2001 McCarty Bird inlay chipping advice

[nflea7]

I just acquired a 01 McCarty 10 top with birds. Players guitar for sure, chips, dings, scratches, fret wear. Clearly a gigged guitar. I knew that from the ad, I was shipped the guitar so I couldn't play it first. I noticed the inlays have a brownish film from playing. I also noticed the birds 3d - 12th frets all have some kind of chipping, as in I can run my finger nail across the inlays and either the clear coat to protect the inlays is flaking/chipping or its the actual inlay flaking/chipping. Is this normal? Its been a while since I've had a older PRS. I don't remember having inlays with this issue. I got it for 1300 shipped. I thought it was a fair deal until I got hands on and saw the inlays. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[rugerpc]

I don't think fingerboards/inlays get a clear coat...

I've never seen chipping/delaminating/flaking/rough/raised inlays on a PRS. I think the guitar would need some serious abuse for that to happen.

Maybe it had a refret with fingerboard dressing in the past and they used a scraper or something else harsh on it.

I'd have it looked at carefully by a repair shop you trust.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Hmmm... That sucks, can you post some pics?

 

[garrett]

Sounds a bit like the Abalam is un-laminating.

 

[nflea7]

The frets are in rough shape I think. Its the divots all up and down the neck. I was playing it for my girl, and she said is the guitar supposed to sound that loud, as in the guitar noise from me playing is louder than the bedroom volume of the amp, I said yea all guitars have an "acoustic" noise to them. I said it was loud bc the guitar has good projection. As I thought about it, It may be because the frets and board are in such rough shape its making a ton of extra string noise. I'll try to get some pics up later. The inlays are definitely, to use garrett's term un-laminating.

 

[László]

A former owner may have used something on the fretboard that caused that to happen, it's pretty unusual.

But I've talked to people who use the damndest things on their fretboards! I know a guy who was using turpentine (!) until the inlays on his Gibson came off.

There are all kinds of myths going around about what to use, but the fact is, most fretboards need an occasional light wipe-on, wipe-off with a little lemon oil, and that's it. And even then, it should be used far less often than some folks use it.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Sounds a bit like the Abalam is un-laminating.

That's what I was thinking too.

 

[László]

That's what I was thinking too.

Yup. But the question is what caused that to happen.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Yup. But the question is what caused that to happen.

I think you were on to something about fretboard (over/incorrect) treatment. No idea how they laminate the shell or what they use to "glue" it together, but it could be some sort of chemical reaction.

 

[dmatthews]

Here's my 2001 McRosie. Looks like a chip missing in this birdie's tail...



What's yours look like?

 

[Michael B]

Pretty sure its just glue around the birds.....maybe someone put some chemical that is bad for glue and inlays on fretboard for a few years They sand the necks with inlays so seems like they are very tough

 

[Grizzlee]

My 00' Cu 22 has seen some action, there are a few spots in the inlays which are actually high, I put this down to the surrounding area being a little softer so have worn differently.

 

[Ol'Lefty]

You can see some rough cross-grain sanding or filing lines at every part of the fretboard. It was reworked very harshly. Most likely a somewhat coarse file that "caught" on the inlays followed by careless sanding.

 

[Bluesboy998]

Iam sorry chipping or chirping.

 

[nflea7]

Yes it looks like dmatthews 2001 McRosie. I wound up getting 130 bucks back so I decided to keep it. Its got much better tone than I remember McCarty's having lol. Something special about the late 90's early 00 year PRS's.

 

[dmatthews]

Yes it looks like dmatthews 2001 McRosie. I wound up getting 130 bucks back so I decided to keep it. Its got much better tone than I remember McCarty's having lol. Something special about the late 90's early 00 year PRS's.

What to do? Put a drop of super glue in there?

 

[Ol'Lefty]

I would drop-fill with superglue. You can even put a little dye in it if you need to restore color in the abalone. I would go over the whole fretboard with an un-burred mini scraper, stroking lengthwise and then polish with a couple of "grits" of Scotchbrite- the grey and white. That would even everything up. I would use backer sticks with the abrasive to avoid creating dips in the larger fret spaces. NOTE: if it really is "abalam" then, leaving it alone is probably best except for water thin CA to "lock in" what is there.