refret needed, please help...

Hi !

I need to refret a 1 piece maple neck...
Is it possible to do it and not leave any trace ??

Who would do a great job ??

Any input is welcome...

Thanks !

Philippe

Talk to forum member Rob DiStefano at Frettech (http://www.frettech.com/).

Rob is in central NJ but you could easily remove the neck and mail it to him bubble-wrapped and in a shipping tube.

It's deffinately a difficult job. Especially if its your first time and you want it to turn out perfect.

There's several different techniques that work better for different people as far as pulling the old frets and installing new ones.

back when i refretted 50's tele necks for jonathan @ his old greenwich village guitars shop in nyc, i had to come up with a process for refretting those necks without touching the fingerboard as jonathon said "that's where the mojo's located - don't distrub the fretboard at all costs!". :mrgreen: however, lots depends on the neck and its condition. 70's fender necks are, for the most part, out of the question as most had that stupid thick, catalyzed epoxy finish that make removing the old frets damn near impossible.

Rob,

I used this "drift endwise" method (which David Collins demonstrated) on my '75 Thinline neck, and it worked great. Fret slots pristine, no chipping. (A lot of work notching the frets for the punch though.):

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-technical/235154-pictures-old-fender-fret-install-tools.html#post2796659

After that, I decided to sand off the poly coating anyway (it had some gouges between frets) so now it's down to bare maple on the 'board surface only (original poly still on the rest of the neck and headstock.) Now I'm trying to decide whether to spray the 'board with lacquer or what?

Brian

pushing out the frets can work well if the frets were pushed in during the fret ("sideways fretting") as leo and company did from their get-go. even so, it can be a huge hassle. been there, done that to death, no thanx. attempting to sideways defret frets that were hammered/pressed in is, well, a nightmare, since there are no fret barb "tracks" in the walls of the fret slots to guide the fret barbs and tang back out. ALSO, you wanna push those sideway fretted frets out in the reverse manner they were sideways installed because there will not be a continuing barb track on the far side from where the frets were first pushed in.

if you think about, there are other, far saner and easier ways to fret a maple board without touching the board in any manner other than just the fret slots. :cool:

... Now I'm trying to decide whether to spray the 'board with lacquer or what?

Brian

if you use nitro, you really need to seal the wood with resin (poly, enamel, acrylic, whatever) 'cause nitro can never ever seal wood from water, beer and blood. i NEVER use nitro on my personal instruments. it's worthless non-functional junk.

if you use nitro, you really need to seal the wood with resin (poly, enamel, acrylic, whatever) 'cause nitro can never ever seal wood from water, beer and blood. i NEVER use nitro on my personal instruments. it's worthless non-functional junk.

I wouldn't have pushed those frets out unless I knew they had been installed that way in '75. I pushed them out the same way they went in, on out through the treble side. I got very little chipping, having scored deeply around the fret ends first, but I did have to capture and glue back on a few tiny chunks that came loose. Funny thing is the slots are narrower than the typical .020" - .023", these are only like .018" wide, and so were the factory fret tangs.

So suppose I wanted to use poly, what product do you recommend?

Brian

... So suppose I wanted to use poly, what product do you recommend?

Brian

most any quality brand - i typically use minwax, for both spray and wipe-on.

Rob,

Thanks for answers and your patience. Now I will test it even further:

Do you think wipe-on would be satisfactory for a maple fretboard?

How many coats?

Scuffing and de-bumping between coats?

Would you install the frets, then apply the MinWax after?

Brian

Rob,

Thanks for answers and your patience. Now I will test it even further:

Do you think wipe-on would be satisfactory for a maple fretboard?

How many coats?

Scuffing and de-bumping between coats?

Would you install the frets, then apply the MinWax after?

Brian


imho, though wipe-on does work well, it's best to spray all maple necks as wiping over the frets takes time and care - spraying is just easier/faster/better - even a rattle can will more than get the job done. lots will also depend on whether you just wanna seal (3 wipes of minwax GLOSS wipe-on polyu, resin based and never water based, with 4/0 steel wool buffing between coats) for a satin kinda finish. if you want a mirror gloss shine, as found on fender factory neck, that will take lots of sprayed coats and a final compounding to bring out the gloss shine. as with any kinda finishing, the real work is in the prep. if the finish is just a few coats, it's easier done b4 fretting, if it's a gloss shine that's required, duming on a lotta finish is best done after fretting. this is why i never use maple fingerboards on all my guitars - too much added work. i'll take a nice rosewood board any day. :cool:

Rob,

Hijacked this thread, but no one seems to mind.

So, suppose I wiped on a coat or two of Minwax resin-based to seal, then followed with a spray coat or two of tinted lacquer, to get the aged color right for my '75 Tele? I don't care about a glossy, thick finish, just a proper seal and color.

Given this scenario, I suppose I could wipe on the Minwax before fretting, and spray the lacquer after fretting. Thoughts?

Brian

Rob,

Hijacked this thread, but no one seems to mind.

So, suppose I wiped on a coat or two of Minwax resin-based to seal, then followed with a spray coat or two of tinted lacquer, to get the aged color right for my '75 Tele? I don't care about a glossy, thick finish, just a proper seal and color.

Given this scenario, I suppose I could wipe on the Minwax before fretting, and spray the lacquer after fretting. Thoughts?

Brian

yes, doable.