Hello - I have a MIM Strat that I love, but would love more if it had bigger frets. I've been looking into performing a refret on the guitar myself, but I've never performed maintenance other than adjusting the action, so I'm a little intimidated. Can this be done by the "average Joe"? Can anyone out there with some experience with refretting offer some advice? Would it be worth the trouble, or worth the risk of rendering my axe useless? I have an American Strat for my main guitar, but I'm still a little hesitant to start digging into my MIM myself....

Hi holyrollerxx: we all have to start somewhere, and a MIM or Squier sure makes better sense than taking your first steps with a nice American Strat.

However, I'd strongly recommend you pick yourself up a copy of Fret Work Step-by-Step by Dan Erlewine and give it a good long read before beginning. Ultimately, you gotta take the plung - but find out some detail first:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plan ... _Step.html

Good luck - C

I agree with Ceri in that the Erlewine book is a great place to start. I'd also suggest "How To Build Your Own Electric Guitar" by Melvin Hiscock as well. Very simply, read all you can before you start...even look around on Youtube for some tutorial vids.

I was lucky in that I had a good tech who walked me thru my first fret job. Honestly it's not really as hard as it seems. In fact, if you take your time and you are careful, removing the old frets and install the new frets isn't really that difficult at all. The real work (IMHO) comes after when you have to level and crown the new frets. The single best piece of advice I can give you here is to go to StewMac.com and invest in the proper tools to do this...a good leveling block and a crowning file. I did my first job the hard way using a (good) cutting stone and a set of diamond needle files and while it did work, it's -A LOT- harder to do it this way...a good crowning file will make your life about 1000 times easier. StewMac should also have the fretwire and the books as well. Also if it's not mentioned in any of the books, I found that a good soldering iron makes removing the old frets much easier. Use the soldering iron on the frets to melt the old glue.....just be careful not to burn the fretboard!

Also, if this guitar is "your baby", it might be well worth it to pick up a really cheap scrap guitar and try it on that first so you'll know what to expect. You can usually pickup a cheap Strat knock off for under $80 (maybe something like a used Bullet or something) and if you screw it up, it's not that big a deal and you can always re-sell it later. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.

Beyond that I would say again just study and read up on this before you start...know what you are going to do and -how- you are going to do it before you start instead of "guessing" your way thru, then just take your time, be careful and be patient.

It IS as hard as it seems ! Well, for a first timer with little to no guidance anyways. my first one came out usable, but i wouldn't have wanted that fret job on a guitar i liked or loved ! But i did it on a old junker i didn't care about, and i would suggest you do that too or at least a guitar that nice or not you don't mind messing up. If you are going to do it i would suggest you read as much as you can about it online. When i did my first one i didn't have a world of information at my fingertips as you do now because of the internet. I'd say go for it, but do a guitar you don't care much about first. It really does take a number of jobs before you really get good. I think erliwine once said it takes about 100 before you're a master. i'd agree. but i'd say 2-4 before you can be acceptably proficient enough to do a guitar that means anything to you.

I don't want to come off as a blow hard here and I certainly mean no disrespect to anyone, but I have to give this warning:

I've seen more fingerboards destroyed by those who think they can do a proper fret job simply by reading a book or watching a video. I don't care who the author is nor how well illustrated the instructions are.

Such tasks done this way remind me of some 14 year old kid who 'installed' a replacement pickup into a guitar for the very first time. Forget about the fact that he burned and scratched the guitar's finish, that he fried the pot and created a a huge, grey solder ball on the pot's terminal where a total of only two strands of the pickup's hot wire are barely attached to it. Somehow, not only has the pickup survived, but it still manages to work and our young, "Dr. Frankenstein" has performed his first 'successful' rewiring. So now, said adolescent mastermind touts himself as a guitar tech and begins to learn (for better or for worse) on everyone's stuff for fun and profit.

Progressive, "elbow training" on PsOS is the only proper way to learn such a critical task as fretting. Gradually, the apprentice is weaned off and up from said PsOS to substantive instruments, commensurate with his or her acquired, hands-on knowledge.

Not discussed in most fretting related media is the fact that there may or may not be problem situations which can and do arise. Granted, it doesn't happen all the time and might not happen for a very long time but they are out there and one has to know what to do. Also granted, to cover all these situations would not only negate the tutorial's clear cut approach but even the best of the best cannot call to mind everything as a hypothetical for a learned dissertation.

One example out of a so many is, how to remove (what is left of) the frets on say, a 1972 maple boarded Fender Strat without burning the lacquer and/or ripping chunks of it and the wood off and out of the board. Did you know that many of the early 70s Fenders, OEM had the frets pushed in sideways rather than being hammered down and in and then, that thick finished was slathered over everything to cover a multitude of, shall we say, disgraceful QC or lack thereof? Obviously, this alone is some vital information which one must be cognizant of beforehand. And more importantly, has had consistent success with them time and time again.

Sure, for the properly experienced, even complete refretting is an easy task and certainly not rocket science. Yet, I must continue to emphasize that there's an awful lot of little and not so little stuff which must be known and potentially considered upon first sight of any given neck. Such empirical wisdom goes way beyond the nice, neat little package of, "Heat 'em, rip 'em, pound 'em, grind 'em, buff 'em and now, you too are a fret champ!"

This is just my two cents and I profoundly apologize to any and all if I've ruffled any feathers as this was certainly not my intention.

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No, you don't sound like a blowhard, you make perfect sense and I agree. Refretting is simple when you've done a million of them, and you CAN do your very first one and have it come out usable like I said. But the truth is that barring some incredible luck chances are slim your first one or even your 5 or maybe 10th will come out good enough to be considered a job worthy of a professional. I did refretting for a time as a business but looking back i don't think my first 10 or so jobs were not worthy of payment. Somehow the customers didn't complain, but i got lucky there. I think if someone wants to learn thats fine. But i would never suggest that to someone who just wants to do it to get a guitar refretted w/o having to pay a tech. I would only suggest it to someone who intends to do it on a fairly regular basis and to learn on expendable guitars. But if you just want to save a few bucks on one or 2 guitars, i'd suggest taking it to a tech. It will cost you a few hundo, but in the end you will likely save money by not having to trash a guitar that you ruined.

I also say amen to what you said about situations that areise and are not covered in tutorials. Thats because so many things can and do happen, and often there are any number of ways to handle them and not every one will work for each individual. There are so many ways to do every step, and often you have to come to a way that works for you. Thats what there are as many methods as there are techs. And most people find they have to work out thier own method which takes time to perfect. so yeah, as you said this is not a follow the numbers sort of learning process. It's a trial and error process and the first attempts are certainly going to leave some bodies in thier wake.

You are right Martian I leaned a long time ago just replacing frets here and there at a local shop and if it was a high end neck I would say dont even try it or if if was a old Fender neck with the frets pulled in from the side but its a MIM standard neck you can replace it with a better one from Warmoth for 2 bills if you have to. Its not worth paying 20 to 25 a fret to have it done so why not. Just remember fret are not glued in they are held in by barbs on the tang and the fret pressed in and if you need to use glue on the new ones to help hold when tapping in use Tite Bond not superglue.

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I've been building (putting together) my own guitars for years and there are things i will not do, frets are one of those things. with so many good parts out there like warmoth ect...... heck you can even buy a fender neck on eBay, there is no reason for me to even try. All things being equal i have great respect for someone who can do a fret job because that's how you keep an old guitar in play. And we all love an old Strat!!

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I would read the books suggested and watch any tutorial videos and then also I would buy the proper tools to do this kind of job and then I would buy a cheap almost unusable 20 dollar neck from somewhere and I would practice there as many times as possible till I get it right and THEN i would try to do the job on the guitar

Hi Martian: I totally agree with what you're saying.

Though I don't know if you know the Dan Erlewine book: it's about as detailed as can be and covers the things you mentioned and much else besides.

Privately, I'm imagining that most people would buy that book, give it a read and then decide to take their neck to a tech instead! Can't say about the OP but I suspect discussion in that volume of the aspects you mention will put off all but the most determined. Which is likely all to the good...

And come to that, everyone who does learn this skill has to start somewhere. On the plus side, the OP is contemplating learning on his own instrument, not someone else's - so that's a good thing!!

Cheers - C

I skimmed through Erlwine's original edition book and watched bits and pieces of what apparently was an old video of his on the subject. I still stand by what I said about neither being adequate to perform a genuinely satisfactory fret job. This in NO way is to be taken as a knock on Erlwine's outstanding skills.

Once properly learned, fret work tends to be a stable, routine task. And as oczad said (paraphrased), one settles into their own valid style, definitely with some signature to their techniques.

Obviously, there is a somewhat, 'mystical' aura around fret work where many are put off. Yet, as you and others have stated, repetition with the absence of any kind of pressure shall be the best teacher. And again, I must proclaim with the caveat: Under sustained, erudite guidance.

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