Hey Light! How much?

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mikemorgan

mikemorgan

panned out
I've got a real POS Lotus guitar. It's mid 80's, neck thru, and MIJ. Can't say for sure why I love it, but I do. I'm a sucker for a pretty neck-thru I guess. I took it to a Pro for a new nut, which he did a wonderful job on. He pointed out several raised frets near the twelfth, and said it would probably be a pretty costly fix. I assume a complete re-fret plus a planing of the fretboard are in order. He said it would cost more than the guitar was worth, which is probably true, but I didn't get a figure. What do you think? How much is reasonable, are nickel frets, brass, stainless more costly?
 
mikemorgan said:
I've got a real POS Lotus guitar. It's mid 80's, neck thru, and MIJ. Can't say for sure why I love it, but I do. I'm a sucker for a pretty neck-thru I guess. I took it to a Pro for a new nut, which he did a wonderful job on. He pointed out several raised frets near the twelfth, and said it would probably be a pretty costly fix. I assume a complete re-fret plus a planing of the fretboard are in order. He said it would cost more than the guitar was worth, which is probably true, but I didn't get a figure. What do you think? How much is reasonable, are nickel frets, brass, stainless more costly?
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Well, I don't know how much the guitar is worth, but if you trust your repair person, I would listen to what he told you. In my shop a refret on an unbound fingerboard runs about $350-400, and on a bound fingerboard it runs $400-500. Stainless frets are and extra $150, but they last an awful long time. Nickle-silver is the most common material for frets, and brass frets are generally reserved for the cheapest of instruments and should not be used on any steel string instrument.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I would get a second opinion from another Luthier, as recomending a complete refett on a cheap(but apparently sweet!) guitar just because of a couple of uneven frets is over the top. Call around and see if a fret-dress would take care of it.
 
Wow... in Illinois a refret with an unbound neck is only $200 and that includes a new bone nut by an authorized Gibson repair luthier. Anyways, I would totally get whatever work was needed, I personally think Lotus is okay, I had a strat copy of theirs for a little while, not a bad little guitar. And you can't beat neck thru for sustain...
 
What is a raised fret? IS that the same as a high fret? Isn't the cure for that to file it down lower and not to replace them?

I have several high-mileage guitars that are starting to play shitty from the 12-15th frets because the frets above them have virtually no wear. Is the remedy for this kind of thing to have the frets "leveled"?
 
cephus said:
What is a raised fret? IS that the same as a high fret? Isn't the cure for that to file it down lower and not to replace them?

I have several high-mileage guitars that are starting to play shitty from the 12-15th frets because the frets above them have virtually no wear. Is the remedy for this kind of thing to have the frets "leveled"?
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You have two options when this becomes an issue. A full refret which is just like it says pulling the old frets and replacing them. Or a "fret dress" which involves stoning the top of the frets with a fine FLAT stone or file (I have a selection of diamond sharpening stones I trust). once the tops are knocked off the high frets and all are at the same level they are then recrowned and polished. A fret dress can also include pulling selective frets that are high or excessively worn and replacing just one or two. A good repair tech will know which is best. A fret dress can often be nearly as much work as a refret. You can only dress the frets a certain number of times before you need to have them replaced for obvious reasons.
 
And I assume that you can't compensate for extreme wear on the low end either.

I never realized you could replace a single fret. I have a spot on the 7th fret under the a-string where I walked into a cymbal or something and it made this little notch that the string caught on. I tried to smoothe it with a green pad and fux0red it all up.

It's one of those deals where I'd end up paying 94% of what I'd pay for a total refret, but these old crappy guitars aren't worthy of "restorative" work.

I just need to go down to the recommended shop and bring a few guitars for him to look at. I play with pretty stiff action, and I really hate the way most people set up their guitars. I can't play with low action at all because I play pretty hard sometimes and low action just razzes out when you do it. I have heard that this guy is really good at getting a guitar the way you want it and not just the textbook setup that "everyone" likes.
 
And I assume that you can't compensate for extreme wear on the low end either.
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Same deal really it all depends on how much wear and of course there would be more work involved. If you have a lot of wear on frets one to five a refret would most likely be the best option. Hard to say without seeing it. Take it to the guy you know if he's any good he'll give you good qualified advice. Good luck
 
Wise words

[[I have heard that this guy is really good at getting a guitar the way you want it and not just the textbook setup that "everyone" likes]] Cephus, hang on to that guy. They are hard to find. Sounds like he and I have that in common.

Always set it up for the way a customer Plays;;most set it up for the way a customer Pays. :mad:
 
Light mentioned stanless steel...I had a guitar refretted with stainless and I tell ya, the extra bones was worth it! It brightened the sound up but not quite as much as I was expecting. Sounded more like when you get a fresh set of strings put on. I'm also a fairly agressive player...pretty tight grip and heavy on the frets when bending notes...not even a hint of wear. Still has a very slippy feel to it.

For what it's worth...he turned me onto the idea and went with it. No regrets...the only way to go in my opinion if you've got a keeper guitar and don't want to take the life out of the neck by having a refret done every couple years.

Good luck
 
Of course, it could just be that a fret or two has popped up, as they are want to do (particularly on cheap bound fingerboards), and it could well be that you just need to have a few frets glued down. None of us have seen it, so none of us can say. As I said, if you think your repair person is good and you trust them, go with it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Well, I'll be dipped. the 16th fret does look like it's not seated on the treble side.

Do you use a piece of wood as a drift and tap it back in with a hammer?
 
cephus said:
Well, I'll be dipped. the 16th fret does look like it's not seated on the treble side.

Do you use a piece of wood as a drift and tap it back in with a hammer?
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Take it to a pro. It is surprisingly hard to do it right, but no. What we do is we clamp them down (with a rather slick set of cauls one of our employees came up with), and then glue it down with some cyanoacrylate and a drop of accelerator. We can sometimes tap it down with a hammer, but that is tough to get right. If you go to far, then you are looking at a fret dress to fix one fret, and that kind of sucks.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Take it to a pro. It is surprisingly hard to do it right, but no. What we do is we clamp them down (with a rather slick set of cauls one of our employees came up with), and then glue it down with some cyanoacrylate and a drop of accelerator. We can sometimes tap it down with a hammer, but that is tough to get right. If you go to far, then you are looking at a fret dress to fix one fret, and that kind of sucks.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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Translation: vise grips and super glue. :D
 
TravisinFlorida said:
Translation: vise grips and super glue. :D
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Not if you want the fret to sit level with its neighbours and not have to dress them after no. It really isn't that simple, its not very hard either but the right radius cauls and arbour clamps for the surrounding frets, some thin cyno and kicker and you should be able to get it done yourself..
 
DO NOT TRY TAPPING/HAMMERING IT BACK IN YOURSELF!!!! If you dont know what yr doing, you can pop other frets up as well. Take it to a second oppinion luthier and get a few different recomendations!
 
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