Refret My '74

[Arnie Guitar]

It bums me out that part of the decision to change something on an older guitar is "Will it devalue the guitar?".
I have 22 guitars, and most of them have bigger frets. My '74 's frets now seem too small. I would like to have it refretted with medium jumbos, but there's that value thing.......
Maybe this points to something else, how foolish some of this, "how original is it?" crap is, and what items are original. I think frets are a wear item, and while these particular frets are not worn out, I don't enjoy playing it as much as I do my other guitars, and I love so many things about this guitar. It has sentimental value to me, I've owned it almost 30 years, it's an old friend, and I miss playing her more.
You may offer some suggestions, such as, buy another neck and save the original. You may say, buy a Strat with big frets. Those two suggestions don't appeal to me.
You may also say, just play the other guitars, and let this one sit.....I wanna play it! And I think it would be so cool with bigger frets. I have already modified it by putting Dimarzio SDS-1's and a 5-way in it many years ago, and the original items have been sold., so maybe the damage has been done.......
I bought it to play it, not to be an investment, but I dunno.
Opinions??

[genelovesjez]

Does a refret lower the value? I didn't think it did.

[jimmymackisback]

Well Arnie, it sounds like the train has already left the station. You won't have the original p/ups when you sell the guitar, if you sell it! And if you spend a large chunk of change to get a set of "74" original p/ups, the original solder joints are already compromised.

I say - get the frets and enjoy the guitar. It will benefit more by you playing it lovingly, and keeping it "alive".
Who knows what the market will do??

[slack]

There is no reason at all to not refret that guitar. In most cases a refret will not negatively effect the value, and certainly not to a 70s Strat. Only a real issue when the guitar is particularly notable or exceedingly rare.

If you have two 1971 Strats, identical except that one has frets worn to nubs and the other is refretted well, the refretted one is valued higher. Fifteen years ago, making the same analogy with a 50s Fender may not have held true. But things have definitely changed, and refrets do not generally devalue vintage instruments in most cases.

[Arnie Guitar]

Thank you to all of you for your perspective.

I think I'm gonna give the old girl some new frets,
And play the heck out of her.

There is a great local shop that has done 2 refrets for me, and they did a fabulous job, those two guitars play beautifully.

Thanks again, great points were raised.

[Soapbarstrat]

Make sure they will tap the frets out from the side, because that's how they were installed at Fender, and it's the best way to have a neck with nice clean fret slots for the new frets. If they pull the frets straight up out of the board (which is the normal way of pulling frets), every fret slot will have these little chips along the edge.

Done cleanly and carefully, an old fret removed and a new one put it, isn't really any worse than a nut being replaced. Think of it as having 21 new nuts put in.

Also make sure the other guitars you prefer to play more don't have a much flatter fret-board radius, or you might not be satisfied with bigger frets on the old 7.25" radius Fender fret board.

[shakedancer]

If you know while your alive you will never sell it, do what you want to do!! After you croak let someone else worry about value. 8)

[sidneystreet]

Originally Posted by shakedancer

If you know while you're alive you will never sell it, do what you want to do!! After you croak let someone else worry about value.

Thank you. That is my contention as well.

Unless you plan on retiring off the value of this guitar, just re-fret it and enjoy it. That's why you bought it, right?

[Stratosaurus]

I'm with shakedancer.

You already said it's an old friend, and has sentimental value. You're probably not going to sell it. If you love it that much, spend as much time with it as you can. If it takes a refret to get the most of that time: do it.

Sentimental > Monetary Value

And when you "croak", as it was so nicely put ( ), it may have sentimental value to whomever it is left to. Even more so if they know it was your #1.

[5965]

Originally Posted by genelovesjez

Does a refret lower the value? I didn't think it did.

For the market and most sellers it does, as long as the guitar is still playable. It's not a big difference, though.

[shakedancer]

Arnie, you have 22 guitars!! You should change your screen name too " Arnie's Guitars ." Do you have a picture of all of them? How bout a full length picture of the one posted here.

[Scott S]

'74 Strats have value? :P

j/k... refret it.