Seven10Ashbury Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I have a 1982/3 es335. I think it needs a new nut and frets. The things 30 years old (I'm not the original owner.) I was told not to touch the nut or anything because it would hurt the value of the guitar. The problem is, I can't bend the strings very well (or at least as easily as I can on my LP, SG and 135 which all have new to newish frets) and I'm convinced that if the nut and frets were made new that it would play better. I've adjusted and readjust the action and the set-up several times. Any ideas? Oh, and there's nothing remarkable about the 335, except for the pickups (Shaws). What about changing the brodge too.........? JoeMatt Seven10Ashbury@aol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaicho8888 Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Get it partially fretted by a good luthier....neck binding like the original will cost more.... done correctly, it's hard to tell the difference. But you'll enjoy more years of playing and should you sell it... it's a good handling axe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdntac Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Take it to a luthier. As long as the frets aren't pitted deeply he/she can crown them and make them much easier to bend on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Without having seen the guitar, I can't say but Maybe I can offer a little perspective. The way Gibson frets Guitars from the factory with binding is to do the frets first, then the binding. The binding coming up onto the fret ends contributes to the feel. It is nearly impossible to recreate the way it came and do it right, especially if there have been a couple or more fret dressings on it. Standard practice is to just take the binding down to level and put the frets over. Most players prefer the binding going over the frets (if you can tell) and you can also tell when the guitar has been refretted. And perhaps you have heard of the "fretless wonder", where it comes stock with very small thin frets. Most poeple hate those, and can't wait to refret, but if it is an origional vintage one, of corse that changes the value drastically. So, from this, comes this "rule" about changing frets on a Gibson. It really is only applies to certain guitars and conditions. Frets wear, it is just a fact of life. If the frets have been dressed so many times they are almost down to nothing, it isn't doing much good to NOT refret. Given the binding coming over the frets is a nice thing, it is just a cause to asses it a little more. It may not be worth refretting when a fret dress would do the trick. If we are talking about an '83, I can't see it affecting the value even as much as the cost of the fret job (which you know you won't recover). Unless of corse, the frets have so much left on them a potential buyer might say "there is so much left on these origional frets this thing hasn't been hardly played". But even then, not likely to change much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackflag Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I really dislike the binding up onto the fret. It looks great, but it creates playability problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven10Ashbury Posted May 1, 2011 Author Share Posted May 1, 2011 Thanx for the input. I have a better idea of what Im doing now. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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