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My experience at guitar repair is minimal.

I have a 1956 Gibson J-50 that I need to repair. Loose braces, top cracks, bridge reglue - I can handle. Looking at the wear, the guitar has been played a lot. Why some people let their left hand finger nails grow and dig them into the fingerboard for years is a mystery to me, but whoever owned this guitar obviously did this. There are are some deep pits at the first position behind the first few frets. Sanding the fretboard to eliminate the pits is not workable to due to the depth of the pits, and I really don't want to replace the fretboard.

Help! Is there a way to fill pits and then level them with the fretboard? CA? Something else?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Maybe Franks article can help.
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Frets/FBoardDivot/fboardivot.html

Thanks, Glen. I really appreciate you taking the time to send me that link!

Frank's method makes sense, but he certainly spent a lot of time to fill each of the pits in his example fretboard. I wish that there was an easier method. But at least this is one approach.

Frank was one clever son-of-a-gun.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Not a repair guy generally, but I would wager that the divots come from the string rubbing against the fb father than fingernails…

Frank’s method is most effective on shallow divots; if they’re deep, you’ll have to use more dust and glue, and that tends to leave contrasting patches which can look even worse than the divots. A more seamless repair uses woodcarving gouges and some matching wood.

https://youtu.be/zeV1vXT8fQU?si=WI0bQqQ5HSY4cu4J

I used Frank's method on a '49 Gibson J-45 and it worked quite well. As always when using wood dust for fill you have to test first to make sure it will match - using dust from the wood you're filling usually does not match.

The gouge/divot method also works well but takes some practice. I've used this successfully on tops.

Here's a photo after I did the repair on the J-45. I couldn't find a before photo but the board was a mess, the guitar had been sitting outside in a shed in Alabama for years and was almost beyond repair. Anyway the divots in the board were in the usual cowboy chord places and since I had to refret it anyway I was able to sand some of it out. You can kind of see the divot locations in the photo with the reflected light.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Can you post a picture? The best method depends on severity.
Tom

I added a few to my previous post.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Sorry Ed but I don’t see them.
Tom

I'll have to figure out a hosting service to do so.

Thanks for all the help. I used Frank Ford's method that Glen, Matt, and Steve recommended. I also saw 2 YouTube videos of guys doing Frank's method that were helpful. After removing the frets, I repaired the pits in 2 old Gibson guitars. The method worded well. After oiling the fretboards the repairs disappeared and the boards are smooth as new.

You guys are great.

I use IMGUR.
(Imager)

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince