Anyone install frets?

My friend, Chris, wants to install frets back on his defretted Gibson Ripper bass. I think he is being a cheapskate by not wanting to fork over $250 to have a professional do it.

Has anyone here fretted an instrument? Was it difficult?

Thanks,

I've done this hundreds of times. 'Difficult' is really not the word to use, it requires a good degree of patience and care. Proper tools are needed but they are not exotic. This particular task will likely also require a new nut, and that also requires specific tools.

Tools, equipment, materials and supplies will come out to some lower cost than $250. Whether that's a savings or not depends on the value of his time.

In the case of refretting a de-fretted bass, you at least have the original fret locations. You will need to very carefully saw out the filler, whatever it is. Be careful if it is of a harder or slipperier consistency than the fingerboard, as the sawblade will seek to wander.

This link should take you to older posts of mine on the subject of refretting. http://tinyurl.com/4pal9

HTH

i do refrets once in a while and i really don't recommend trying on a gibson first.. this is somethig you get better and better ONLY with experience.. the hardest are the guitars with binding attached to the fingerboard..you have to cut the fret and then remove a part of the tang so it fits...

yes... $250 is expensive..i've never charged that..

seriously, where are you guys getting these price quotes? $250 to press & dress 21 frets??? Thats like...MORE THAN $10.00 PER FRET!!! Any halfway decent shop that has a press and a wire radius bending tool can do this job in about 3 hours - including the grind & polish.

jepp

Refret prices commonly include de-fretting and board preparation, which adds significant labour to the process. Done poorly, this can also incur significant damage.

This particular scenario is somewhat easier (and should be correspondingly cheaper) since the starting point is a previously-defretted neck. The Ripper, IIRC, did not come with bound fingerboard, so unless the filler (epoxy, for an example of a poor choice of filler) wants to send the sawblade skating elsewhere, resawing the slots is pretty straightforward. The board should already be in pretty good shape, in terms of planing.

$250 for a refret is not out of line in the real world of professional guitar repair. Bear in mind that repair guys have costs, families and overhead too, and that that money normally buys you more than just the basic work, but significant consultation and adjustment. . And they do not always have another business covering basic costs.

You work in a factory, and the repair portion of your work is likely at least partially subsidized by the manufacturing side of the business. And you may never actually see the customer - this is definitely not the case for the ordinary repair tech, who can spend hours simply helping choose fretwire. That time isn't always billable, and can't be covered by the what the other guys are doing in the back to ship out new instruments.

Three hours is a rather low time estimate for quality work with attention to detail. I base this on the time it took me to do refrets, and I have done hundreds. , working in an extremely busy shop frequented by everyone from all the local studio guys and visiting artists to high school kids and their parents. .

Here's another link giving a somewhat detailed view of the process, with photos:
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/ Guitar/Frets/D35Ref...

Try to pack this into three hours.

Try a web search with 'refret prices ' as the parameters. You won't find a huge variation; much of the variation will probably be related to real-estate overhead (urban rent and taxes are often higher then rural).

HTH

I used to work at a guitar shop way back in the early 1970s & did a good number at that time. However, if I were to need a fret job now, I would definitely have it done. The way I look at it, it's like letting a carpenter who hasn't worked in thirty years work on your house, or a mechanic that hasn't worked in 30 years work on your car, right? I wouldn't want someone working on my instrument for the first time, even if that someone was me.

Joe http://www.exotic-scales.com

What happens if the barbs rip out too much fretboard and the new wire won't grip in those spots ?