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Encore stratocaster - Fret levelling - Reloved006 tatty house clearance guitar

947 views · Published 9 July 2014 · 1:39:25 · Indexed 13 October 2026

Channel: Sam Deeks · 2014 · Comedy

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Start to finish video of the job of fret levelling, re-profiling and polishing on a tatty Encore bought on eBay from a 'house clearance' seller. I've added good quality Wilkinson EZ lok tuners to this guitar en route to turning it into a decent player. 

Fret levelling, re-profiling and polishing is a vital step in a decent setup. It establishes the 'foundation' for all the other setup steps. It's hard work; takes a lot of time and patience to get it right but it's worth it. 

However I've paid the price of drilling out the tuner holes with a hand-held drill: splitting the the headstock in the process. Next on my shopping list, a pillar drill and vice. Don't do like me and try to do it without. The physics of trying to drill a 12mm hole on TOP of a 10mm hole that's already there... well, you can bet the drill will be snatched all over the place and the forces transmitted to the the guitar headstock not good. 

Still, this is probably a 'not for sale' guitar anyway so no harm done :-) By the end of the fret levelling process we end up with a nice neck, perfectly level and polished frets and an nice set of tuners. Ready to go. 

Next step for Reloved006 is to do something with the body (anything but the fun gaffer tape & nitro crime I did on it this last weekend!). I'll be stripping it back to its basic black to try to polish it back up to a decent standard.

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