Hello there, my fellow artisans and handcrafts enthusiasts!

Welcome back to another entry into the maintenance project we started last week. There's a lot of sanding coming up in the following recap and some other extra things. For example, we started with the finish. Yes, this project wasn't particularly long as we just needed to make some small fixes before having this ready.

Let's get to it!

Frets off and sanding

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To address the wear on the fretboard we need to remove the frets to have the room for sanding. That's the first order of business. There are pliers for this. And as you can see, we don't have any of those around, so we need to make it with what we have at hand. Anything that can get between the gap works. In this case, it was a box-cutter blade. Once the frets are removed, we can proceed to sand the fretboard.

The idea is to trying to remove as much of those black spots as possible. Those are made by the friction of strings and wood. They also get that color because the grease and other things present in the fingertips. There's not much room for this job, so sanding is a partial fix. To repair the big one, we are using some the sawdust we removed and mixing it with cyanoacrylate to create a putty. Once this dries, we can sand it to level it with the fretboard. It will be a dark filling, but we are painting this fretboard so it doesn't matter.

We take the chance to finish sanding the rest of the instrument and also going with some damp cloth to get rid of any splinters that may get up once we apply the sealer.

Mixing and applying

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Since we are applying some coats at the same time, we just made the usual mix for the fretboard. That is a thin mix of sealer and thinner. This way, we can work really quick as the layers of finish dry really quick. Once we have achieve a nice level of pore filling in the wood of the fretboard, the rest of the mix doesn't go to waste as we can apply it to the rest of the instrument.

And we start that process of creating the first layer of finish of the body and the rest of the pieces. By doing this, we can get a glimpse of the nice natural color of the wood. It's just a matter of time until all the mix runs out and we can call it a day. The next step will be sanding this layers to start applying a new one.

New Mask

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While it doesn't usually show in this entries, there are some precautions taken into consideration before mixing and doing this whole workload of sanding. That is protecting the airways. Our own airways. We don't need to get any extra damage from the work at hand. The mask used for these jobs was already broken and needed replacement.

Fortunately, there was the chance of finding a similar model with some good filters. The idea of having the same kind if model was using the filter pads we still have in storage.

These are some photos to show the new safety measure. Hopefully, this one will last as much as the previous one before needing a replacement. This is also a reminder that these measures cannot be delayed. If something this crucial breaks down, it needs to be replaced as soon as possible. Working with wood and solvents is a hazard for lung health.

And with this note, we go on our way. Thanks a lot for reading! See you on the next entry!