September 24, 2008
Mixed a wee bit of Z-poxy and applied to fretboard. Used a scraper to squeegee into the pores and smooth off. It added a nice darkness to the rosewood, and after lightly sanding I’ll determine if it needs a second coat.
September 23, 2008
Set in new frets, trimmed and filed. Next step is to apply Z-poxy pore filler on rosewood veneer fretboard surface.
August 9, 2008
Glued on the the rosewood veneer, sanded down and located the fret locations referencing the original old slots. Rigged up a cutting guide in the vise and using the .020″ saw carefully reslotted the neck. Did a test fret set to make sure all saw depths and widths were OK. Looks good!
Dry set the fret dots and star on the fretboard. Question, how to center the fret dot on the 5th fret, as that is the location of the 5th string tuning peg. I’ll check my banjo to see how Stelling did the fret marker settings. Also, need to think about a finish on the fretboard rosewood. I’m thinking a simple sanding sealer lacquer, just to seal/protect, not to buff and shine.
Regrooved the bridge slot, purchased a 3/4″ forstner bit to make the hole for the penny Tom provided for the headstock.
July 20, 2008
My friend Tom got a beater banjo off eBay and asked me to refret. I traded some photo documentation of my guitars for the fret job. The fret job has turned into a: veneer the neck, install the frets, inlay the dots, install the tuners, and add missing head brackets.
