Hey guys, so on my Tele, my heavy handed, left-hand style has worn dents and grooves into the lower frets, and my string bending seems to be wearing down the lower half of the frets from about frets 7 to 12. I talked to a tech that was in GC last week and he told me he can do a fret dress for me for about 50 (very little wear) to about 85 (a lot of wear). I feel like my guitar is about in the middle right now, so he estimated that it'd probably be in the 60-65 dollar range for the fret dress.

My question is...does this sound about right for a fret dress on a guitar with a maple fretboard?
If so, I think I'll go ahead and take it down to him next time he's at Guitar Center, so I can float around and keep an eye on it while he's working. Although I talked to a couple of the people I saw picking up guitars from this guy when I was in the store and they all were very happy with his work. One guy showed me the Les Paul custom he had just picked up after a fret job, and it looked like everything was very well done, and no damage/scratches on the fretboard.

My other question is this...I'm also considering a complete re-fret with stainless frets sometime before too long. Do you guys think I'd be better off buying a new neck with stainless frets already installed, or having this neck re-fretted with stainless frets?

I apologize for the long post, and thanks in advance for the help guys!

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If the tech is good, that is a great price, in this experience.

That's what I'm thinking too. Thanks for the reply.

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Hy Tim, just had my es700 m yam- done for 100, dressed and re lac, couldn,t fine a new neck, turned out really good and as new playing condition,either way you go you win.

Thanks Alex...I think I'll end up getting it done here quickly.

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Here's the best pics I could get of the frets to show the wear...

Lower frets...1-4 have about the same amount of wear.



Higher frets...6-10 have about the same amount of wear. D string down to high E.



It doesn't look like much, but it's enough wear that I'm really starting to feel it with my 9-42 gauge strings.

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That's not really bad wear, but you're definitely due for a fret level. $60 is actually a very good price for it too.

I'm debating putting stainless steel frets on the forum project Strat or not. I hear they wear extremely well, but that they sometimes have the effect of making the guitar's tone brighter. Some people said they didn't hear it, others say they can. I've never played a guitar with stainless steel frets, so I don't know for myself. People say they're better on guitars which are really warm to begin with (like a Les Paul) but that they can get "plinky" on a Strat or Tele. Stainless steel frets also cost more to install since the stainless steel wear out a tech's tools to the point that they need to include the cost of new ones in the price. I would imagine that a tech would charge more for leveling them to if they ever needed it. But I'm thinking they might be the way to go for me since I usually need a fret level every six months and over time they've just gotten lower and lower.

Do you really like the neck on your Tele now or do you think you could handle a neck swap? If you're okay with a new neck you'll probably save money getting one rather than finding a tech who will do a stainless steel refret and crossing your fingers hoping that he does a good job of it. Because if he doesn't, you're stuck with that neck. With a new neck if you don't like it you could probably sell it and make some of your money back.

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Thanks for the reply TGS. I know you have some experience in this subject.
I'm not real attached to the neck it has currently, and have thought that something a little bulkier would be more comfortable to my hands. I was looking at Warmoth's site and I think something like their boatneck profile would be nice, and I can get a neck from them with stainless frets so I'll probably go with getting them leveled until it's time for something new, and then decide between a new Tele or a new neck for this one; or both.

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Hey Tim, that doesn't look bad at all. I had worse than this and fixed it easily using the Martian's method if you have about an hour of time and some elbow grease

1. Remove the neck and/or protect the pickups from the steel wool particles
and mask the fretboard with the painters low sticking tape.
2. Use 0000 steel wool rub each fret up-down until you see dents start disappearing
3. Use 0000 steel wool rub each fret left-right until smooth
4. Use 600 grit carbide sandpaper up-down and left-right (you can try different moves here to shape the fret tops)
5. Use 600 grit carbide sandpaper up-down to finish
6. Use piece of hide (I have a square sample that I got from the leather furniture store) to polish.

I do it by feel and do it once a year since 0000 steel wool is enough before polishing. You got to be careful not to take too much material with the sandpaper and mess the tops

(see also youtube for fret dressing to be more visual)

HTH

Hi Tim, hope you don't mind but, save that teley, a neck should be an easy find for you givin your local, and when you think of the time in with that fender??? man like leavin your dog behine, you know what I' sayin to you, just an opinion! you miss it down the road a some point! and wish you had kept it. The photo you show is kinda the same condition my yamaha was in and did effect playing so I had it done, but now if it should ever need that service again, it's another neck time and I'll go fender on yamaha, rice with nice, chuckal, Hope you havin a good one Tim.
PS. no offence to any oriental,I have very good friends that are and becuase I'am irish they call me spud?? all with humor and laughs and love!

Hmmm...That doesen't sound very difficult at all...I may just go ahead and do it. I'm not afraid to do, cause I know as much of a perfectionist as I am I can get it done. I think I'll watch a YouTube video and then follow that method. This is something I'd like to learn and I'd rather learn while my frets have only minor wear. Thanks for the instructions Dan.



The guitar's not going anywhere Alex, the neck really might though. After playing my Tele, if I pick up my Schecter which has a bigger neck, it feels real comfortable in my hands so I think I'll try out a neck from Warmoth when my frets are a lost cause. Then that will leave me this neck to get re-fretted and start a build project. Something on the lines of (Xhefri's ?) the Strat-o-Telecaster build. (Strat body, Tele Neck)......or.....a Tele with some hot humbuckers cause I really like the way the thinner neck feels for metal riffing and such, although the pups on this tele are not metal friendly, but I still like to mess around. SO...I said all of that to say this...I'm going to try the method that Dan posted for now, and I have no real idea what my plans are going to be past that...lol...

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With stainless frets make sure the tech has experience with them........... a friend of mine got them done in one of the shops here and the tech had never used them and they were horrendous.

The problem with a lot of fretwire that guys who work in the shops use is that it's cheap and far too soft. You get a decent wire and even playing 8 hours a day you should get a good few months before even thinking about dressing the frets.

If you aren't sure ask him what type of fretwire he uses. If in doubt go to a private tech or builder. I have had quite a few guitars in for refretting that have been built with low quality wire and it just does my head in that some big companies scrimp on something as basic as that to drive down cost.

Go for Dan's method but, where I come from, $65 is mega cheap!!!! There is only myself and one other guy I know of in my region that do it for less than £100!!!!!

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Ok, so I think I'm going to try the method Dan suggested this coming week, and see how my frets come out. Any other suggestions/tips that I need to be mindful of besides not sanding to much with the paper? Thanks again guys for the help, and wish me luck at not destroying my frets.

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Let us know how it turns out Tim.
I for one would be interested. As you mentioned, it would be a nice skill to have.

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"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

For sure Tyronne...I plan to take pictures and run through it step by step...If all goes well, which I have confidence it will, I'll post in here as kind of tutorial.

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