Refret questions.

Hey all,

It's been a long time since I've logged on this site.

Anyhow, I have a Guild S-100 RI that I got back in 1997. It appears that a re-fret is going to be be necessary pretty soon as the original wire is starting to wear down to the point of certain notes on the neck fretting out a little.
What I'd like to do is get bigger fretwire installed. Has anyone done this before? And more importantly, how much does a refret generally cost?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, several times. Last year I had my Dearmond M75T refretted. The stock frets were basically unplayed, probably because they were crappy. Too tall, too square, too soft. A refret helped enormously.

How much depends on the luthier, and on whether the guitar neck is bound. I have paid 350 for refret on a bound neck. Not cheap, but this guy does it just right. He also did a '66 Gibson ES-335 refret for me, using slightly larger frets. It worked out perfectly.

Fret size is up to you. I do well with the old vintage size, narrower I mean. But the larger frets are in many ways easier to work with. So for me, upsizing is usually the way. How it is for you depends on what you're comfortable with.

Anything is possible. Finding a capable luthier is the hard part. After 10 years of playing I finally have one. He refretted my SFIV. I tried to stay close to stock, but I beefed them up a bit. I only paid around 250 and the work was superb.

drunkenguitarist said:

Hey all,

It's been a long time since I've logged on this site.

Click to expand...

Sure has Dipsodoodler ........ welcome back.

Have you recently moved to Alaska ? I have a recollection that you were somewhere else when you were posting before ?

mad dog said:

Yes, several times. Last year I had my Dearmond M75T refretted. The stock frets were basically unplayed, probably because they were crappy. Too tall, too square, too soft. A refret helped enormously.

How much depends on the luthier, and on whether the guitar neck is bound. I have paid 350 for refret on a bound neck. Not cheap, but this guy does it just right. He also did a '66 Gibson ES-335 refret for me, using slightly larger frets. It worked out perfectly.

Fret size is up to you. I do well with the old vintage size, narrower I mean. But the larger frets are in many ways easier to work with. So for me, upsizing is usually the way. How it is for you depends on what you're comfortable with.

Click to expand...

The neck on my guitar is bound. I'd like to move up in size. Maybe something more along the lines of jumbo frets. I'm just used to playing my Gibbo a lot now.

Every time I pick up my old Guild I feel that the frets are a bit on the low side. It's great for playing chords and fast hammers ons/ pull offs, but as far as bending them..meh..

tele4tone said:

Anything is possible. Finding a capable luthier is the hard part. After 10 years of playing I finally have one. He refretted my SFIV. I tried to stay close to stock, but I beefed them up a bit. I only paid around 250 and the work was superb.

Click to expand...

That there is going to be the major hassle for me as of now. I haven't even begun to check to see if there's any capable luthiers in my state.

coastie99 said:

drunkenguitarist said:

Hey all,

It's been a long time since I've logged on this site.

Click to expand...

Sure has Dipsodoodler ........ welcome back.

Have you recently moved to Alaska ? I have a recollection that you were somewhere else when you were posting before ?

Click to expand...

Hallo Coastie!

I used to be at Washington state for a while. I've been up here at Alaska for quite some time now, though.
The season finally seems to have shifted towards Fall in the last few days. Its getting colder with each passing day. Brrrr..

How are things going along for you these days? And most importantly, has your search for the elusive Guild Blues90 ended yet? :mrgreen:

Drunken:

The good luthier is the hard part. I'd go over to thegearpage.net, post there asking if anyone can recommend one. If there is no-one local, you'll find many excellent choice to which it could be sent. Better that than to let some hack at it.

The fret size part is easier. Just start trying other stuff, see what feels best. My reference point for large frets is a G&L ASAT Classic, for true vintage size, a '61 strat. The more other stuff I tried, the more conversant I got with in between sizes, both in height and width. It's easier to talk about fret size with the tech when you already have preferences.

Good luck.
MD

You might also log on at Luthiers Mercantile and Stewart McDonald. They have pretty good descriptions and dimensioned drawings of the various choices. you should be able to find what you want there.

Alaska,

I had my D55 in for a fret dressing recently - and asked my luthier about refretting. He indicated the cost would be about $250, and he just uses Martin fretwire for everything he does.

He showed me the fretwire catalogue, and there is such a crazy variety of wire available - different height, width, profiles and metal consistency - that he would be special ordering everytime a refret was needed, and there was no way he could stock several varieties.

In my case it was about half the cost to simply redress the frets (they were too high and needed to come down), and he did his best to bring them to Martin specs. They're still a hair too chunky for my liking - so I'm playing as much as I can to knock those frets down a shade more.

Since refretting touches the part of the guitar you touch the most - IMHO it's worth the hastle of going out of your way to find a good luthier with references. You don't want to redo it - and if it's a bit off it affects the feel every time you pick up the guitar.

P.S. Welcome back.

Thanks for the responses, fellas.

I've decided that I'm going to stick with the same fret size to keep the integrity of the instrument.
It'd be dreadful to send it in and have it returned completely different.
I'd be absolutely devastated if it wasn't that same as before.

Now, with that being said, the big task at hand is to find a reputable luthier that won't destroy one of my favourite guitars.

drunkenguitarist said:

Thanks for the responses, fellas.

I've decided that I'm going to stick with the same fret size to keep the integrity of the instrument.
It'd be dreadful to send it in and have it returned completely different.
I'd be absolutely devastated if it wasn't that same as before.

Now, with that being said, the big task at hand is to find a reputable luthier that won't destroy one of my favourite guitars.

Click to expand...

Sticking with the original size will probably save you some bucks, too. You can just replace the ones that need it, and keep the good ones in place. I did this on my D-30. Only needed the first four replaced, and the whole fingerboard then dressed to bring them all into "harmony". Your luthier will charge per fret.