|
|
#1
10-15-2017, 02:34 AM
|
|||
|
|||
Fret repairs
Questions about fret repairs please. Do you re-fret the whole guitar or just the worn frets?
If re-fret the whole lot, what would you suggest? Mini jumbo? Jumbo? Stainless steel? Nickel? etc? Only my B string on the first few frets are worn. Is mine mini jumbo? Thanks. 
|
|
#2
10-15-2017, 03:20 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Nothing wrong with partial refrets provided the fretboard is nice and straight to start with.
From the photos, I would hazard a guess they are just a medium fret, 80-90 thou wide 40-50 thou crown. Stainless steel frets are hardest frets of all and change the sound of your neck and the way it responds, evo frets are softer than stainless but harder than nickel frets, bronze frets are fairly hard frets as well, comparable to evo's Steve
__________________
Cole Clark Fat Lady Gretsch Electromatic Martin CEO7 Maton Messiah Taylor 814CE
|
|
#3
10-16-2017, 04:50 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Thank for your advice. EVO frets is what my luthier recommended as well. I have never heard of that before. Thanks for that.
|
|
#4
10-16-2017, 05:30 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
If you wear out frets pretty fast (as in a year of 3) - go stainless.
If it's just regular wear accumulated over many years of play - do not be afraid of replacing the worn out frets with new standard frets. Like say you are looking at the first refret on a 1970's guitar - standard are probably fine.. Partial refrets make sense if you are wearing out a few frets but the rest are basically new height... They don't make as much sense if you have to pay a luthier to grind half the fret height back off to match old worn frets that have had multiple dressings..... They also make sense with stainless - because it can be a bear to work...
|
|
#5
10-17-2017, 06:39 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I have seen partial fret replacements where the new frets don't match the old. Plus, often frets higher up the neck aren't level anyhow, requiring dressing. Hence, it is only a rare case where I recommend partial replacement. Especially if you are replacing with different fret material (evo. stainless...) you'll probably be more pleased with results of a full replacement.
As for fret size... This is personal preference. But taller frets will last longer before next replacement. My standard fret size now is standard width but extra tall (about the same height as jumbo frets). 1.35mm installed instead of about 1.05mm...
__________________
---- Ned Milburn NSDCC Master Artisan Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
|
|
#6
10-17-2017, 07:24 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I did speak to my luthier and he too suggested a full change. I'm just deciding whether to go jumbo like Fender Strats. But they feel like railway tracks  Or as your suggestion, standard size but taller. I think I will be going with EVO. My luthier suggested 2 more things (1) include a maple shim to raise the current nut, and/or (2) cut a new nut. That way I can go back and forth if I prefer the old nut. The problem with sending guitars away for repairs is that you'll miss them for a couple of weeks. Terrible.
|
|
#8
10-17-2017, 08:55 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
It's very rare to find a guitar with a perfect neck. After 25 years and hundreds (probably thousands) of fret jobs, I've yet to work on a neck that didn't require strategic leveling to make it perfect under string tension. For that reason, a full refret by a true expert is the way to go. There is nothing like a guitar that has the neck and frets leveled to a degree that it's geometrically perfect, and most guitars (even expensive ones) are not even close.
__________________
https://www.reverbnation.com/bootheelers
|
