Decision Point: Level & Crown vs. Refret "HELP"

[tdowns]

I have done several level and crown operations, and I feel thay have turned out great. However, I have never done a refret. I'm working on a '91 Am Std Tele that has some fairly severe fret wear (pictured below).



The best I can measure with dial calipers, this is 0.103" wide x 0.050" tall fret wire. The flattened out section on the 2nd fret is 0.043" high (actually looks lower than that). My WIDE crown file is plently shallow to crown that fret off without the sides of the file bottoming out on the fretboard. I believe this means a level and crown is possible. However, this means I will need to drastically level many frets that are still quite tall. I was wondering what your rationale is for this decision.


Many thanks to Rob DiStefano for his great info on his Refret Tutorial. From all I have leveraged from that webpage, I still don't feel comfortable about making this decision. Rob, any advice here?

I'm excited to do a refret for the first time, but not on somebody elses guitar!!

[maestrovert]

definitely a well loved axe there !
if'n it were mine, i think i'd opt for a refret.....;-)

[Rob DiStefano]

Hi Terry,

I love the look of a well used axe! Someone's havin' (or had) some fun!

Personally, if the lowest fret divot is more than 25% of the fret crown height, I'll refret rather than L&C. I tweaked my digital calipers to allow that kinda fret wear height checking.

If an invasive L&C is required, where lotsa metal must come off all the frets in order to get down to the lowest fret divot, I use a single cut fret leveling file to take'em all down, then I buff out the file tooling scratches with sandpaper wrapped around a milled steel leveling block (or just wrapped around the fret leveling file), going from 100, 150, 220, 320 grits. Then I switch to the Klingspor 600 grit abrasive paper. Then I do the crowning with a concave diamond file, then buff out the fret tops with 600 grit Klingspor, and then 1500 through 12000 grit MicroMesh abrasive cloth.

If you prefer to do a refret, no problem, just go for it. If this was a maple fretboard, you'd have more than frets to be concerned about - they are a bit more complicated to refret without messing up the dang board finish. Rosewood, ebony, pau ferro and other fretboard woods that require no sealer coat finish are less complicated to work on.

Over the decades I've use pretty much every manner of sticking in the frets, including using arbor presses and many versions of the Erlewine "jaws" device, but I keep coming back to using a simple plastic headed fretting hammer. In all cases, I use a tiny smear of aliphatic resin glue (yellow carpenters glue) right on the very edge of the fret tang to lube the fret entry and dam up against the fret barbs. Please never ever use epoxy or CYA glues - you'll hate yerself when it's time for another refret! You'll also need fret pullers and cutters, and that single cut file to flush trim the fret ends after ya cut'em. Also a small fret end dressing file and I highly recommend a Stew Mac "medium sized" diamond fret crowning file (comes with reversable 150/300 grits). And lastly, grit paper (100, 150, 220, 320, 600) and MicroMesh - you can eliminate the MicroMesh if a high fret polish isn't needed, just use 1000 grit paper and/or 4/0 steel wool.

The thing about refrets is that it's just like doing yer first L&C - yer kinda intimidated and worried about the process and maybe screwing it up ... well, fear not, cause *anything* ya do to frets can be undone.

If I can be of any help to ya Terry, please don't hesitate to email or ring me up.

Oh yeah - I'd not think twice getting yer neck refretted rather than an L&C!

Regards,
Rob.

[sirshackleton]

Thanks for this thread guys....very informative.

I'm kind of at this some point with pretty much of all of my guitars. I don't think a refret is necessary on any of them because the frets still have a heck of a lot of material left, but they definitely need a L&R. I'd like to do it myself, and have an older no-name acoustic that I'm going to practice on before I go to the big boys.

I hate to hijack the thread, but if you guys wouldn't mind could you give me a quick review on doing something like that. I'm also looking at crowning files and other various fretwork tools on stewmac and would appreciate a list of essential tools need to do the job...particularly grits. Rob, you kind of delved into that in a previous reply on this thread, but if I could get a more complete list that would be great.

Thanks!

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally Posted by sirshackleton

Thanks for this thread guys....very informative.

I'm kind of at this some point with pretty much of all of my guitars. I don't think a refret is necessary on any of them because the frets still have a heck of a lot of material left, but they definitely need a L&R. I'd like to do it myself, and have an older no-name acoustic that I'm going to practice on before I go to the big boys.

I hate to hijack the thread, but if you guys wouldn't mind could you give me a quick review on doing something like that. I'm also looking at crowning files and other various fretwork tools on stewmac and would appreciate a list of essential tools need to do the job...particularly grits. Rob, you kind of delved into that in a previous reply on this thread, but if I could get a more complete list that would be great.

Thanks!

Summa the links on this page may be of help to ya ...

Fret Tech

... email me directly if you need further help. An L&C is well within the realm of most guitarists ... refrets take more tooling and a tad more educatin'.

[sirshackleton]

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

Summa the links on this page may be of help to ya ...

Fret Tech

... email me directly if you need further help. An L&C is well within the realm of most guitarists ... refrets take more tooling and a tad more educatin'.

Perfect...thanks!

[Soapbarstrat]

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

Please never ever use epoxy or CYA glues - you'll hate yerself when it's time for another refret!

I've never had much trouble removing frets that had been super-glued in. In fact, I think it helps keep chipping down, if the slot end-grain had been "reinforced" with CA.

It's probably the most widely used glue for fret-work, these days.

[tdowns]

Wow. Thanks for all the great advice. I'm going to consider a refret. I need to discuss it with the owner first.

Rob,
Why do you keep the old frets in a numbered piece of foam?

Also, why do you level before nipping the ends?

Thanks for your help.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally Posted by tdowns

Wow. Thanks for all the great advice. I'm going to consider a refret. I need to discuss it with the owner first.

Rob,
Why do you keep the old frets in a numbered piece of foam?

I don't do that all the time, in fact I rarely do that - sometimes I might want to look back and reference the old fret if there's an issue with the new fret.

Also, why do you level before nipping the ends?

Mostly, I do the reverse - nip 'n' file flush, then level the tops, then crown the tops and dress the fret ends, then polish - doesn't much matter what order is used, IMO. Whatever feels best for ya, it ain't rocket science.

Thanks for your help.

Yer most welcome, thanx for yer good pickin'!

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