daveinspain Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Just noticing several of my guitars have really bad divots on the first 4 or 5 frets. The guitars still play well but I get the random buzzes and odd overtones, specially while doing soft arpeggios... What would a good refret cost and can I just have the effected frets replaced and dress and crown the others? Also what about guitars with binding on the necks, do they have to replace the binding?
Drog Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 You can usually have the frets dressed a couple of times before a refret is needed. They will level and dress all frets and not just the worn frets.
'Scales Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 I had one done a few years back Dave - deep valleys cut almost to the board on low frets - I know i press way too hard. I got them all done and it was about $400 including getting a new nut made and cut perfectly (which you need to do at the same time). Make sure you use someone good who is a perfectionist like my luthier. The neck may need adjusting or shimming (as mine did) cos the strings will be off for a while. Might need a couple of tweaks in the first week or so on the action as it settles. try to get it done locally as its quite likely that a fret or two will unseat itself and need re-setting. Fret wire is not all created equally and you also might get unlucky and get some soft stuff that wears quickly and need replacing - so these little jobs need to be agreed to be all inclusive just in case. When its done its noticeble how much nicer it is to play so well worth it on a much used/loved guitar.
btoth76 Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Hello Dave! It depends mainly on Your playing habits. Frets can be levelled and dressed many times before refretting becomes necessary. When You feel that Your fingers rub against the fretboard while playing, You know the frets have to be replaced. But again, if You are a rhythm player, or You don't do lots of bends, and have a light touch You can live with very low frets. Changing the binding is not part of the refret job. Luthiers usually sand nibs off (as it's necessary to properly level the fretboard), and install new frets that are as wide as the fretboard is. However, it can be done with saving the nibs, but it's usually very expensive: http://fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/gibson-refret-saving-the-binding-nibs/ I do levelling/dressing on my own. I bought the tools, it payed off on the third job: http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/118680-fret-levelling-and-dressing/ Good luck... Bence
capmaster Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Just noticing several of my guitars have really bad divots on the first 4 or 5 frets. The guitars still play well but I get the random buzzes and odd overtones, specially while doing soft arpeggios... What would a good refret cost and can I just have the effected frets replaced and dress and crown the others? Also what about guitars with binding on the necks, do they have to replace the binding? Usually the binding will be kept, but on bound Gibsons you may lose fret nubs/nibs. The typical way of refretting is fret over binding. Partial refretting is very common. In most cases it is about the first five to seven frets. Anyway, that wouldn't do it for me. Three of my guitars are overdue. The frets are severely worn, in particular from 1st to 17th fret around G3rd and B2nd. They are my favorite strings for bendings. The frets on these guitars were so low stock that any dressing is impossible. Fretless wonders... :unsure:
capmaster Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 ... Frets can be levelled and dressed many times before refretting becomes necessary. When You feel that Your fingers rub against the fretboard while playing, You know the frets have to be replaced. ... Do you think that "fretless wonders" like three of my four Gibson SGs already needed a refret when new? There is no other option - they don't allow for a single fret dressing, let alone doing it "many times" as you said. Super Jumbo frets may allow for dressing three times or so, but I wouldn't call that many times. OK, in case you remove every micrometer left unused from unplayed frets every two hours of playing, you may do this several hundred times before refretting, and a few dozen times even on fretless wonders. ;) Nevertheless you will shorten fret life this way.
btoth76 Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Hello Capmaster! Yes, Fretless Wonders ask this price for the comfort(?). It is not impossible to level and dress them though, but - as You said - not that many times as contemporary Gibsons. Also, they require different crowning technique. Using concave crowning file on them is next to impossible. I found, that a regular flat jeweller's file is the best for it. Cheers... Bence
capmaster Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Hello Capmaster! Yes, Fretless Wonders ask this price for the comfort(?). It is not impossible to level and dress them though, but - as You said - not that many times as contemporary Gibsons. Also, they require different crowning technique. Using concave crowning file on them is next to impossible. I found, that a regular flat jeweller's file is the best for it. ... Cheers... Bence You put the question mark behind the comfort well - the comfort is questionable. Furthermore, any fret dressing will further reduce the possible dynamic range of string attack. When about comfort, I have a second problem with pressing fingertips hard onto the fretboard, in particular for chording. My stubby fingers will become even wider when flattened this way on the board and mute all the adjacent strings My "fretless wonders" will end up one day with fret wire of more than twice the height than stock, like that most of my Gibsons came with.
btoth76 Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Well...Fretless Wonders are definitely not for everyone. Some romantic haze surrounds them, but many players will find them almost unplayable. It's great for rapid scaling, and chord playing. But, it's awful for Gary Moore-ish bold bends and vibratos. It's for players like Mr. Les Paul was. "My "fretless wonders" will end up one day with fret wire of more than twice the height than stock, like that most of my Gibsons came with." - Yes, I can understand that. I like mine, though, but I use it for playing the jazzy stuff. When I want to "rock out", I pull out one of my newer guitars. Cheers... Bence
capmaster Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 I find it interesting that it took many years until the presently common standard of fret wires developed. Like with the "fretless wonders", I know very few players who like the shallow "vintage" fret wire on Fenders. I understand that period-correct guitars might follow the old specs, but then besides the low frets my Frank Zappa "Roxy" SGs would have had to come with ABR-1 bridges, too.
'Scales Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 its cool how much can be learned from you guys. funny enough, I played one of the early Chinese made strats and the frets on it might as well have been painted on. i could barely play the thing (I'm not remotely in your league as a player - but what the hell I enjoy the noise I make) - i can only hope some clown had filed them down and that some poor kid hadn't had to try and learn on it. So its not necessarily just old guitars inflicted.
capmaster Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 ... I'm not remotely in your league as a player - but what the hell I enjoy the noise I make... As a guitarist I'm an eternal hack but still having fun, too.
kidblast Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Dave my 1978 Yari I thought needed at least 2 if not 3 new frets, (the guitar is 37 years old, and it's been played).. A dressing down was all they needed, and the frets are not large at all. so have it checked out, you may be surprised. if you want to look at Do It Yourself, look for a "Buzz Off" kit, this is a pretty easy way to shave a little bit of material down, has tools to check while you go along. ps: I don't like vintage frets either,, had a few strats with them over the years, one was a gorgeous Fender Custom Shop Time Machine 57 Reissue, beautiful guitar, sounded fantastic, but those frets,,, Oy! couldn't deal with the vintage style frets.. not for me.
daveinspain Posted February 2, 2016 Author Posted February 2, 2016 Dave my 1978 Yari I thought needed at least 2 if not 3 new frets, (the guitar is 37 years old, and it's been played).. A dressing down was all they needed, and the frets are not large at all. so have it checked out, you may be surprised. if you want to look at Do It Yourself, look for a "Buzz Off" kit, this is a pretty easy way to shave a little bit of material down, has tools to check while you go along. ps: I don't like vintage frets either,, had a few strats with them over the years, one was a gorgeous Fender Custom Shop Time Machine 57 Reissue, beautiful guitar, sounded fantastic, but those frets,,, Oy! couldn't deal with the vintage style frets.. not for me. Great, thanks for the tip… Found this on YouTube, pretty strait forward…
btoth76 Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Hello Dave! Please note, the Buzz Off kit only takes care of high frets, not fret wear. And only each at once. You want all frets to be in level, and then crowned and polished. Worn frets cannot be raised. The less worn frets needs to be lowered to have them all equal. (Excuse me, for stating the evident). Best wishes... Bence
kidblast Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Hello Dave! Please note, the Buzz Off kit only takes care of high frets, not fret wear. And only each at once. You want all frets to be in level, and then crowned and polished. Worn frets cannot be raised. The less worn frets needs to be lowered to have them all equal. (Excuse me, for stating the evident). Best wishes... Bence what you do is re-level the frets around the ones that are worn, which is what I believe a luthier would do anyway.
btoth76 Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 what you do is re-level the frets around the ones that are worn, which is what I believe a luthier would do anyway. Hello Ray! That sounds like repairing a ding on a flat surface by making it wider. Rather than, sanding the entire surface. Isn't it? Bence.
daveinspain Posted February 2, 2016 Author Posted February 2, 2016 Yeah I was thinking that… This is what I'm dealing with…on several guitars…
kidblast Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Hello Ray! That sounds like repairing a ding on a flat surface by making it wider. Rather than, sanding the entire surface. Isn't it? Bence. Well, I suppose that is so, I suppose depends on how bad it is the photos look to indicate some pretty severe wear, more than I was basing my assumption on.
Murph Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Wow. It's time, Dave. I had my 1933 mandolin leveled at Gruhns a few months ago. Night and day. I've gone mostly acoustic and am concerned about my J-45. I will probably try to go stainless when the time comes to avoid messing with the ebony any more than necessary. I tend to play ALL OVER the neck and my frets appear to be wearing pretty evenly....... Best of luck.
jdgm Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Yeah I was thinking that… This is what I'm dealing with…on several guitars… REFRET!!!! NO question about it - those cannot be satisfactorily crowned/levelled/sanded. Yes you will lose the nibs. You may find a luthier who is prepared to just replace the 1st few but the nibs make that very unlikely. It's not such a big deal, I've had 2 of my guitars including my 67 Tele refretted. It will be ok Dave.
btoth76 Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Yeah I was thinking that… This is what I'm dealing with…on several guitars… Oh my! I haven't seen such type of wear before. Looks like You are pushing the strings through the frets. You are heavy handed, indeed! Of course, Gibson fret are very soft to begin with. When time comes, I will replace them with steel Dunlops on my guitars. But, there is still enough height left for leveling. Best wishes... Bence
rct Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Whatever it is you keep in the case on top of the guitar, leave it out. You got yer strap or something in there, or the case is too extra padded or something. That does not look like any kind of wear on frets I've seen from playing. rct
btoth76 Posted February 2, 2016 Posted February 2, 2016 Hello again! I did google on "fret wear". That type of wear made me curious. As it seems, it's not that rare at all: Bence.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.