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Refretting

bluefoxicy

By bluefoxicy
in Epiphone Electrics

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bluefoxicy

bluefoxicy

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Do a google search for fret dressing. Find the Magic Marker method. It's not rocket science. Be careful' date=' take it slow, and understand and follow the directions and you should be fine.[/quote']

 

http://www.rackcreations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175

 

doesn't this make the frets flat, when they should be curved?

 

I could see it of you wanted Jumbo SS dunlop frets for a higher end guitar...then OK.

 

What is the advantage to these? How much do they cost?

 

Better off buying a 10-buck neck and try it first. Get a book about it also for 20.00 read up on what is involved.

 

Should I get a GS (was it?) with a bolt-on neck and grab a bunch of replacement necks, some replacement fret wire, and tools, and pull the original neck and go at the new ones until I start making them sound good? Can replace the fret wire again and again until the neck's taken too much abuse from that, which (since it's a wedged-in mechanical hold) I'm sure won't take long.

 

Also point me at a book you like man.

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tortuga

tortuga

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doesn't this make the frets flat, when they should be curved?

 

I believe that's why he says to sand each fret with sandpaper laying over the dented-in groove you made at the very beginning. That would put the original shape back on.

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oldpriest

oldpriest

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Well, I realize that a pine board and a hammer isn't standard equipment for putting a high fret down, but I just wanted to get it done...I bought this LP style guitar the other day and it sounds good and everything except the second fret is a little high on the 4th and 5th string...A and D so I thought I could just carefully tap it down without damaging the fret or going too far.

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glenn1281733995

glenn1281733995

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Well' date=' I realize that a pine board and a hammer isn't standard equipment for putting a high fret down, but I just wanted to get it done...I bought this LP style guitar the other day and it sounds good and everything except the second fret is a little high on the 4th and 5th string...A and D so I thought I could just carefully tap it down without damaging the fret or going too far.[/quote']

You did well then. You dont necessarily have to go running to stewmac every time you need to get a job done. Some guys do but they are the exception. Who the hell buys cheap guitars and then maintains them with million dollar tools?

A lump of wood and a hammer, priceless.

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Dave

Dave

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RON G WROTE: Wow, show me the way to a $100 fret job (I don't think so)

 

A $100 fret job is only a fret dressing that takes care of any high frets, not a complete replacement.

 

TORTUGA WROTE: doesn't this make the frets flat, when they should be curved?

 

Frets ARE curved. That's why you mark them with the magic marker. You sand using a perfectly flat sanding block (matched radius curve is better) and move it back and forth to sand enough to remove all the magic marker. Once you do, you have covered any high spots. You sand along the radius at right angles to the fret. At any given point, you are sanding on a small part of the fret, which is fairly flat in relation the the other frets. Any magic marker left toward the end will be in a low spot. The reason you use a long sanding block is to remove material from adjacent frets until all match the lowest spot in the neck. You will have lower frets when you are through and all will be level, provided you did a good job in adjusting the truss rod to achieve a perfectly flat fingerboard first.

 

You CAN ruin a guitar attempting your own repairs and setups. Proceed with caution only after you are certain that you understand the technique and dependencies involved. Some people are not equipped to do something like this. If you can't change a light bulb...take it to a pro (grin).

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carverman

carverman

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A $100 fret job is only a fret dressing that takes care of any high frets' date=' not a complete replacement.

 

Frets ARE curved. ...snip!.... You will have lower frets when you are through and all will be level, provided you did a good job in adjusting the truss rod to achieve a perfectly flat fingerboard first.

 

[b']You CAN ruin a guitar attempting your own repairs and setups. [/b] Proceed with caution only after you are certain that you understand the technique and dependencies involved. Some people are not equipped to do something like this.

 

I agree with you 100% Dave. I've had several years of experience in setting up my own guitars (and customers in

past years), and it's never as simple as one may think at first. A loose fret may not stay down with just banging it

with a fret hammer, (or regular hammer and board for that matter). If the fret is loose, the wood around the

barbs has either shrunka bit or become worn enough around the barb, and it won't necessarily hold the fret

down by simply just whacking it.

 

When I fretted my new rosewood fingerboard, even though I used the proper

fret hammer, and curved the frets to fit the 12 inch radius, some frets did not go down as

tight on the ends as in the middle part of the fingerboard. Yes, you can get a drill press

and special caul set to press them in, but that costs over $50 for the caul, not to mention the

cost of a drill press. Not too many owners/players are willing to spend on

whatever professional tools are required to do it properly.

 

I ended up doing it and I believe it looks satisfactory, but it took a LOT more effort than I first believed.

In the end, I had to make a hardwood "caul' radiused to the correct curvature, and then had to glue in

(with cyano-acrilate /crazy glue) some of the frets (at the edges of the fretboard), with my curved

caul and clamps, which were still were not pressed in enough.

Just pounding them some more with a hammer would have possibly ruined them.

 

Now, I have to get a 12 inch radiused sanding block. Well worth the expense,

as I have a lot of money invested in my project already.

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Dave

Dave

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Carverman,

 

Most things are easier once you have made the mistakes and figured out what went wrong. While I have gotten pretty good at fret dressing, I'm not good at shaping a nut. I went through two bone blanks on my Epi and got right to the point where I needed to cut just a little more to be perfect and DANG IT I went too low on the high E! Both times, I re-installed my original plastic EPI nut and finally said "To heck with it, I don't play that many open chords and the plastic one sounds fine." I was just lucky that I didn't crack the stock nut taking it off either time.

 

The other night I was jamming and accidentally slipped the high E off the bottom of the fingerboard at the 8th fret. It stuck under the edge of the fret! I had to pull the string out from under the edge of the fret. It's popped a little. Now I have to re-seat it when I get the chance. There's enough clearance under it on the bottom side to catch my fingernail slightly. Until I get some time, I'll just have to live with it and not let it slip under. Got a wedding reception to play tonight and a full day tomorrow. I'm off Monday, so that will be "guitar in the basement workshop day".

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carverman

carverman

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Most things are easier once you have made the mistakes and figured out what went wrong. While I have gotten pretty good at fret dressing' date=' I'm not good at shaping a nut.

 

The other night I was jamming and accidentally slipped the high E off the bottom of the fingerboard at the 8th fret. It stuck under the edge of the fret! I had to pull the string out from under the edge of the fret. It's popped a little. Now I have to re-seat it when I get the chance. There's enough clearance under it on the bottom side to catch my fingernail slightly. Until I get some time, I'll just have to live with it and not let it slip under. ".[/quote']

 

You could have installed a shim (a piece of cardboard or whatever is thin enough, under the nut and temporarily

glued the nut back in and continued. That's what I would do. I'm ordering a vintage bone nut from Stew-Mac

and at $10 a piece, there is no way I'm going to throw it away. I don't know what kind of dinosaurs, these

vintage (shaped) nuts come from, but like anything labeled "vintage" these days, ya gotta pay the price.

 

 

I had the same problem with the high e catching under one of the higher frets on my Joe Pass. I just took some

5 minute epoxy and filled the crack. String doesn't catch anymore. Just be careful tamping down those frets

on the edge..you only get one whack at it. If you have to do it more than once, then it could be time to glue it

in with a clamp.

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tulsaslim

tulsaslim

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I've got 3 of those Fender Tele Specials with the humbckers, carved top, etc. They've got pencil-thin necks that really turn me on except they all have jumbo frets. I hate 'em. I'm getting ready to take it down and have the frets popped & replaced with short & narrows. My tech assured me that it would be ok (it's not always ok to do this. On some guitars it will screw up the intonation, I'm told). I'm gonna get the Buzz Feiten tuning system while I'm at it & if I like the results I'll have it done to the other two.

 

There's no way I'd do this myself & I've played over 45 yrs. One of my brothers is pretty good at guitar building/repair. He's no pro by any means but can slap in any hardware or build one from parts with great results. Putting in a new set of frets is the one thing he says spooks him.

 

Fortunately I do business with two great techs who don't gouge me price-wise and do great work.

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