How to Examine The Fretboard of a Used Guitar

Video Transcript

KIP BRADFORD: Hi, my name's Kip and I'm here on behalf of Expert Village. Today, we're taking a close look at used acoustic guitars, primarily to determine whether or not it's worth purchasing and with the idea of something that is playable and we can learn on. We've taken a look at the bridge and determine that the bridge on the instrument we're looking at actually does not have enough glue or the bridge's beginning to lift from the sound board. The next thing that I'll do is take a look at the fret board itself and see what kind of condition that's in. Now, the fret board is glued to the neck. This is the neck and this is the fret board. The fret board is often times Rosewood or Ebony or some kind of hardwood whereas the neck itself could be Mahogany or whatever wood they chose to use. It can, being says as glued, there again, if it gets hot and it's not properly cooled and all of that kind of stuff, then the fret board may begin to lift. So you want to take and look very carefully all the way up and down both sides where the binding and the neck portion come together and see if there's any cracking, anything that's lifting there. You also want to look at the condition of the fret board. This one again is very dry just like the bridge was, so lemon oil would be in order to condition the neck or the fret board and keep it from cracking, but being said it's so dry, you want to look and look to see if there's any s--places where the--there is cracking in the grain. Also, look very carefully especially up in the playing position, the first playing position which is up near the headstock, near the nut and look at each fret and run your fingers along, then see if you feel any burst, any pitting, excessive wear. A fret job on a guitar can be a couple of $100, so if they wore out and the instrument is $20 at a garage sale, it's not worth buying if you want something that's very playable. Now, that's a full fret job milling in the whole bit. If you have one or two frets that just needs a little attention, you can have those taken care of individually, but if this lots of wear, then you might want to avoid the instrument.

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