wineredrich Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 talked to my local guitar tech about refretting my 1980 Les Paul Custom; a Norlin era masterpiece of which I am the original owner...He asked a question I was not prepared to answer. What gauge wire do you want? In 35 years of playing, I have only done one partial refret on an acoustic and wire was chosen to match existing...I kind of thought I should match the original LP wire too. Tech tells me I can get a lot more "soul" out of the guitar if I have to dig in a little deeper to get those notes. Says he would highly discourage using the original gauge. Would be interested in anyone knowing more than me posting comments. thanks. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilpanda Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Dunlop 6105 is a good all purpose wire. Medium jumbo so its good for bending and stuff. I heard somewhere that gibson repair and restoration uses that sometimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 My natural first response is to refret with what was there, especially if you've felt good about the feeling of the neck. OTOH... Ask if you might play a guitar with the frets your tech is recommending. I guess I'm showing my prejudices in terms of "playing feel" more than anything... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Ask if you might play a guitar with the frets your tech is recommending. Now that's good advise. I also agree with what your tech is saying, higher frets (and higher action) give you something to grab on to, and allow you to "work" the notes (vibrato, bends, etc) with more ease and clarity. One thing I've found to be true over the years, your personal tastes will change as you get better and more experienced. Most of us start out wanting to play Super Slinkys on a fretless wonder using thin picks with the action set as low as possible (I did). I now prefer to play piano wires on large frets with medium action and thick picks. When my stepson was starting to get pretty good on guitar, and was being able to afford some "pro" gear, I told him that as he got better and better he would probably start using heavier gauge strings, thicker picks, and higher action. He told me a couple of weeks ago that he had raised the action on his Les Paul, and really likes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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