Getting started on learning to refret a guitar. Seeking advise

[CoreyW]

So, here is the story, I have a 91 RG770 that is in desperate need of a refret, those who know these guitars know... thin neck and neck binding.

I have checked with every place I can find within 3-4 hour drive.. Atlanta, Birmingham, havnt tried to contact anyone in Nashville yet but...

Every place seems so backlogged some are not even taking refret jobs because they are a year + out on waitlist, the most reasonable I found was 10 month wait and you have to bring your guitar in and just not have it, too many refrets to take appointments I guess, and the charge was 800 for SS frets.

So, where I am at now, it seems it might be worth it to give this a shot not only for me but maybe able to develop a side gig down the road if I can do this well.

I have been a tradesman most of my life, so I am use to fine detail work and working with my hands and tools. Ive been buying the tools needed and I am pretty sure I have everything I would need at this point in time except fret wire. Oh, I am also able to set my guitars up pretty well.

So, I am now at the point of put up or shut up, and I am looking for advise on either rooting me on or talking me out of it... is it best to try out on some cheap pawn shop or market place guitars, even though they may be crap that would be very hard if not impossible to do a good job on, or dive into doing this on my RG?

A lot of videos I have watched seem to gloss over or completely skip what to me seems like the most critical step... getting the neck as perfectly straight as possible and getting it sanded completely flat. (not removing the radius). I am a bit more worried about the crowning than any of the other steps I have watched.

So, anyone have any advice or words of encouragement?

 

[griff10672]

Stew Mac is your friend .................. a very expensive one though

 

[CoreyW]

Stew Mac is your friend .................. a very expensive one though

Ive already found that friend, and I think he likes me... though he makes me pay...... a lot..

But, Stew Mac is a hell of a lot less of a raping than the Snap On trucks are.

 

[Techdeth]

I don’t have the balls to try this . I’m glad you guys do

 

[CDawg]

I'd start on a cheap neck and get some practice but I think you should go for it from everything you've said. I bet if you take your time you'd do a better job than most of the techs out there.

 

[CoreyW]

I'd start on a cheap neck and get some practice but I think you should go for it from everything you've said. I bet if you take your time you'd do a better job than most of the techs out there.

I appreciate the vote of confidence.

 

[Shreddy Mercury]

I have a soldering iron and lots of solder and good with my hands. If any of my guitars needed it, I'd go balls deep and do it. All I need to do it is fret pullers and then nippers to clip off the excess fret wire. Also, I could use radius gauges so I make sure to order the proper pre-radiused frets, and then one of those files that run along the side of the neck and have the file installed at the proper angle. I've done several fret leveling jobs on my guitfiddles with great success.

You don't HAVE to get Stew Mac tools. I'm happy with some of my Skyscraper Guitars tools and my Music Nomad tools.

 

[CoreyW]

Oh, with a bolt on neck guitar is it better to leave the neck attached or remove it?

 

[CoreyW]

So, I guess it’s go time.

If anyone can answer… is this a job that is ok to let sit for a couple of days or does it need to be done in a single evening?

 

[John4021]

I think it won't matter. You're not doing it in a garage that the temps vary.
Keep us informed how you're making out.

If you do this with the neck attached remember to cover the pole pieces with tape so you wont have to clean the fragments off.

 

[CoreyW]

I think it won't matter. You're not doing it in a garage that the temps vary.
Keep us informed how you're making out.

If you do this with the neck attached remember to cover the pole pieces with tape so you wont have to clean the fragments off.

I went ahead and removed the neck, haha and I was doing some of the work in the garage and it’s pretty humid today…

So, the frets pulled pretty damn easy, dont think they were glued.

Did a quick sand of the board with a radius block, had a couple of low spots but got everything pretty smooth pretty quick.

Got the fret slots cleaned out, I bought this tool with a razor type hook blade and it made it go easier getting the gunk out from against the binding inside the slots.

Prepped the frets, found out the hard way the stew Mac tang cutter will reach out and bit you if you’re not paying attention. Only got me once though.

Took a little bit to get a good glue, press pattern going, started to have everything feel like it was working well about about fret 22 or so…

Ultimately I ended up calling it a night after I got all the fret ends cleaned up and filed.. I don’t know how happy I am with my work on the ends, I’ll re-examine when I can look at it again in a couple of days.

I was hitting the frets with a rocker as I was going and had just a couple of spots with an ever so slight knock… hopefully it isn’t going to be too bad on the level and crown.

 

[tpruitt]

I’ve tried a few. My advice once you get a little mentally fatigued is stop. You’re gonna f something up. Then on the fret level ,it doesn’t have to be perfect. I tend to level till I can see all the frets have been touched. It always makes for a crap ton of extra crowning and polishing. Just knock down the high ones. And polish polish polish till your arms can’t move.

 

[grimmchaos]

Keep us in the loop when you get back to it - this is something I've been interested in trying myself as well, just so I can make sure things are done to my standards. But I'm also no luthier... and I've only leveled a couple fretboards in my time.

Did you go with stainless or nickel? I'd probably personally do nickel for my first job just because the wire is a little easier to work with, especially for jumbo.

 

[DrewJD82]

One thing of importance; use the rocker to tap the frets all the way across the frets, you’ll hear if there’s a hollow spot under it and you don’t want those, if you used enough glue you’ll be ok, but you can get some funky/shitty sounds id there are voids between the frets and the neck.

I butchered one refret so far, buying cheap tools wasn’t the right way to go, even for just one refret. I’m getting ready to give it a go again now that I have all the decent tools needed to do it. hahahahah i BUTCHERED the fret ends on that first one!!!

 

[Robostyle]

But, Stew Mac is a hell of a lot less of a raping than the Snap On trucks are.

Having experience with both, can confirm.

 

[CoreyW]

One thing of importance; use the rocker to tap the frets all the way across the frets, you’ll hear if there’s a hollow spot under it and you don’t want those, if you used enough glue you’ll be ok, but you can get some funky/shitty sounds id there are voids between the frets and the neck.

I butchered one refret so far, buying cheap tools wasn’t the right way to go, even for just one refret. I’m getting ready to give it a go again now that I have all the decent tools needed to do it. hahahahah i BUTCHERED the fret ends on that first one!!!

I didnt tap each one individually, I will check that when I get back to it. Ive been buying stuff slowly for years and have been buying mostly Stew Mac when they had sales going. I bought a cheaper Amazon bevel file block combo and was less than impressed with it.

Keep us in the loop when you get back to it - this is something I've been interested in trying myself as well, just so I can make sure things are done to my standards. But I'm also no luthier... and I've only leveled a couple fretboards in my time.

Did you go with stainless or nickel? I'd probably personally do nickel for my first job just because the wire is a little easier to work with, especially for jumbo.

Stainless steel jumbos... It hasnt been bad so far, staying near the end of the longer handled tools and letting the leverage do most of the work. Though I havnt tried anything with Nickle so I cant compare.

I’ve tried a few. My advice once you get a little mentally fatigued is stop. You’re gonna f something up. Then on the fret level ,it doesn’t have to be perfect. I tend to level till I can see all the frets have been touched. It always makes for a crap ton of extra crowning and polishing. Just knock down the high ones. And polish polish polish till your arms can’t move.

My thought process was that the leveler (is that a word?), i can get the board, and checking the frets as I press them in, should have them all pretty close and to limit the amount of fret leveling in the next part. The crowning is what I am most dreading.

 

[DrewJD82]

I didnt tap each one individually, I will check that when I get back to it. Ive been buying stuff slowly for years and have been buying mostly Stew Mac when they had sales going. I bought a cheaper Amazon bevel file block combo and was less than impressed with it.




Stainless steel jumbos... It hasnt been bad so far, staying near the end of the longer handled tools and letting the leverage do most of the work. Though I havnt tried anything with Nickle so I cant compare.


My thought process was that the leveler (is that a word?), i can get the board, and checking the frets as I press them in, should have them all pretty close and to limit the amount of fret leveling in the next part. The crowning is what I am most dreading.

Fuck yeah, man, you jumped right in with stainless! I'm probably going to do the same with the next one I do up.

Actually, you've influenced me to order the fret wire. I have everything else already, I've just been putting it off because I don't want to get pissed at myself for fucking it up again.

 

[CoreyW]

Fuck yeah, man, you jumped right in with stainless! I'm probably going to do the same with the next one I do up.

Actually, you've influenced me to order the fret wire. I have everything else already, I've just been putting it off because I don't want to get pissed at myself for fucking it up again.

That was my last purchase too haha... I had to really psych myself up to get started and once I pulled the first fret it was a no going back moment.

So, this may help, again keep in mind I am still a newb at all this, but ill post a link, and the pre cut pre bent was cheaper from what I found than normal stock straight lengths.. maybe someone can point me in a better direction.

https://www.philadelphialuthiertool...etwire-fw57110-s-electric-jumbo-pre-radiused/

 

[Higgs]

You can do some nice touchup work with a fret rocker, masking tape, a few abrasives, & some superfine steel wool. Definitely interested to see how this turns out. The only advice I can give is to take your time with crowning and rounding the fret edges and be careful not to dig into the neck or fretboard. I've done fret work on about half a dozen of my guitars over the years, but never had the balls to do a complete re-fret. Good luck! Like others have said, you'll probably do a better job than a bunch of the hack shops out there.

 

[CoreyW]

Polishing done

And a close up of a couple of the fret ends