Matt Rayner

Let's take this thread back to whence it came. Well those little rascally SCRATCHES have up and *****d off. Sadly so has all the varnish. Oh well. This was a painful decision, but in the end worth it. I found out that crappy Fender neck was warped. Well, it aint now.

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. England v USA .

Wha sax improv plug-in please Bandlab

Whaa? Hawks on tour?

Mettelus. It was absolutely no help at all. Not one bit! But, I agree with you on the automotive gunk. CARNAUBA from Turtle Wax will get your laquered body (not yours, obv) shining like new. Rain, here's some Finnish for you. Merde in Finnish is PASKA. My kids were in heaven once when we visited Greece at Easter. The word Paska in Greek is Easter and "Kala Paska" means Happy Easter. In Finnish, Kala is fish. The little monsters were going round in hysterics wishing each and every Greek: Merde du poisson.

Vulgar stuff certainly merits vulgar language. Go right ahead.

OK! Yeah, I took the photos in Wa-Ap. and they would've contained that name.

Grem. The chube dude said the pointed edge is more prone to digging into the varnish and going off on its own track -which I did experience. He also reckons it can more easily cut slivers of wood. I'm also wondering if the rounded tip wouldn't have more surface contact and offer a bit more resistance to slipping over the top of the fret. Especially when you're angled right down and trying to get in between the flat of the crown and the board just a little. I've done quite a few levelling jobs on set-neck guitars. It's not really any harder than a removable, just a bit more work taping things off and moving the ****er around.

Thanks Wookiee. Not sure what the offending word was! Anyway, no worries ? Grem, the varnish on that neck really is thick. It's a 2019 Mexican Vintera Strat. I've done a few rosewood necks before and they're a piece of cake. This was my first attempt at maple. Why they varnish over the frets, I don't know. A production cost saver? I can't think of any other reason. I did indeed use a pointed-tip scalpel to cut between the fretboard and the fret, hence the scratches! I also used a soldering iron to warm up the frets. Today I found an alternative YT vid to the one I followed where the presenter used a round-tip scalpel and no iron. I think I'll try that next time - next time being the serious one, my dear old 86 Tele. Gulp..

Grem, Lucky 13 got me started. 21 resulted in much louder, longer, descriptive profanity as I thought I was home and dry.

Try again. Last post got nuked by admin!

Today. Removing frets from a heavily-varnished Stratocaster maple neck. Just one or two slips of concentration with the old the scalpel knife. No major damage, but I think the neighbours might have learnt some rather colourful English vocabulary. Any coffeehousers care to share any recent profanity?

?Nice going! Never mind cracks or worn paint. I'm surprised your guitars haven't burst into flames.

Ha! You ain't the only one with that problem mate! Not great quality, but stick with it: Ralph McTell on trial

Giving shredding a whole new dimension! Nice work mate! I'd love to hear what can do that to an SG in 3 months.. Any chance of a link?

Cracked like that after just 9 years and hardly any use? Anything around the neck joint?

I live in dread, Craig. At our hacklab we've got all the big limb-chopper-offer machines, which I'm dead scared of and why I got those handtools! The one I really can't live without is the milling machine in the metalshop.

Indeed. Check the saw.. The next guitar build may well be a Castratocaster

Finally got meself one of those paddle-sized Japanese saws for slicing boards down the middle. And I finally also sprung for a No.5 plane to do that all important levelling and jointing. I thought you might like a look. It's made in Germany by

Remember about 40 years ago, we would say - Yahh.., I just read Naked Lunch. Burroughs was the original Beat, forget Kerouac. The truth is much funnier in our old age.

This place is brilliant and in a great old part of Helsinki, Kallio. Guys sit outside having a break just about all year round. Kotiharju Sauna

Took me years before I learned to stop doing small talk in Finland. You ask someone here how they are, and you'd better be prepared for an answer. Best ones I've had - and these were at work - were: "Oh. Hi Matt. Yes. Well, I think my wife is seeing another guy." " Yeah. Hi. Hmm. yeah. I think my daughter has started drinking." If, they do it and they've known you for over 25 years, then it's at the end of a conversation. - Hey Matt - Hey Tomi. (Silence..) Tomi, can we move our meeting on Thursday to 2 o'clock? - Yeah, sure. (Silence) You got a hot date or something?

Tim, do that C and F with your thumb and occasionally hammer on and off (hammer off?!) your 2nd finger on both chords. How many songs do you recognise ? ?‍?

My mother was a classically-trained pianist, and could sight read. My friends were astounded that she could play Zep's Rain Song. She could even knock out a decent boogie-woogie if she had the dots, but improvise? Not a note! Knowing theory never hindered Frank Zappa's creativity though.