First time DIY refret costs and difficulty?

Re: First time DIY refret costs and difficulty?

I would plan on spending a couple hundred bucks on tools and supplies. Get a high quality fret puller, Fret wire, fret hammer, fret end nippers, plenty of mill files of different lengths. (I glue mine onto pieces of wood for beveling the ends) plus a crowning file. get a special fret end shaping file and a sanding stick from StewMac. Read articles, books, watch some YouTube videos. After you get started you might find that you'll need to glue the new frets in so then you'll be spending money on different kinds of glue: hide glue, epoxy, super glue of different viscosities. Then there's fretboard leveling and repair to deal with. It's an arduous task.
 
Re: First time DIY refret costs and difficulty?

As far as pulling frets I got a pair of end nippers from Harbor Freight
The really small 2 dollar ones

Took them to a sanding disc at work and flushed the face
So that that sit flat to the fretboard and will get under the fret edges

Made one for me and one for my buddy who was changing his frets

Just grab the fret and rock it a bit to lift it out

Going back in a larger set of nippers should just about make the bevel on the ends for you

A triangle file should be able to smooth and roll the sharp edges off

A hard plastic hammer for seating the frets

And your basic leveling kit and crowning tools

Amazon has Jescar stainless frets for about $20
Precut and curved
Push em in trim them and level

Good luck

And try not to be too critical of these guys trying to help
You asked a question
And balked at one of the first answers

You owe that man an apology
Right now
 
Re: First time DIY refret costs and difficulty?

DonP said:
I think this looks awesome! Now I'm interested in refretting. I have a '77 LP Custom I'd love to do this to. I have the time and patience to try to keep the nibs, but the ebony has divots and could use a planing.
Click to expand...

Ebony is not the wood to try your first refretting job on. I've never tried it myself, but ebony fretboards are notorious for chipping.
 
Re: First time DIY refret costs and difficulty?

ehdwuld said:
As far as pulling frets I got a pair of end nippers from Harbor Freight
The really small 2 dollar ones

Took them to a sanding disc at work and flushed the face
So that that sit flat to the fretboard and will get under the fret edges

Made one for me and one for my buddy who was changing his frets

Just grab the fret and rock it a bit to lift it out

Going back in a larger set of nippers should just about make the bevel on the ends for you

A triangle file should be able to smooth and roll the sharp edges off

A hard plastic hammer for seating the frets

And your basic leveling kit and crowning tools

Amazon has Jescar stainless frets for about $20
Precut and curved
Push em in trim them and level

Good luck

And try not to be too critical of these guys trying to help
You asked a question
And balked at one of the first answers

You owe that man an apology
Right now
Click to expand...


See, I like the way you think... EXCEPT that apology part lol
 
Re: First time DIY refret costs and difficulty?

You can get by with common tools modified for the job or homemade tools. A fret crowning file makes things a lot easier. A good straight edge and fret rocker are essential. Good tools certainly help though. Go slow and walk away from the job if you start to get frustrated. Sometimes even when you think everything went well there can be issues when you put the neck back on the guitar and string it up. Issues like you didn’t get the fall away on the high frets quite right or there is a couple of high frets causing some buzz. Once you put the neck back under string tension and give it a little relief things can change. Each neck acts differently. It’s a worthwhile skill to learn if you have the patience.
 
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