How hard is it to learn to refret an instrument passably well?

[GuitarStv]

I've got five guitars and a mandolin that need refretting. None of them are particularly valuable instruments, but they all sound nice. I've also got a practice neck kicking around that I can mess with. I was thinking of picking up one of these stew-mac fretting kits and some fretwire and having a go. I figure a (very) slow and steady approach is probably the way to go on this one.

Anyone with some advice for me? Would it make sense to refret with Stainless steel wire?

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: How hard is it to learn to refret an instrument passably well?

There's a StewMac 'Dan Erlewine' DVD you can get that covers all of this I think. You're biggest layout is going to be on grabbing the right tools, so having a number a guitars to spread that across makes sense. Stainless steel is harder, but no different technique-wise. If you can find a couple of otherwise dud necks, it would be worth practicing on those rather than your otherwise functional guitars.