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I've built a few guitars and fixed a few more, including a fair number of fret and refrets. I actually think I've got it pretty well wired. A friend brought an absolutely lovely old (1998) Jazz Bass that is in immaculate condition except that the frets are getting pretty badly worn. The lacquer on the f/b is perfect however. In the past I've been able to refuse to work on guitars with finish on the fretboard - I'm not in the repair business, I do this for fun and if I see something that I don't think is going to be fun I can say no.

I'm having a hard time saying no to this one, but I am scared silly that I'm going to make a mess out of the board. I've masked the board in preparation, I know I need to score the edge of the fret, and of course the board is bound (but that I can handle). I'm just looking for a little moral support, I guess, before I dive in, or a good reason to turn it away.

Care can be taken, and the job done well with patience. Try it and see. If it doesn't look nice, you can strip the fingerboard and refinish it. I've done it both ways.... the second just takes longer for the finish to cure.

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

Say no, we do and we do around 100 refrets annually.

It depends on the make, year and what lacquer they used but it's usually impossible to get the old frets out even with very careful scoring without it looking less than new and perfect when you are done.

So with this said we refer these elsewhere (Elderly) where they do great work and they can spray copious amounts of finish. The City of Ann Arbor has asked us to limit our lacquer spraying.... so that the smell does not interfere with the ambience... of someone enjoying the fine dining next door to us, the taco joint.... Please note sarcasm...

When a client is willing to have a different finish on the fret board such as Waterlox that we learned about from Rick Turner and when putting Waterlox on is appropriate for the instrument meaning it's not a high value vintage piece we have done this. We've refinished boards too when no one was looking but don't like doing it and it greatly complicates things and adds a month to the ETA.

Chipping can start very easily and when it does you're in for a real mess and a lot of work if your standards are perfect, "as new" work.

Freeman my friend are you sure that these frets can't be dressed out? I've dressed out frets lower than .020" before and the clients were thrilled.

Also these days for say a Fender Strat a niece new neck from Fender can cost less than a refret and board refinish making this job not always economically attractive either.

Thank you both, two of the people whose opinions I highly admire. I'm going to need to meditate on this and maybe look into options for my friend.

You're very welcome Freeman. You know there is a shortage of people who are willing to do these lacquered boards because they often have massive "scope creep" where it turns into refinishing the entire neck at times. OTOH folks don't mind paying for it but there is also the down side of replacing the entire neck these days is less cost than a refret. But my point is it can be fun and enjoyable if you are not on the clock and don't have them stacked up and folks on your back for their guitars.

So with all this said it could be a nice niche market especially with a "mail-in" situation where you accept shipped in necks to refret and refinish. Just a thought.

Hesh, I want you to talk me out of this, not start a new business.

Sheesh I sound like Mr. Negativity.....

Well, I did it. Had to do a little finish repair - I put a couple of scratches in it and the edges of the frets weren't as good as I wanted. Its easily twice the effort as a normal fret job.



Probably won't do any more....

Heck, it looks darn good to me! Look at it this way, the next time you'll do an even better job of it. You did charge extra for this?

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

Thanks Chris. The owner just picked it up, he is over joyed. And yes, not nearly enough but probably too much.

You should be getting a pretty good rep in town by now...

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

Good job Freeman. Looks great!

I did a maple fretboard refret before. I told the customer that the fretboard WILL be refinished.

It's very hard to not damage the finish refretting, you're talking about fret remover, pounding (or pressing, and dressing. All of these wear on the finish. Also a guitar old enough to need refret most likely needs to have the fretboard leveled too, and the customer is paying you for the trouble to refret the board, why not correct any fretboard problems while the frets are off? At least no risk of discovering fretboard issues after installing the fret.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

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