when to refret?

[mkaye]

70 SG - original owner

all the frets have groove wear from the strings - can i just level them off with a file, or is it time to get it refreted?

 

mark

[80LPC]

It depends on the depth of the grooves. If they are deep, it's a waste of time filing them. Bear in mind that there is no such thing as 'just' level the frets. It requires skill and experience to do this properly. Has your fretboard become scuffed by the wound strings ? This is a sure sign that the frets are low. Some players who do not bend strings much can get by with low frets, but clean fretting of chords can become tricky, and the guitar becomes unpleasant to play.

[Silverbursted]

Just out of curiosity, what does a fret job run?

Also I read this is not a job to be taken lightly. Have it done professionally.

[Shaker]

The frets and nut on my 1995 Firebird were replaced recently and cost me ~$350, I remember.

[Murph]

If it's not "fretting out", you're okay. As long as the note you play is accurate, and you don't hear a problem, you're good to go. I like a higher setup, and could damn near play fretless. And "damn near" ,,,, have!

 

Grooves in the lower frets will happen quickly. Some fender guitars in the early 90's were built with soft frets, designed to wear out quickly.

 

Gibson, to the best of my knowledge, refused to play that game.

 

Murph.

[mkaye]

does it change the value of the guitar?

 

mark

[mkaye]

no scuff marks (just nail marks from leaving my nails too long sometimes)

 

mark

 

It depends on the depth of the grooves. If they are deep' date=' it's a waste of time filing them. Bear in mind that there is no such thing as 'just' level the frets. It requires skill and experience to do this properly. Has your fretboard become scuffed by the wound strings ? This is a sure sign that the frets are low. Some players who do not bend strings much can get by with low frets, but clean fretting of chords can become tricky, and the guitar becomes unpleasant to play.[/quote']

[DiamondJig]

If your going for a refret think about having it PLEK'd http://www.plek.com/en_US/home/

[80LPC]

Mark, do you find that you can string bend ok ? As frets become low, you lose grip on the string and it can slip back underneath your skin. You naturally compensate by pressing down harder, but your skin drags on the fretboard and you lose that ability to perform a smooth, fast vibrato.

With new frets, your skin is able to wrap around the string and provide necessary grip for easy vibrato. This is why some artists have a scalloped fretboard - there's no friction of the skin against the fretboard. With new frets, the action becomes lighter and easier all round.

If you can still bend strings comfortably at present, then possibly you could get away with a fret dressing. It would certainly be wise to let a tech check it out. Should a refret be needed, the cost will be higher if your fretboard is bound, and you will have to decide whether to have the frets installed inside the binding (very tricky), or have the raised 'nibs' on the binding removed so that the fret ends overlap the binding - like most other bound neck guitars. The traditional Gibson way of finishing the fret ends looks very classy, but occasionally the 1st string snags in the tiny gap between fret and binding. You get more playing area for vibrato with overlapped fret ends, but it's likely that the guitar will be devalued slightly.