Refret

I

inyarak74

Well-known member
Hey guys. Thinking of having stainless frets put in a esp eclipse. There’s binding on the neck, which I like. Would I lose the binding on a refret? Thanks in advance
 
Not at all. It shouldn't have fret nibs on it so it's pretty much a normal refret. Ask the person doing it if they undercut the fret tangs though. It's important that this is done on necks with binding. If you don't, the neck may shrink and cause the tangs to pop out and crack the binding.
 
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EVO is sicker than stainless. Fuck stainless. Titanium alloy. You won't lose binding from any competent luthier, but it's a quite an upcharge.

I had my E2 done for around $500. That's a non bound neck. Binding is usually like, at least a $200 upcharge if the luthier is good. You get what you pay for when it comes to refretting. Look at Mike Lull's site to see the pricing for a top of the line PLEK job and go from there. I wouldn't pay lull prices, though his stuff is sick, but it's a good reference for how much the top of the line stuff costs. Anything way lower is going to be shit. If someone quotes you $180-250 the fretwork is going to blow. https://www.mikelull.com/repairs

Look into EVO though. Stainless steel is for sinks. If you can't get adamantium for that Wolverine tone, titanium alloy is the second best.
 
I love EVO gold. Stainless is cool, but EVO is next level IMO (as somebody who has refretted using both). EVO eats the fuck out of your tools though.
 
Rogueleader said:
EVO is sicker than stainless. Fuck stainless. Titanium alloy. You won't lose binding from any competent luthier, but it's a quite an upcharge.

I had my E2 done for around $500. That's a non bound neck. Binding is usually like, at least a $200 upcharge if the luthier is good. You get what you pay for when it comes to refretting. Look at Mike Lull's site to see the pricing for a top of the line PLEK job and go from there. I wouldn't pay lull prices, though his stuff is sick, but it's a good reference for how much the top of the line stuff costs. Anything way lower is going to be shit. If someone quotes you $180-250 the fretwork is going to blow. https://www.mikelull.com/repairs

Look into EVO though. Stainless steel is for sinks. If you can't get adamantium for that Wolverine tone, titanium alloy is the second best.
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There really isn't a difference between refretting a bound neck vs refretting a non-bound neck in most cases. I always notch the tang ends regardless of whether the neck is bound or not. Who wants the tangs visible on the fretboard edges? I suppose if you left the tangs exposed, it would be a little less work, but it looks like shit, and often results in the tangs sprouting out the sides of the fret board.

Where it really makes a huge difference is if it's a bound neck with fret nibs. That's a huge pain in the ass to refret because the frets have to be pre-cut to the EXACT width, and even then it's tricky to get the transition between fret and binding nib smooth. Most luthiers will give you the option of retaining the binding nibs, or losing them and paying substantially less.
 
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