Are they thick enough that I can sand over the top of them to remove the rise and then smooth and polish them with finer paper (1000,1500 grit),or would it be best to remove them and install when I'm done sanding the board? Right now I really don't know how much I'll have to take off of the fingerbord.A little bit can go a long way.

I checked MOP inlay material at Stew-Mac and their thickness is .040 and .050 which would be plenty if the Charvel sharkies are that thick.

Any input or suggestions would really be appreciated.Thanks in advance guys!!
Jim

[JAMESAK51]

Oh,Oh!!
Looks like I'm on my own on this one. After some quick measurements it looks like I'll only need to take the tongue down about .003" to remove the rise and then any amount of falloff that I decide to put in.

I'll just take it very slow and keep a close eye on the inlays as I go.

Any input would still be greatly appreciated!! You guys (and gals) rock here.I'll keep you all posted how it goes.Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to contribute some useful info as a newbie!
Thanks all
Jim

[sully]

You'll be just fine.

sully

[Learn Guitars]

Make sure you tape between the frets so you can catch the chips that come up with the fret tang barbs. Especially on an older fretboard. Like Sully said. You will be fine.

[sully]

Good point! if it chips out after you remove the frets, you won't have to look very far for them. I like to heat the frets with a soldering iron to help minimize chipping, but doing both would be a super thorough way to work!

Sully

[Learn Guitars]

I know this sounds like taboo, but I have moistened the fingerboards prior too. I also use the solder gun to heat the frets if I sense that they have been glued in. You can tell pretty fast.

[JAMESAK51]

Thanks for the input and vote of confidence Mike and Sully!!

After a closer look last night I discovered something very disturbing.Someone has already taken some rise off of this board.I noticed the last few side markers are very close to the surface of the board . They did a very nice job,not at all noticeable other than the side marker issue.I'm guessing they stopped where they did to avoid having the side markers show through the board.

Now I'm thinking my best bet is to just do a complete refret which I was probably going to do anyhow.I'll have to sacrifice some height on the last few but should still be alright.It certainly won't be ideal for any future level and recrowns,well maybe one, but I'm thinking this is probably my only option at this point.

I was really looking to fix the problem rather than just putting a band aid on it.

Right now the last couple of frets are at .030" and the majority of the rest are .035" to .040". So I'm thinking if I start out with a fresh set I should be able to get everything level and still have a decent amount left other than the last few which is probably the best I can do without replacing the board.

This would probably be a perfect candidate for stainless frets,but that would prove to be a very painful task!!
Any thoughts or sugestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks guys!!
Jim

[DonP]

All I can say is that you are either brave or experienced. I have Dan's books, but still choose to take my guitars to Dan for fretwork or more major stuff.

[JAMESAK51]

All I can say is that you are either brave or experienced. I have Dan's books, but still choose to take my guitars to Dan for fretwork or more major stuff.

Hi Don!
Actually,more brave than experienced.:ROTF:
I've been doing my homework on this for a long time though.This is a neck that I want to put on my 275,and the way it was looking I figured there really isn't much to loose.This neck has had some issues before I even got it.
The good news is I've got the frets out and was able to get the fingerboard perfectly leveled.Even the compound radius turned out perfect. I should probably go out real quick and buy a lottery ticket .

Thanks for the tip on using tape Mike,it worked great. I did use your water trick too and seemed to help quite a bit.I really didn't use much though about a drop per fret with an eyedropper.I think it kind of steams the wood a little when using the soldering iron a as I got considerably less chipping when I did it that way.We won't tell anyone though .
Will keep you posted with progress reports.

[JAMESAK51]

Hi guys!!
Sorry I didn't post progress reports.I actually finished the project Sunday.When I got into putting in frets I didn't stop until I was done.Sorry I didn't take pics as I went.

To answer my original question about sharkie thickness,I can't really give you a thickness in mm or inches,but they're plenty thick to level the fingerboard without any problems.Actually they're way thicker than I thought seeing as someone else took the fingerboard down quite a bit in their attempt to remove the rise.

I'm just happy I was able to salvage the neck without pulling or replacing the fingerboard.

Thanks for the input and tips guys,you rock!!
Jim

[sully]

nice!