Repair-It Yourself

  • Thread starter Thread starter El Barto
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El Barto

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Is this a good idea? I'm rather good with tinkering with things...electronics and what not...taking stuff apart and putting it back together...fixing things myself. I'm looking to re-fret my guitar (Fender Jag-Stang), as the frets have worn down a lot, especially the G spot on most of the frets. Should I have it professionally done or is this something I could handle on my own? Are there websites that tell exactly what I need and how to do it?
 
Frets are the only thing I haven't and WONT touch on my guitars. Of course, if you have the tools and materials to get the job done, you could take a shot. But I don't. My frets are very important to me. For this reason, I found a great repair guy who knows how I like 'em and does a wonderful job!
 
I've replaced up to 3 frets on a guitar due to wear, and wouldn't try a whole neck. It's far too time consuming. You can probably buy a new neck for less than it would cost to have someone do it.
Jeff
 
Fret jobs can be a do-it-yourself project; once you've learned how to do it on a cheapo guitar. I would advise doing plenty of research before attempting and your first few trials should be done on a guitar that's ok to ruin if things go wrong. You need to have the right tools and bend the ear of your local guitar techs. Also you must consider the difficulty of the job. Does the guitar have a rosewood, ebony, or maple neck? A glossy finished maple neck will require some refinishing work because removing the old frets can chip the varnish, shelac, urathane, ect. Do you have the right tools to do the job? Will the purchase of these tools still ofset the price of a professional fret job?

I would also advise you to look into having the frets on your guitar dressed. This procces if far less expensive than having the frets replaced. If the wear is not too deep, it possible to have frets dressed two or three times before replace is the only solution.
 
As I write this,I have a pile of cheap baritone ukes waiting beside my work bench for fret jobs.Its not that fret-work is especially difficult,but it is tricky.Stew Mac sells a fret press for about $150 that an untrained person reading a book could probably use,but the old fashioned hammer-in method in just too hard to get it right the first time you try.
I agree with a previous post that you could likely have your frets leveled,crowned and redressed without refretting being necessary.Have a pro do it.But you can learn how with practice.
Get a couple of garage-sale cheapos,a rat tail file,a three corner file,a fret hammer,steel wool and fret wire.Dan Earlywine has a good book about guitar repair as well as repair videos.Both are available from the Stewart McDonald company.After a little practice,you'll be able to service your better axe with confidence.Good luck.
Tom
 
Caution !

Ive been doing refrets since 1969, thats a lot of fret work, and i'm still learning. I do this for a living and i can tell you that you can't learn every thing you need to know in one or two fret jobs. You may learn enough in five or six to not damage a good instrument, fret slots, fingerboard , etc.
Practicing on cheap guitars is the way to go. Replacing a fingerboard is very expensive. Remember, somethings can't be reversed.
 
OK, so maybe refretting wasn't what I was looking for...or maybe it is...but what do I do when my frets are worn down in spots?
 
El BARTO

It depends on how worn the frets are. If you are talking about deep notches, it will need to be refretted, unless there is enough fret height to file the frets and recrown. The way I judge this is if I can't file all the frets down to the lowest notch, and then recrown and end up with a min. of .035 fret height, then don't do it. I like the way a guitar plays with .045 fret height or higher.The only thing I would recomend you do yourself would be sanding the frets with maybe 600 sand paper to see if that got all the notches, if not you could switch to 400 paper untill they were gone and then back to 600 and then 0000 steel wool. You will have to use a sanding block and sand from one end of neck to the other, even strokes. I'm not recomending that you do this, but if you have to this will help. You really need crowning files or at least a 3 corner file to round the tops if they are flat.
 
So maybe I'm just better off taking it to a professional...heh.
 
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