fret job - how much?
 

How much should it run to have a good shop:

a) Replace my jumbo frets with plain-vanilla ones; or
b) File them down?

The prices I've generally seen are one seventy five to two fifty. Thats for a complete fret job. Not sure how much to file.

I'm a bit confused - are you asking the difference in cost between a complete fret replacement and a maintenance fret dressing, or are you asking whether it's a better idea to replace some jumbo frets with standard sized fret wire? Your post can be read either way.

In either case, my own personal preference is to keep having the existing frets dressed and maintained until there isn't enough fret left there to maintain.

A regular maintenance fret dressing normally costs about a third of what it costs to replace them entirely, and if done when needed can keep the frets usable a lot longer. So fret dressings pay for themselves, in that sense.

Hope that makes sense.


whm

Sorry for the lack of clarity - this situation is that I have jumbos and I am finding them too hard to play. So I'm toying with either having them filed down or replacing them with normal fret wire. I've talked to the builder and he thinks a swap could be done with minimal risk, but I'm not sure about the filing-down option.

So that's the quandary, and the question!

Jumbo fret wire should not make the guitar much, if any harder to play.
If you have frets that are too tall, then you could have a fret dressing done.
Don't file the frets any lower than needed, just to make the guitar easier to play.
Play the heck out of the guitar and get your hands and fingers toughened up.
Try some softer strings like silk and steel for a while if needed but don't file down good frets if they don't need it.

Well, I know what you're saying there but I have two of basically the same guitar (Paragon MJ), one with jumbos and without, and the jumbo-fret guy is just more awkward for me. I do a lot of slides and Celtic ornaments of various kinds, and getting over the hump of those big frets is just plain hard.

This is one of four main guitars I own and honestly I don't think I want to either limit the tunes I play on it (to those with less slides) or change my technique for the one oddball of the four. Hence my dilemma. And I ordered the jumbos in the first place! Sheesh....

The point about fret dressing is certainly well taken - maybe I'll start there!