Paul Reed Smith McCarty

Here’s a nice AAA quilted top Paul Reed Smith McCarty with Brazilian rosewood fret
board and head plate ready to get an overhaul with its frets and corroded hardware.

The frets are going to be leveled and recrowned to remove virtually all of these divots.

The PH of this player’s sweat has really taken a toll on the hardware to the extent of
compromising functionality- the 3rd string has an awful twang everywhere, similar to a sitar.

Under close inspection, you cannot only see the corroded string slots, but also a small piece of corroded debris where the third string leaves the bridge.  This microscopic gap creates enough space for the vibrating string to make a very unwanted yet present sound everywhere along the string.

First I’ll remove the strings, truss cover, bridge, bridge studs, and the knobs with this handy tool I made. 

Here the leveling process has just begun.  The frets will need to be taken down to the
depth of the divots, and then the tops rerounded with a jumbo diamond crowning file,
then polished smooth.

This spot is actually the worse on the whole guitar.  This is where I’ll stop leveling.  I can
remove virtually this entire little dimple with the crowning and polishing steps to follow.