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Even though no masking tape seems to have been involved while filing the fret ends, he thinks it was masking tape that pulled the little bit of blue paint off in the first place. Go figure.
Going back to your original post, this speaks volumes to me:
"...the top edge of the fretboard had scratches and superglue around the frets he’d worked on. And glue on the top of the fretboard. …. I can still see fine scratches from the file, but it’s not the end of the world. The finish repair is still very poor. .....I know it’s called a scratchplate, but that doesn’t mean I want scratches off a file on it, and bits that look like they’ve been sand-papered. And I can see a few tiny dings on the back, things like a trail of tiny dents near the backplate, where he’s adjusted the micro-tilt. Things like that."
It seems like it's just not in his nature to do things neatly or carefully. I suppose you can learn it, but I think you pretty much are that kind of person or you're not. And if you're not, you probably shouldn't be a jeweller, an engraver, a sign painter... or a guitar tech.
The parts can be unscrewed whilst the work is being done to one half of the instrument, thereby removing any possibility of accidental damage to the other part.
(Any guitar tech who cannot remove and correctly refit a Fender neck should not be charging money for their work.)
The alternative is to prevent damage by masking or covering with a layer of something protective. e.g. When dressing away fret wire, protect the pickups against metal filings.
There wasn't a copy of this lying around the workshop was there ?
Edited to embed image.
Edit: but my particular brand of attention to detail doesn't stretch to manual jobs like jeweller, engraver, sign painter ... or guitar tech
Better to inflict upon one customer the disappointment of having to find another repairer than to instantly destroy whatever good reputation you have built up over time.
Yeah, I was a bit old-school in my examples there....
I'm definitely an attention to detail person, be it numbers and paperwork or things like guitar-techery. Although I'm not sure my eyesight is up to it nowadays.
I usually just give the high frets a wack with a plastic jeweller's hammer before levelling.
I'm not sure how helpful it would be to 'name and shame' him. It's not really something I'm comfortable with, even though I'm fully aware of how shoddy the work was.
Wow... That is awful.. A scratched up board is not cool.. The paint job even worse.. He should be ashamed of himself.
I always treat every guitar like its precious and how I would want my guitars to be treated as I know how personal guitars are to the people that own them.
I once made a silly mistake and was devastated by it.. I was servicing a guitar with a bigsby type trem on it.. I turned the guitar upside down to work on the back with the trem arm secured in my hand but it just swiped across the body as I turned it leaving a small scratch on the body which you could only see at certain angles.. I was ashamed of it and offered a free service or to knock some money off the job I was doing or to buff it out for free..
In the end the guy said he could hardly notice it and wasn't anywhere near as upset as I was. And I wont ever make that mistake again (I will remove or tape it up next time)...
And to fret level, THREE WEEKS.. Damn.. That should be done in an afternoon.. If someone was in a real rush I would do it while they waited..
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