Hi folks. First post in a long time, so I hope it's in the right spot.
I'm currently refurbing a 1990 RG550 that I've had since it was new. She was in rough shape, and as a kid I took VERY poor care of it. I decided to undergo bringing it back to life so to speak. The original body was lit on fire, and after a few hours of sanding I decided it was just too far gone to salvage (dents, dings, etc), so I picked up a rear-routed 570 body and got it ready for paint.
I'm posting all my progress here:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23443
That said, I'm currently working on the neck until the weather gets a little nicer up here so that I can swirl the body. It's a maple neck/board. The back and headstock are coming along great - tons of sanding but the results are worth it, and it's kind of my penance for neglecting it so much as a kid. The problem I'm at now is that the fretboard itself is just really, really worn and full of black wear marks. I've sanded them a ton, and I'm nervous about taking off too much and ruining the inlays.
Here's the original pic after a steel-wooling:
And here's where I'm at now after an hour or so going at it with 200-300 grit:
I just can't seem to get rid of the black, and since it's a maple fretboard I'm really, really hoping that I can avoid having to dye it, otherwise my freshly painted body, headstock and neck will be matched with a perpetually dirty fretboard.
Any advice as to where to go from here would really be appreciated. I'm afraid to keep sanding because it hasn't done much so far, and as I said I don't want to redo the inlays. I really don't want to replace the board either, since it's got some serious sentimental value - I used to play air guitar to Number of the Beast and Too Fast for Love on this sucker before I could even play power chords.
Cheers!
- Chris