Nice, Simon, lovely melow sound – both playing and guitar.
The last few sunny afternoons have been spent on the neck of my worthless plywood Sigma Martin DM 2. The nut just required finger pressure to remove but the frets much patience. The nearer I got to the sound hole the more friable the wood, all out without making too much mess. Then came the sanding, first to remove bulges at the 12th and 4th frets (which caused most of the buzzing), then to get the thing flat along its length, then to do the new 10″-12″ compound radius like my favourite Warmoth Wizard neck.
I’ve ordered some Fender frets with an extra .13mm of tang thickness in the hope they’ll be a snug fit in the friable slots. Medium jumbos with the same dimensions as the Dunlop 6150 I have in most of my guitars. One of the things I dislike about acoustics is the silly little frets they usually have in them, I want to press on the string, not wood.
At the moment it feels like throwing good money after bad and hours of my life too. If ever I succeed it’ll be a cheap plywood acoustic with a nice electric style neck. Firewood, or a guitar, for the moment the jury is out.