Tell Me What You Know About Roadstar Ii Guitars.

[Pick It]

Hi everyone!!! I'm one of the new kids on the block and needto pick all your brains. Just picked up a 1984 Roadstar II at a pawn shop. Pretty beat up, but it works great. Strings are a mess as is the bridge. This guitar has no tremelo and the idea of adding it is somewhat appealing. I am used to playing my Strat and have a hard time with the feel of the frets on this new addition. It has been recommended to me that I have the frets sanded. Has anyone out there ever done this? Did it help? I want to hot rod this guitar, so any help from the forum would be greatly appreciated.

[biliousfrog]

Why was it recommended to sand the frets, are they damaged, worn or uneven or just too high for you?

The frets aren't usually sanded but levelled with a special file or oil stone, however it can be done with sandpaper when backed with something straight & level such as a radius block. The main reasons for doing this are to get all the frets level after a refret or if some have worn down, causing the strings to buzz against a fret other than the one being fretted. Once the frets have been levelled they need to be re-crowned which means putting the radius back onto the top of the frets after they were flattened by the levelling. This is usually achieved by using a crowning file which is the correct width for the fret, the idea is to round the edges of the fret without removing any from the very top of the fret as this would make the frets uneven & they would need re-levelling. Once they are all crowned they will need a polish to remove the scratches from the filing.

The process isn't difficult to perform but is very difficult to become proficient. Like most tasks it becomes easier with experience but unless you are regularly maintaining guitars & performing fret dress's it is unlikely that you'll get it right first time.

[soapbarstrat]

My wife has one of those. Hers has a one piece maple neck. Body is basswood. I have leveled the original frets once. I think they're around .038" high right now. Fine for her, because I don't think she ever bends strings. I can bend strings on it well enough.

One thing they did way better than Fender, was they sprayed the maple fret-board before they put the frets in. It's a nicer look done that way.

Back to the specifics of your question : Yes, this one played better after the frets were leveled. But it was only done because of faults with the frets much like what frog wrote above.

For the thousandth time : No fret-job is better than a bad fret job.