Minor Frets

A very tidy vintage Gibson 335 in for a restring and setup, with the original case! I really like the dark brown finish. The frets had been dressed quite a few times in its life and were super low and flat, but that also means a buzz free low setup can be done.

'83 Gibson Les Paul in for a restring/setup. Sometimes with instruments that have been sitting a long time the moving parts seize up. This one needed the bridge reconditioned and oiled to be adjustable again.

Got this in yesterday. '89 blue American Special Telecaster in for some electronics checks. Some of these came standard with Fender's dual ganged/stacked tone pot called the TBX Tone Control (for treble/bass expander). Guitar was intermittent and passing signal when in contact with the control area - diagnosed as inadequate earthing to the pots and volume pot resistance drop in the upper taper causing a hot/cold crossover to the output jack. Fixed ground issue and may require a new pot down the line. The pickups sound great overdriven.

I knew I was doing something wrong. A valuable piece of advice, thanks Martin!

Yamaha S-50A Classical guitar in for a restring and clean up. This was made in Japan by the Nippon Gakki Co. sometime in the 70's. Beautiful old thing has had the tuners replaced somewhere along the way and showing very minor bridge separation due to being half strung with steel. My favourite part is the small 19th fret pieces installed to account for the soundhole and the large oldstyle strap button.

Washburn dreadnought acoustic in for a service and restring. I'd say nato fingerboard or painted wood. One plus is that it's a bit easier to clean without the typical grain of ebony or rosewood. No preamp but it has an inbuilt tuner that does the job. Only a cheapy, but we don't discriminate here at MF. Unless your guitar is a toy that's untuneable; we don't work miracles!

Here are some before and after comparisons of our fretboard maintenance. Part of every full service and setup at Minor Frets! Includes string removal, fingerboard clean/degunk, fret buff and polish, fretboard saturation and string installation. This maintenance is vital to the operation and condition of your instrument.

Serviced and restrung my tiny Yamaha Guitalele GL-1. It's a ukulele sized classical guitar that can be played in E but works best tuned to A due to the low tension from the extremely short scale. Fun little travel instrument.

A nice thing about working on other people's guitars is that you can transfer those skills to work on your own! Here's my Mini Maton after a service and new strings. It's got a crack in the top (not of my doing) but it doesn't affect the sound. Will need a refret on the first few frets eventually as they are wearing down. I love this little thing!

Mid-80's Kramer EVH C5150 replica in for some various work including a general service, Floyd Rose setup, D-tuna adjustment, electronic repair and some other tweaks. I love parts guitars, especially ones that look roughly bolted together and this one just happens to be a shred machine!

Tech tip: a clean, well maintained and saturated fingerboard free of gunk and grime, as well as buffed frets will keep your instrument in top condition and be more comfortable to play! Dirt can work itself underneath fret edges and frets are metallic so will oxidise over time. Getting rid of these will extend your string life and elicit a much more joyful playing experience.

If yours don't look like this, bring them in. Clean fretboards are happy fretboards!

'94 USA Strat in for a service and setup. Dig the slotted tuners, dig less the neck pocket truss rod! Lovely neck on it. Can't go wrong with sunburst and single coils.