This is a Fender Eric Clapton Strat built in 1990 that I bought myself for my 30th birthday as it was the same age.
I played it a bit and this happened. Not sure if it was already damaged and I made it worse or if the old strings caused the damage. There was no noticable damage when I bought it.
Is this type of thing possible to fix? Or will it need a new neck?
Thank you! (First post on Lemmy!)
Based on the inlay and the sides of the fretboard I'm assuming you're referring to the finish. Unlike rosewood (or similar) boards, most maple boards have a thin finish that absolutely wears through over time. Generally the only way to fix this is to refinish the neck and, due to the nature of a finished fretboard, usually this entails a re-fret.
To my knowledge, the only way to prevent this from happening is to not play it. It's just a natural by-product of playing a finished board.
In the long term, More of the finish will wear off. Eventually you'll even get some dark spots. It's a look.
Overall this is nothing I would be concerned about and certainly not justification for a refin. However, if you're the type of person that absolutely can't stand The look of an instrument that shows play wear (I understand), then I would strongly suggest you consider avoiding maple fretboards in the future as you're going to be constantly fighting this battle assuming you actually play it.