Chris Duarte’s ’63 – I’m here to tell you this thing is ALIVE.

The very definition of “road wear”!

These frets are too flat on top, causing poor intonation and bad tone.

This nut is done. The high “E” slot is the worst offender.

The fret tops also have deep grooves from the wound strings.

The groove on this Graph Tech “D” saddle is too deep and causes a “wolf”tone.

This one under the high “E” string is even worse – it sounds like a sitar! NOT good.

Not only is the nut poorly cut, it’s not seated properly. More bad voodoo!

The fret tops are too wide and worse very uneven. We can fix this!!

The old “E” saddle is at left. That fluted groove was causing the problem.

The new saddle on the left will sound much better. The old one was 10 years old.

Lovers of hot pickups take note: Neck Pickup DC Resistance

Middle Pickup DC Resistance

And the Bridge DC. The moral? Tone is in the hands, man!

The old nut and shim will be going away now. New nut and glue to come!

Whew! This nut is ready to go bye-bye!

A few frets prior to leveling. It won’t be long now!

The fret on the left is leveled and crowned. The other one is not quite leveled.

Crowned and ready for polishing.

The new nut firmly installed and frets polished to a high shine. Mmmmm…

They don’t just look and feel better, they SOUND better!

The new “D” and “E” saddles in their new home! Yowzaa!

Sorry, I just HAD to! Make no mistake – a magical instrument!