Refretting a strat neck and the ups and downs of getting the best results.

[Slobrain]

Hey guys,

I hope all of you had a really good Christmas. I wanted to ask a few questions regarding the do's and don'ts of refretting.

1. After pulling old frets and repairing any possible chips, leveling the fretboard, is there a way to make the old fretslot a bit tighter for the new frets going in? Maybe smearing some type of glue or something in the fretslot walls?

2. is it better to just crimp the fret tang to make up for the looser fret slot?

3. The most common problems a seasoned repair guy finds in reftretting?

Thanks

Slobrain No, my brain isn't slow, just a joke nickname I got from building SLO clones...

[Chuck H]

is there a way to make the old fretslot a bit tighter for the new frets going in? Maybe smearing some type of glue or something in the fretslot walls?

Don't put glue in the fret slots to tighten them. After pulling the frets, and before smoothing the finger board, you can wipe a damp sponge across the board so that a small amount of water pools in the slots. Then put a damp towel over the finger board and iron it dry. Then, when dry, smooth the finger board. The water will actually swell the slots and relieve some of the fatigue of the previous fret.

is it better to just crimp the fret tang to make up for the looser fret slot?

Not usually needed. The likelyhood of the new fret barbs lining up with the old fret barbs is slim. Extra physical distortion of the fret is just as likely to cause more problems than benefits.

The most common problems a seasoned repair guy finds in reftretting?

Can't say on this one. I'm not a pro. I would say to make sure the frets to be installed are radiused very close, but slightly more than the fingerboard contour to avoid loose fret ends and make sure your using sharp tools to minimise fatigue to the frets once they're seated.

[David Schwab]

These days it's common to use CA glue to help seat frets. I've been using glue for the last 20 years.

If your slots are too wide you can widen the fret tang. I use a specialty shaped hammer for this. It's a ball pean hammer with the ball ground into a chisel.

Here's a tool that does the same thing as my hammer:

STEWMAC.COM : Fret Fitter

[jrfrond]

I've got the same tool that Dave has, The Fret Fitter from StewMac, which crimps the fret tang to take up the extra clearance.

Swelling the fret slot with water is all well and good, until you hit a really dry weather spell, and you'll have frets poppin' up all over the place. Either use CA glue or crimp the fret tangs.

You need to over-radius frets slightly, especially when hammering in, but you also need to overbend the ends ever-so-slightly to keep them down. Also, you really need to properly prep the fingerboard. You need nice, sharp edges to do a proper refret. Only AFTER that is done can you re-roll the edges.

If you are really anal, you can undercut the fret tang slightly at the ends (you need to cut the frets to exact size for this), and then fill the slots underneath with slivers of matching fingerboard veneer or wood dust and glue.

[Chuck H]

Don't put glue in the fret slots to tighten them.

I thought he meant to rub glue into the slots to decrease the width BEFORE installing frets. Gluing frets when seating them is pretty standard. I haven't had the problem of frets popping in dry weather. But I'm not dealing with really fatigued fret slots either. I would be intimidated by that actually.

[Slobrain]

Hey, good advice fellas. I had seen those fret pliers in the Stewmac catalog but didn't know if they were really good to use or maybe ok in some situations. The swelling of wood seems cool too but even using CA glue may not help when the really dry weather sets in.

I guess what I was trying to convey is something that can be wiped into the walls of the fret slot to thicken the walls and maybe strengthen them too. Sort of like CA glue not poured but sort of wiped in the slots enough to build up wall thickness.

I definitely over radius the frets before pressing them in but when the slot was a tad bit loose I would see the middle of the fret come up a small bit. I had to then clamp the fret down and wick in some CA glue to keep them down.

I guess I wanted to see what all ideas can be used. Some things work better than others so I would rather ask then make a dumb mistake, too many mistakes made in the past so asking is better than ruining a neck.

Do you guys see alot of rise or hump in the ends of fretboard or is that just occasionally? maybe twists too?

Reason I ask is that I had one Squier neck that had a hump in the last 6 frets, I used a file to level that then used a sanding block to finish getting the fretboard back in shape. The neck came out pretty nice but I still need to roll the edges more.

Refretting is definitely an art sort of like doing great drywall work... But it’s a good challenge to learn.

[jrfrond]

I hate drywall work! I suck at it, but I get more hang time on guitars than sheetrock.

"Rising tongue", or the hump at the end of Fender necks are pretty common, and is usually caused by the use of a shim. The quick way is to level the last 6 or so frets into the others. The PROPER way is to remove the last 8 frets, plane/sand the fingerboard level, and do a partial refret.

Twists are also a way of life. The easy way to determine if you have a twist or not is to fret the top and bottom strings at the first and last frets (a capo helps greatly) and measure the string clearance at the 8th fret. If it's different, you have a twist. Not the end of the world. As a matter of fact, there is what I call a "good" twist, whereas you have a slight bit more clearance on the bass side. Since thicker, lower-pitched strings require more clearance for vibration, this actually works out very well.

The only way to get good at something is to keep doing it. We all wish there was a shortcut, trust me.

[Raja]

The Fret.com site has a page showing you how to make the fret fitter tool that David had a video on.
FretExpander1

[Chuck H]

As a matter of fact, there is what I call a "good" twist, whereas you have a slight bit more clearance on the bass side. Since thicker, lower-pitched strings require more clearance for vibration, this actually works out very well.

+1

When setting up guitars and I see this I actually get a little giddy. The best playing guitars with the lowest fret rattle. I once had a $250 Yamaha in that had a real nice bell like ring AND a small amount more relief on the bass side. Great guitar. A real sleeper. Not a refret, just a level and setup. The customer was VERY happy. I've only seen this happen in a good way maybe three times though. More often I need to correct warp. I find that milling the frets to compensate works better than clamping and heating. I've seen clamping and heating done several times and it ALWAYS fails within a year or two.

[David Schwab]

I thought he meant to rub glue into the slots to decrease the width BEFORE installing frets.

You can do that also. I've seen Dan Erlewine place a thin piece of teflon into the slot and then use CA and sawdust the fix wide slots.

[Chuck H]

That's clever.

[jrfrond]

You can do that also. I've seen Dan Erlewine place a thin piece of teflon into the slot and then use CA and sawdust the fix wide slots.

Yeah, Dan makes it all look so easy, doesn't he? That's why he is who he is.

[jrfrond]

+1

When setting up guitars and I see this I actually get a little giddy. The best playing guitars with the lowest fret rattle. I once had a $250 Yamaha in that had a real nice bell like ring AND a small amount more relief on the bass side. Great guitar. A real sleeper. Not a refret, just a level and setup. The customer was VERY happy. I've only seen this happen in a good way maybe three times though. More often I need to correct warp. I find that milling the frets to compensate works better than clamping and heating. I've seen clamping and heating done several times and it ALWAYS fails within a year or two.

Sometimes you can pull a neck into this shape by using light tops/heavy bottoms, which just happen to be great strings for a lot of styles. 10-52 is my personal favorite string gauge. My son plays 11-56 or 12-58, but he's a jazz animal with strong hands.

[Chuck H]

I'm a strange guy that way. I actually play an 11 to 46 hybrid set. Treble strings always sound weak and plinky to me.

[David Schwab]

I'm a strange guy that way. I actually play an 11 to 46 hybrid set. Treble strings always sound weak and plinky to me.

What kind of pick do you use? A thin or medium pick will make the strings sound plinky. I use the purple tortex picks and they get a nice solid tone out of 9s. I also spend a lot of time playing electric guitar unplugged. If I can get a smooth tone that way, it will sound even better plugged in. Some guitarist don't get a good clean tone because they get used to playing with distortion, and haven't worked out the technique for clean tones. It's really how you fret and pick the strings IMO.

Since I'm also a bassist, I'm used to heavier string gauges, but I like 9s on my guitars because they have a nice snap to them. Heavier strings start to sound to boingy to me.