Price of a refret?

[ewalling]

I just received a used Godin LGXT through GC Used online. I've had one of these before, and they are great guitars. This one, however, is old, and although it is in great cosmetic condition, the frets are worn down, which causes buzzing. For a used electric, this was not cheap at over $900, and I am poised to return it.

However, I was just wondering if anyone here has ever paid to have a guitar refretted and how much it cost.

[llew]

I've never had an electric guitar refretted as I don't own one but the last acoustic I had done was around $300 IIRC.

[keith.rogers]

I’ve always done my own, but I suggest that you ask locally as prices can vary, depending on where you live. And, the pandemic has seemed to hit these kinds of repairs pretty hard. I think someone on a forum here said they were recently quoted an eye-popping $600. That is about double what I’d heard a few years ago.

[ewalling]

Wow, some high prices being quoted here.

I'm actually amazed that GC didn't spot this when the previous owner brought it in. It really is that obvious.

[blindboyjimi]

My tech charges $165 for a fret dressing which includes a setup (relief adjustment, nut adjustment, and saddle adjustment). Don't forget you can usually dress frets about 3-4 times depending on how bad they are. I usually take mine in at the slightest flattening or buzz and I'd rather pay the refret price and go with EVO frets which I've yet to need any work on. A full refret is $360 and that’s for nickel, EVO, or stainless steel and again, includes a setup.

[Brent Hahn]

The going rate is around $350 - 450 in LA. The price goes up for SS or EVO frets, or if you have binding, a maple fingerboard or a set neck. For one of my basses it was cheaper to buy a new, roasted maple neck with EVO from Warmoth than it would have been to refret the old one.

[619TF]

As always pricing depends on location (mostly) and the technician's time value (according to them). People here always ask about pricing of work and it's just not possible to quote as it's not an item (like a guitar) with an original MSRP. Even there you'll have fluctuations according to market conditions as well as the physical condition of the guitar but it's far less variable IMHO that to attempt to quote repair shop costs. For instance someone recently asked about a setup cost in a thread here at AGF. There was a range from $60 to about $200 for the same exact work. Not a question of getting ripped off at the higher prices (though that's always possible) it's more of a where do you live and who did you take it to situation.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by 619TF

As always pricing depends on location (mostly) and the technician's time value (according to them). People here always ask about pricing of work and it's just not possible to quote as it's not an item (like a guitar) with an original MSRP. Even there you'll have fluctuations according to market conditions as well as the physical condition of the guitar but it's far less variable IMHO that to attempt to quote repair shop costs. For instance someone recently asked about a setup cost in a thread here at AGF. There was a range from $60 to about $200 for the same exact work. Not a question of getting ripped off at the higher prices (though that's always possible) it's more of a where do you live and who did you take it to situation.

People are not asking for exact prices, just trying to get an idea of the ball park. Simply because some specialist charges $200 for a setup does not invalidate the point that a typical setup is going to cost somewhere in the $50-80 range.

[brencat]

Just had a neck reset and full EVO refret on one of my Merrills. Brothers Music did the work (impeccable as always). The EVO refret was $330. Nickel would have been ~ $275 IIRC.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by ewalling

People are not asking for exact prices, just trying to get an idea of the ball park. Simply because some specialist charges $200 for a setup does not invalidate the point that a typical setup is going to cost somewhere in the $50-80 range.

Good luck finding anyone with more than a year of experience who'd do that for that price in my area. Ain't gonna happen. "Ball park" is fine but remember, there's lots of stadiums that hold 60,000 or more. Unless we know more details you're not even on the field, let alone in the ballpark.

[redir]

I charge $250 and up depending on a few things. I live in a low cost area.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by redir

I charge $250 and up depending on a few things. I live in a low cost area.

About what my tech charges - and New Jersey is far from a low-cost area...

[edward993]

It has been said many times over: the cost will vary according to region and that tech's skill/reputation.

To echo Brent, in LA --where all costs are nuts!-- the rate is between 350-450 for an excellent refret. I just got back my LesPaul refretted with SS 6100 wire and when done by a real pro, it is worth every penny!

FWIW, years back I had a heavily-played acoustic refretted and tried to save money and did it in nickel. The job was superb, but now I feel foolish since the difference in cost compared to SS is a mere pittance if one considers the feel and longevity SS brings to the game. At that point, I vowed never to make that foolish choice again. Find the right guy, get it done, and enjoy your new guitar that will play so smoothly you'll forget the cost.

Edward

[skinnerb]

I had two guitars refretted with gold EVO a year ago in Olympia Wa., and it was $350 each. Beautiful job, well done and worth it.

[Sasquatchian]

It seems like I paid around $400 for a full refret and neck dressing on my 000-18 about three years ago, but I also bought enough tools from Stew-Mac to be dangerous in learning how to do this myself. A couple of their straightedges - one notched and one not. A sanding bar. Fret erasers (which I'm not too impressed with) a set of nut files, fret removers and nippers and a few other odds and ends - fret rockers and fret hammer. Then I bought a cheap non working guitar for $50 just to learn on. Have not gotten around to that yet but plan to. What I have done is a fret leveling and crowning on my Goodall. Yeah. Start on a cheap guitar, but I figure since I've built a dozen fine bicycle frames in my day, there was a lot of similarity in the fine filing work.

The leveling, crowning and polishing on the Goodall was very successful. I started by removing the strings, then using the notched straightedge to guide adjusting the truss rod so the neck was perfectly straight and flat with no strings. Then used the fret rocker to find the few high frets (and low ones), mark the tops of the high ones with one color Sharpie and the low ones with a different color, then use the sanding bar with their adhesive sand paper to level the frets. Using just the weight of the beam I think it only took ten or twelve strokes to do the job.

I had already bought one of Stew-Mac's Z file fret files and used that to do the initial re-crowning, but I really didn't like that tool very much and ended up using these big fat nail files I got from Amazon - about six inches by one by one eight with finer grit on one side and coarser on the other. Those files, well, only one, was amazingly effective at crowning and left a much smoother finish than the Z File (sorry Stew-Mac). And of course that was after taping off the fret board between the frets with blue painter's tape. Then I use progressively finer grades of wet/dry sandpaper up to about 2000 grit followed by metal polish for a mirror like final finish. The entire process took about an hour and a half. Strung it up to pitch and used the notched straightedge to re-set the neck relief and I was off to the races. Taking that tiny bit off the entire fretboard had the added benefit of letting me not touch the nut at all. The action on that guitar is extremely low - in electric guitar territory and still no buzzes or dead notes.

Then I repeated the entire process on a 1962 Danelectro Longhorn bass that I'm in the process of restoring. It was given to me over forty years ago and works fine but someone had painted it a hideous lime green and it's going back to the original copper burst. Many of the frets were just flat and now they're perfect again using the same technique I used on the Goodall. It's really too bad that someone *******ized it as it would have been worth quite a bit more in original condition. I just want to get it back to looking right. The interesting thing about that is there are two t-bar non adjustable truss rods side by side in that neck. It's staying straight no matter what.

The next step will be a full fret job on the throwaway guitar and maybe I'll buy the jig for removing the neck and try and learn the fine art of neck resetting as well. Baby steps. But quite fun so far and very satisfying.