Sire Larry Carlton S7 FM Electric Guitar

[damian]

I haven’t tried any Sire guitars, however saw this post by @Pete playing a Sire (I thought it was a Suhr), and it looks and sounds great: https://www.sixstring.com/members/pete/activity/510/

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a lacquered fretboard – so the lacquer is over the frets? Or just makes it hard to file them and/or remove them?

I’m really a buy and play guy, without doing any actual work on the guitar, but maybe I should actually try doing some mods to my guitars. Just scared of messing them up!

[Zimmie]

Almost all of the Fender Strat’s and Tele’s with maple fretboards are lacquered. Yes, right over the frets.

I’ve been doing most of my own guitar work (setup, fret leveling, etc.) for about 15+ years. It was simple economics that got me started. It was costing me way too much to have someone else do the work. So I paid a local luthier to show me how. To fix a lacquered board is doable, but extremely tedious and time consuming. You have to carefully strip the lacquer from each fret (usually with a razor blade or Xacto knife). And unfortunately, if the frets were left partially unfinished under the lacquer (which is more common), you end up with a bigger problem. That’s one of the reasons I never buy a guitar with a lacquered board on the net. My Strat and Tele both are lacquered, but the fret work is near perfect, so I was able to get the action down to “butter” on both of them. 😎

I’ve probably spent far too much on luthier tools, but you really end up with what you pay for. I’ve tried some inexpensive luthier tools, and almost always regretted it. StewMac is a bit pricey, but worth it most of time.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by  Zimmie.

[damian]

I’ll have to do some homework and read some articles on getting started with guitar setup! Unless you have any suggestions? 😀

Also – do you tend to work on a “practice” guitar first before taking the scalpel to your higher end instruments? 🔨 🤘

[Zimmie]

There’s a lot of good information out there. StewMac.com is a good place to start. Also search youtube. StewMac has a lot of ‘how to’ videos and books.

The first couple of guitars I did levels on were mine. Fortunately they came out really good. Familiarize yourself with the process, and then go slow. But generally, most do start with a semi-throwaway guitar, just in case…😎

[damian]

Thanks for the info! May have to get a few tools and little workspace and a inexpensive guitar to do some experimenting! 🎸🔨👍🤘

[Gaghiggs]

Just a big bastard hammer and some lemon oil Damian 👍🔨🔨🔨🔨

[Zimmie]

🤣😂

[Zimmie]

Here’s some necessary tools:

Straight Edge – there’s 2 types; plain flat, and notched for frets. I prefer the notched version. It’s much easier to get the neck straight when you’re not dealing with frets that are not level.

Fret Rocker – It’s used to check for high and low frets.

Sanding Bar – Sand paper is a better choice for leveling frets than a file. I generally use 400-600 grit. Used with 3M sticky paper.

3M Polishing Paper – It’s easier to use than traditional sandpaper on frets. I start with 400, then 600, then 800 or 1000 before polishing with 1200-8000. I don’t buy it from StewMac. It’s much less expensive from RioGrande.com. I sometimes will use a dremel buffing wheel for polishing with brown rouge.

Fret Crowning File – Diamond is better than a traditional file. It leaves a smoother surface. I like the StewMac Z-File best.

I’m sure I forgot something, but hopefully this should point you in the right direction. 😎

[Notecracker]

And put 13’s on it !

[Zimmie]

🤕 ouch 😎

[Plexico]

Got the lacquer off this one and pleased with the results! Medium frets – would have liked larger size. Oh well.

[Zimmie]

Nice! What was the removal process like?

[Plexico]

I used 0000 steel wool very lightly!!!!

[Zimmie]

Wow. Great Job! That’s a lot of work!

[Plexico]

Thanks. It was about an hour (on and off).

[Zimmie]

Only an hour. That’s impressive. I would’ve thought at least a couple of hours.