i dont think those are entirely outrageous quotes...more or less
Six hours for a refret on an unbound fingerboard? Four hours at most, if you know what you're doing. Now, Dan (who does know what he is doing) insists on using that ridiculous neck jig of his, which is probably the issue on that one, but I've seen one of the guys in my shop do a complete refret in an hour and a half. Mind you, this guitar's fingerboard was in perfect shape (no truing needed), the fingerboard didn't chip out at all, and the guy doing the work has refreted thousands of guitars in his day; it was, in other words, an ideal situation and not something which can be done on a regular basis. But for an experienced repair person, six hours is beyond excessive. MAYBE if it was a bound fingerboard, or if you were using stainless steel fret wire, and certainly much more on a maple fingerboard which needs refinishing; but that wasn't the case here (it was an old J-45). And no, Dan isn't doing better work than our guys.
In fact, I'd be shocked if Dan actually takes six hours to refret a guitar. I have to imagine he is padding his estimates to what he thinks a new repair person (which is who the article is aimed at) would need to do the work right, but I think he may be doing them a disservice. Yes, when you are starting out you need to take the time to do the job right, but once you have the skills down you also need to learn to get things done in a timely and profitable fashion. If my guys are doing better fret work than you in half the time, you either won't be able to compete, or you will have to work for way less than a living wage. You have to be able to work fast to make a living - clean, precise, and careful, yes; but fast too.
(The importance of working clean is a big, and often overlooked part of that - newer folks in the shop never understand why I'm always telling them to clean their bench. I tell them to watch our shop manager work; he is constantly cleaning up his bench, but he gets his work done in much less time than anyone else in the shop. A clean bench leads to fast, accurate work. Now if I can only get my dad to try it, I might have a chance with everyone else in the shop!)
And two hours to locate and cut a saddle slot is insane - it's a half hour job, maybe 45 minutes if you run into some problems. Measure, mark (3 minutes - maybe); measure, mark (`nother minute or two): remeasure, remeasure (measure twice, cut one you know! - another minute); position and clamp the router jig (5-10 minutes, depending on how far off you are when you first put it down); cut (in passes, 5-10 minutes); Check your work (couple minutes at most); done. I get 28 minutes, which sounds about right. Now, maybe Dan is still using a Dremel tool for this, which would make things slower (we use a laminate trimmer, which is just a small router, but has MUCH better bearings and a more powerful motor than a Dremel), but I find it hard to believe that one of the worlds biggest tool nuts would be using the worst tool in the world for the job (and the Dremel is it, let me tell you!)
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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
