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One of my co-workers wants me to fix his strat that he refinished many years ago, he's the original owner. It has a polyurethane coating over black stain with some nice figure. Problem is that it turns green in the right light. The value is already gone so we're talking about stripping it and maybe doing a sunburst.

What's the best way to strip it?

He also wants to get rid of the flat frets, that should be fun and he's aware that I've never worked on a Strat but he somehow trusts me. I trust me so that's good. I've already done some research on sliding the frets out but I'll take any input you have.

Will it be possible to refinish the fretboard after the frets are out without getting into the neck? I'm thinking to just tape everything off and spray it with lacquer.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

The frets on that guitar will need to be removed from the sides out. Don't just go and pull those like a reuglar fret wire. You have to drive them out sideways because they were installed that way. What you need is a sharp punch and then you hammer out the fret from one side to the other, then you cn just pull with pliers. Probably should score a line on each side of the finish.

Typically to reinstall the frets you just recut the slots in the standard fashion. I would not refinish the boards with the frets removed, do it the Fender way with the frets installed.

Fret removal depends on exact vintage..... Some come out sideways and others out the top. Here is how the early ones come out. https://howardguitars.blogspot.com/2018/01/vintage-pre-cbs-fender-fret-removal.html

Apply finish after fretting!!! or you will have trouble with finish filling the slots and preventing the fret from seating.

If the body was stained or dyed black over bare wood you can forget the burst or most any finish that show the wood as the stain will be very deep in the softer grains of the wood and never come out unless you sand about an 1/8" off all sides. Unless that is you want a highlighted grain ala PRS then you may be able to do something transparent. My advice is to pick a solid color....

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

It was stained but the grain is very apparent. That's why I'm considering a burst of some sort. I'll get some pics up over the weekend.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Look for the slightly sharpened tangs on the treble edge of the fretboard - they look very different than the flat-filed top-inserted tang ends of later Fender fretting. This sharpened tang should indicate whether these are the original frets inserted from the bass side of the board or a refret. Another method to determine whether the instrument has been refretted is to look for the repaired chip-outs from earlier fret extraction - this is quite common for refrets, although I have no idea whether this is due to lack of understanding on the part of the repair tech or disregard of what has become standard practice for knowledgeable repair shops working on vintage Fender instruments.

Once the nature of the fretwork has been determined, the treble end of the fret can be dimpled with an automatic center punch just below the apex of the end bevel and that mark opened up a bit with a small diameter split-point drill bit...usually just enough to provide some purchase for a sharpened punch. We lightly score the finish over the bass side of the tang to minimize blow-out and use a soft white pine backing block clamped into the vise on the bass side and extending out a fret or two from the jaws when starting the fret. Thicker poly finishes really benefit from this anti-blowout approach, as well as maple boards where repair will be both more visible and less effective.

Once the fret has moved a 1/16" or so, we remove the backer block (now imprinted with the bass side of the fret) and tap the fret out. An end cutter and small pine cushion blocks can be used for this as well, but care must be taken to avoid pulling the fret at an angle and causing additional blow-out. if there is any blow-out on the bass side, preserve the chips and carefully reinstall.

Also worth noting that we do this removal task dry, without the water and heat we use on conventional frets, and that on the thick polyester-finished maple boards of the 1970's and early 1980's, it is not uncommon to have the fret buried at the edges under finish, making finish chip-out an issue if the finish is not lightly scored on the bass side of the fret.

If in doubt, there are several videos on YouTube that cover workable removal procedures for pre-1983 (approximate) Fender original fretwork, including one by Mr. Breakstone's business partner, Mr. Collins, if memory serves me correctly. These are certainly worth a look to pick up both basic technique and peculiarities/idiosyncrasies of individual repair operations.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Thanx Woodie. I wouldn't have even see your posy except I was just going through my posts looking for this one.

I have another question about these frets. They all appear to be flat, is this something Fender did intentionally? I'm also thinking if that's true, I may be better off just leveling and re-crowning.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!