Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteblooded  I recently bought a (My first) cheap fretless bass. It came with roundwound strings on.
After a few weeks of playing it, I'm noticing small scratches from the strings appearing down the entire length of the neck. The scratches are not deep by any means, however they're pretty noticable when the sun is shining on them.
I was just wondering if anyone knew a way to get rid of these scratches before I put some flatwounds on it. I was thinking about sanding it with extremely fine sandpaper.. but I'm not sure if this would get the scratches off before it mangled the shape of the fingerboard; and I'm not sure whether or not the fingerboard is treated, and would need re-treating.
Any adive is appreciated, cheers. |
You didn't specify what material the board is, but those marks from round wounds are common, even on hard ebody boards. As you mentioned it's an inexpensive bass, I would assume it's rosewood, or perhaps ebanol. If it's not too bad, #0000 steel wool may do the trick, though it's safer the remove the neck first, so no metal dust gets on the pickups, which is a PITA to remove. Or use light 320 sandparer, preferably with a radius contoured block to prevent mis-shaping the board. Finish with steel wool or 3M pads, grey first then white. Rub the full length of the board, avoid rubbing too hard in one spot, you can create divots that will affect the playability. Flat wounds will also make marks, but will wear the board more slowly. If all of this sounds too complicated, by all means take it to a luthier to have it done. They will probably buff up the board with a cloth wheel afterwards too. Good luck....
