So my 1981 LPC is going in for new frets....but....

[duane v]

Me Luthier told me the "nibs" on the binding would need to be removed from the binding ....... Kinda bummed about this one.

[Dub-T-123]

You can get it done without removing them but it costs more money. In other words, you don’t have to get rid of them, it’s a matter of convenience. 
 

The vast majority of Gibson refrets involve leveling/removing the nibs. There are a couple guys who specialize in replacing frets with nibs. They do all the 59 Les Pauls etc

 

I like the nibs but only when the binding is very thin. My ‘06 SG has some thick binding and you lose about 1/16” on each side of the fretboard. If I had that refretted I would lose the nibs for sure

 

My R9 has thin binding on the fretboard and I have almost never accidentally fretted the string on a nib. In that case the nibs sortof give you a luxurious fret end without negatively affecting playability, so I like it. Certain Gibsons with thick binding feel better with no nibs 

[duane v]

I'll talk to him if I can pay an additional fee to keep them.

 

 

 

[ksdaddy]

That’s going to be some seriously accurate cutting of the fret wire. 

[duane v]

53 minutes ago, ksdaddy said:

That’s going to be some seriously accurate cutting of the fret wire. 

I left me Luthier a message, but I think I know what he's gonna tell me.

"Then take it elsewhere."

lol. 

[ksdaddy]

The only thing I ever (re)built "with nibs" is a banjo I installed an ebony board on. I installed the frets, filed them dead even with the board, then installed binding that was taller than the board and frets.... then I cut the excess binding off, leaving the nibs. Lots of shaving with a utility knife and a lot of filing. A criminal amount of filing.

Never. Again.  

Never. Again.

(Yes, I know I didn't put side dots on. I meant to go back and do it and never did. Maybe someday.)

 

[duane v]

40 minutes ago, ksdaddy said:

The only thing I ever (re)built "with nibs" is a banjo I installed an ebony board on. I installed the frets, filed them dead even with the board, then installed binding that was taller than the board and frets.... then I cut the excess binding off, leaving the nibs. Lots of shaving with a utility knife and a lot of filing. A criminal amount of filing.

Never. Again.  

Never. Again.

(Yes, I know I didn't put side dots on. I meant to go back and do it and never did. Maybe someday.)

 

 

Wow

I was taught how to do fret job but I just don't have the tools to perform one. And I really don't want my first fret job to be on one of my Gibson's.

Since this is the only guitar other than my EDS1275 that has needed a fret job, I just don't see the reason to to fork out $600 the tools. 

[ksdaddy]

28 minutes ago, duane v said:

 

Wow

I just don't see the reason to to fork out $600 the tools. 

Meh. I don’t have that much for tooling. I think the biggest expense was the fret roller, which gives you “a radius” (never perfect, and it doesn’t need to be). Refret a few junkers and you will quickly decide what’s your favorite fretting hammer, and it might just be a brass hammer from Harbor Freight. Radiused sanding blocks are nice but not required. A good flat file will find the high spots. A good strong pair of dikes for lopping the excess fret wire off (dremel with a cutoff disc if you’re brave). Use that same flat file for smoothing the fret ends. I epoxied a long strip of hardwood onto the unused face of the file to act as a handle. A diamond fret file is a nice touch. They might be like $50 or so. Dan Erlewine gave me mine back in ‘93 and it still works fine. I also use that (concave shaped) file with progressively finer sandpaper. Lots of good quality masking tape! And I took an old three cornered file, ground one of the three edges smooth, and I use that to round off the fret ends. 

[duane v]

My Luthier basically told me if all I'm going to do is look at my guitar I should just not do the fret replacement job and deal with a basic fret job and deal with lower frets.

He did state by removing the nibs would cause that part of the binding to whiter than the binding that has ambered due to the lacquer. Or he could charge me an additional $150 to match that area to the binding. Or option 3, when the fret replacement job is completed I can just scrape the binding and have it be uniformed. Or " if you're too stupid to scrape the neck binding yourself I will charge you an additional $50."

I told him option 3 ... lol