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QUESTION

I have a 1956 Fender Telcaster guitar. I am having it re-freted and the guy re-freting my guitar says he has to over spray the board. I told him that would ruin the value of the guitar and he says that that is the correct way to re-fret a maple neck. What should I do

REPLY

That is a well debated question in the vintage guitar community. And many still cannot agree and i Will explain why. To the credit of your repair guy the correct way to re-fret t a maple neck is to over spray it and seal ! the neck. Original fender necks including yours were done this way. The sealing or over spray of the neck seals the wood keeping out moister and helps prevent stabilizethe neck by allowing less expansion and contraction. Also the neck will not shrink as fast you have seen as tome goes on how the fret ends stick out this is from the neck shrinking as it gets older.

Now if you were to follow this course of thought i would say go with a light nitro over spray and i mean light. No poly finishes unless your neck was originally done in poly like a late1968 to present fender neck. this will lower the value a bit on the guitar so think twice.

The other school of thought is mine. Just re-fret and do not over spray only to help keep the vintage value of the guitar. Who cares i would rather keep the dirt fret board with original finish or What is left of it. Again ask yourself why your are doing it are you a player , a collector or a novice. Again I would say leave it alone !!! Also when you re-fret use original size frets the jumbos play great but kill the collector value. 

I hope that helped but again do not yell at your repair guy technically he is correct . If you have any other questions please e mail me at The Parts Drawer and I Will answer with 48 hours

Jim Pasch

QUESTION

I heard you ran the New York Guitar Show for 12 years .Will there ever be another New York Guitar Show.

REPLY

Wow that is a blast from the past. Yes I ran the New York Guitar Show from 1991 -2002 . Those were the great times when the business was actually fun. I took over the show from Skip Henderson who was know for his expertize in the vintage guitar business and his charitable work. Skip was one of my mentors and actually got me started in this business. I loved going to his store City Lights you never knew what would be there or who would show up. You could buy everything from a 1954 strat to a human skull and see anyone from Billiy Gibbons to lenny Kravits that is how wide a fan club skip had.

I was laos attracted to his charitable side and when I took over the show I promised it would remain a charity. All proceeds 100% form the door went to the aids resource foundation for children and the Mary help of Christensen’s church on the lower east side. Were still many of my fondest memories still l lie. The problem was too things eBaycame along and people are lazy so attendance went down   secondly  everyone automatically became a guitar dealer at that point . that was the going joke at the time and still rings true today. So the audience became less and less over the years . Today at most guitar  the attendance is pitiful to say the least and no real deals are to be had.

When we were forced to move the show to 31st street in New York the first show was great but soon September 11th came into play and people did not want to go to new york. The year after 911 the show was terrible and i decided to call it quites. I regret that day but i still feel it was the right thing to do. the fun was gone eBay had made so called geniuses overnight so what fun was  it to go to the shows at that point.

I am asked all the time will it ever come back. Well i never say never but if we do have a show one day i Will bring skip back into the picture and throw a hell of a bash.That is a parts of my life i cherish and i miss all the great people over the years maybe someday we will and i hope it Will be thebest show ever . If you have any ideas for thw show you can e mail me at THE PARTS DRAWER

thanks

jim pasch