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Back in December of last year I picked up a 52 Wildwood thin skin. The only problem with it was that the fretboard was so over rolled and the frets were cut on such a bevel there was no room on the frets and the e string constantly fell off.
So I decided to get a refret. Unfortunately the luthier said the only way to fix it is to sand the fretboard down to get rid of the rolled edges. Unfortunately this was going to make the neck much thinner. It was a chunky neck and it came back to me fairly thin. Its actually slightly thinner than a cheap squire strat that my grand daughter has. I had stainless steel frets put on. The fret board was lightly lacquered and the back of the neck was left bare wood, for which I'm going to shellac.
As I like chunky necks I thought this was going to be a deal breaker. After all the money I have spent it was disheartening to think that I'd have to give up on this guitar.
But after spending the last few days playing it continuously I will not part with it.
The only con is that the neck is thinner than I like. My other 2 electrics are a masterbuilt nocaster, very chunky neck and a custom shop 55 strat with a neck almost as chunky as the nocaster.
Even though its a thin neck it doesn't cramp my hand or cause any other issues. I just prefer to feel more wood. Infact I find I can play faster on the thinner neck and I have a lighter touch with it. The tone seems improved since I got it back. It sounds bigger and more piano like clarity. Not sure if thats an affect of a thinner neck or the stainless steel frets or just in my mind. But I do know this is my favorite sounding guitar and I'm going to have to get over the thin neck.
I actually can't see me playing the MB Nocaster much and have been tempted to see what that neck would be like on my 52 thin skin. As far as feel and size the MB Nocaster is my favorite neck. But it doesn't sound as good to me as the 52 thin skin.
I'll be gigging with the 52 this weekend so I'll see how it performs in that scenario.
So I decided to get a refret. Unfortunately the luthier said the only way to fix it is to sand the fretboard down to get rid of the rolled edges. Unfortunately this was going to make the neck much thinner. It was a chunky neck and it came back to me fairly thin. Its actually slightly thinner than a cheap squire strat that my grand daughter has. I had stainless steel frets put on. The fret board was lightly lacquered and the back of the neck was left bare wood, for which I'm going to shellac.
As I like chunky necks I thought this was going to be a deal breaker. After all the money I have spent it was disheartening to think that I'd have to give up on this guitar.
But after spending the last few days playing it continuously I will not part with it.
The only con is that the neck is thinner than I like. My other 2 electrics are a masterbuilt nocaster, very chunky neck and a custom shop 55 strat with a neck almost as chunky as the nocaster.
Even though its a thin neck it doesn't cramp my hand or cause any other issues. I just prefer to feel more wood. Infact I find I can play faster on the thinner neck and I have a lighter touch with it. The tone seems improved since I got it back. It sounds bigger and more piano like clarity. Not sure if thats an affect of a thinner neck or the stainless steel frets or just in my mind. But I do know this is my favorite sounding guitar and I'm going to have to get over the thin neck.
I actually can't see me playing the MB Nocaster much and have been tempted to see what that neck would be like on my 52 thin skin. As far as feel and size the MB Nocaster is my favorite neck. But it doesn't sound as good to me as the 52 thin skin.
I'll be gigging with the 52 this weekend so I'll see how it performs in that scenario.
