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Just wondered how many of you include fret dressing in the cost of a set up, and how many keep the two separate. It seems like the industry standard is to separate the two jobs. However, I'd say 9 out of 10 of the guitars I see really need the fret dress. And it's annoying to give people the option of setting their instrument up without a fret dress when it's really going to need that too.

I keep them separate. In the end though all I do is charge an hourly rate regardless of what work I'm doing. So in a way it's not separate but it adds more time which is more money.

Setups are one thing, fret dressing includes a setup.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Well, yeah I get that.

So if you determine it is necessary for the guitar to have a fret dress, do you insist it gets done, or do you give the customer the option of choosing to just go with a set up?

Oh, I give them the option. I won't make them give me money.... But I am very clear, if the guitar needs any other work at all to be playable, don't come crying to me later. I want to make them happy.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I offer basic and full setups. Full setup includes fret level and dress or the other way around as Chris said

I always evaluate the guitar and make the appropriate recommendation in writing. They get to decide but they almost always follow my recommendation.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

No, a fret dress is an escalation and a separate service. A set-up can be all an instrument needs and will attract more clients if they are not paying from something that they do not need. A fret dress does require a set-up too (to do it well).

WIth this said we have a set-up price and we have a fret dress price. The fret dress price includes the set-up so that the client can get the most value out of their fret dress. The set-up price does not include a fret dress making it more economical and a fret dress is usually, the vast majority of the time not required when a set-up could provide great value and improvement on it's own.

Our tiers look like this.

1). Set-up price (no fret work except perhaps addressing fret sprout if present)

2). Fret dress price includes set-up

3). Refret price includes set-up

Set-ups can be the bread and butter of successful Luthier shops who are interested in very high volume throughput with a very large client base. You serve far more people if your services include the most popular and needed services and set-ups are by FAR the most requested service that we see. It's over half our business.

Set-ups are great stalking horses for spotting more premium work such as fret work but in my experience and view a set-up should not only provide real, noticeable, immediately beneficial improvements for the player, they should be thrilled.... but still be affordable.

Consideration should also be given to the current economic forecasts things are not looking good. Luthiers rely on the discretionary spend of the disposable income of others. When spending slows we feel it immediately. Although my client base has a large percentage of pro musicians they can't gig when we social distance.

Why consider the economy for your set-up pricing question? Because even more than before it's important to keep the "price of entry" into professional Luthier services approachable even in a down economy if you, if we want to live to play another day.

Thanks everyone, that's great feedback.

It's easy to get your blinders on and lose perspective.

I've rarely had guitars come back for a second go because people were unhappy with the work I had initially done, and it happened a couple times this last week. And both situations were ones where I could have been more explicit about their buzzing problems being caused by the poor condition of the frets, not a poor set up. They chose the cheaper option and were surprised to find their guitars still buzzy. Anyway I made both guitars right and ate the difference chalking it all up as a learning experience to be more articulate in my initial conversations. Nobody hates me, they left happy.

Working within the bounds of social isolation isn't so fun. I really miss being able to triage the guitars with the customer there and to see how they play, and to see their reaction when they pick the guitar up.

I haven't gone that far, Conor. I usually pick up and drop off at any of the local music stores that the client chooses. Right now they are all closed (but not much longer), so I have been meeting clients in my driveway. My 87 year old dad lives with me, and I want to protect him (and he's grumpier than me).

It's pretty simple to lay the case on the tailgate of the truck and eyeball the guitar, or the client can play it. We're not shaking hands or touching, so no problem there. And if you've ever been in Kansas, you'd notice the wind blows.... a lot. All the time. The other day I was out there twice, and the wind was blowing a steady 40MPH all day. This is normal in Kansas. The virus blows away to Nebraska pretty quickly, good riddance.

Anyway, the iron boot of the police state will soon be lifted from our necks (at least, it better be), so you can once again parlay with clients face to face.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I confess I’ve always found the term “fret dress” somewhat ambiguous. It seems to apply to everything from cleaning up factory crowns and fret ends to precision fret level work. Not sure what the OP had in mind.
I have 2 types of standard setup:
1. “Quickset”, which only makes playability adjustments, i.e., nut slots, neck relief, string height, PUP heights and, where adjustable, Intonation. It is intended to correct the universally lousy setup on new guitars.
2. “Full service”, which adds cleanup and servicing all moving and electrical parts, fingerboard clean and condition, fret polish, some minor work to correct fret sprout, the odd high fret and choking over the body, etc.
If more work is required, you’re looking at a precision fret level, with or without complete or partial fret replacement, where the other items in a full service setup are included. New strings are required for all set ups, with the exception of bass guitars.
Price-wise, if a Quickset is priced at $X, a full service is about 1.5X, a normal fret level is 3X and a refret just under 5X. Strings are extra or provided by the client. Up-charges apply to certain instruments and of course additional work may be identified.
Having said that, thanks to COVID-19, it’s been 6 weeks since I had a client’s instrument on the bench. The Québec government is allowing me to reopen tomorrow, with social distancing rules in effect. I’ve decided to wait an additional week to see if there are any surprises. I have a call-back list of clients waiting. I intend to offer free strings (anything from my inventory, regardless of brand/model) with all full service jobs for the next 2 months.


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Tim, sounds like your price multipliers match mine pretty well. Here in East Tennessee we didn't get hit too hard and I'm still getting instruments in. Got a couple from Nashville to finish up while they wait to get back to work (should be mid-May). Good luck getting back up and operating

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"