Re: vintage JM refret

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:34 pm

I'm taking the guitar in tomorrow to get refretted. It will cost me $240 and I trust my tech. to do a great job.

The wire choices are

1) Stew mac 0155 .080w X .050h

or

2) vintage fender Dunlop 6230 .080w X .043h

depending on what my tech. says and if I can play a guitar with either of these fret sizes at the store.

Bryherb · Post by **Bryherb** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:22 pm

Painted Wood said:
"I understand the need for a level board, but I'd really like to preserve the current look of the board....the age and play wear...It looks pretty flat. Can you explain the deepening of the fret slots?

When I last spoke to my tech., I told him to just replace the frets, and don't do anything to the fingerboard, no sanding, etc. ....to preserve it's current look and to match the rest of the wear on the body. He said that he could. I plan on bringing in the guitar to have the refret done in two weeks. Thanks for the help and comments. I'm still undecided on the fret height issue...50/50"

Painted Wood, You may want to rethink your request for your repairman to NOT level the fingerboard. If your fingerboard has any twists, bumps or dips that are not leveled out in the refretting process, it can translate to having some of your already low heighth but proper vintage frets beings even lower and more difficult to recrown and these even lower frets can be noticible when the job is done. And tragically if it looks bad and it is not to your liking your repairman can respond by saying I did what you requested and you order a dozen glazed donuts, you get a dozen glazed donuts. It is pretty much impossible to perform a high quality and proper refretting of a neck without any fingerbaord leveling. I have had clients make this no leveling of the fingerboard at all request because they wish to preserve the wear and make it look like the fingerboard has never been refretted. My reply is then I cannot guarantee the accuracy and level of the frets and fret buzz is more likely to occur. You at least need to level out the area underneath each fret because the wood chips from the fret removal can cause the fret not to seat flush to the fingerbaord. I would request for your repairman to do as little fingerboard leveling as possible becuase you want to preserve as much of the fingerboard wear and gouging as possible. It's not an unreasonable request you have. It just can degrade the quality and accuracy of your fretwork.

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:25 am

Awesome information! thanks guys!

As far as the fretboard goes, I'm going to have my tech. take a close look at it. If we can avoid leveling, we will. I wanted to go with the higher fret (0155 - .050) so that he could level them really well and I'd still have a height around or over .040.

He has electronic calipers. I'm going to do some measuring of other guitars in the store and also bring another JM that I had refretted a while back for measuring/comparison purposes. If all signs point to lower frets, I'll go with the 0147 wire.

Stew mac sounds like the best wire. I was also thinking that a taller wire will endure more and take a few more dressings in the future (the rest of my life and beyond) and that would help save the fretboard. It all comes down to the feel too. I do like string bends.

Thanks everyone for confirmation and assistance.

øøøøøøø · Post by **øøøøøøø** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:23 pm

painted wood wrote: Awesome information! thanks guys!

As far as the fretboard goes, I'm going to have my tech. take a close look at it. If we can avoid leveling, we will. I wanted to go with the higher fret (0155 - .050) so that he could level them really well and I'd still have a height around or over .040.

He has electronic calipers. I'm going to do some measuring of other guitars in the store and also bring another JM that I had refretted a while back for measuring/comparison purposes. If all signs point to lower frets, I'll go with the 0147 wire.

Stew mac sounds like the best wire. I was also thinking that a taller wire will endure more and take a few more dressings in the future (the rest of my life and beyond) and that would help save the fretboard. It all comes down to the feel too. I do like string bends.

Thanks everyone for confirmation and assistance.

Your instincts on everything are right on, but .050 wire will probably come out quite a bit taller than .040 unless you specifically say you want it milled down that low. It would probably end up .048 or .047, I'd guess, if you gave no special instruction. Be aware that some techs might charge more if they need to do extensive grinding down of every fret.

Taller frets will indeed allow you to get extra mileage out of them as far as how many times they can be leveled. But it also matters how it feels "now." You might die before they need to be leveled.

You're doing all the right research, you'll do fine. Good luck!

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:16 pm

I dropped the guitar off yesterday, and I originally told him to go with the .050 height wire...this morning I emailed him to switch to the .080 x .040 stew mac wire, 0147. I'll call him tomorrow too.

I think the .050 will be too high. I like the idea that the stew mac wire doesn't wear quickly.

I like playing the '62 neck I have that has original frets on it, so I think the .040 height will be best for me. Thank you! I'll post pics and update in 2 weeks.

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:26 am

should be any day now...it's been 3 weeks...he only works Wed.-Sat.
I'll post some pics.

Telenator · Post by **Telenator** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 3:45 am

The 6105 is a good choice for that guitar because it gives you the height you need for ease of playing but it doesn't look weird like jumbo wire on a vintage guitar. I have it on one of my guitars and it's a nice compromise. Way better than the original wire, but not quite as good as a 6130 or 6150.

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:11 pm

Soiouz wrote: My 1965 Jaguar has been refretted with jumbo frets by the previous owner and, even though it plays great, I would have much prefered if it had been done with vintage-size frets, if only to keep the guitar closer to original specs.

It's only my personnal opinion, but if your 1963 Jazzmaster were mine, I'd go with vintage-size frets for sure!

I did! .080 x .040 Stew mac
I hope it feels good and plays good. Maybe it will be done tomorrow.

I like 6105 too.

Mr. Peabody · Post by **Mr. Peabody** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:04 am

Soiouz wrote: My 1965 Jaguar has been refretted with jumbo frets by the previous owner and, even though it plays great, I would have much prefered if it had been done with vintage-size frets, if only to keep the guitar closer to original specs.

Is this fixable? Is it possible to refret the guitar again with vintage frets, or is a jumbo refret not reversible?

Post by **Jay** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:19 am

Sure it's possible, but I wouldn't refret a guitar that didn't need it. You'd probably end up having to use a lot of glue to kep the frets in the slots once the jumbo were pulled and that's not really a great thing.

Mr. Peabody · Post by **Mr. Peabody** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:33 am

Bummer. i got my Jaguar refretted when I was 20 and they are bigger than the original frets.
I didn't care at the time, but now I wish I had gotten the same kind put in. Although I don't recall the guy even asking.
Ah, youth....

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:42 pm

Mr. Peabody wrote: Bummer. i got my Jaguar refretted when I was 20 and they are bigger than the original frets.
I didn't care at the time, but now I wish I had gotten the same kind put in. Although I don't recall the guy even asking.
Ah, youth....

It may be worth it to bring it to a trusted luthier/tech. and ask him.

Still waiting on mine...

InfiniteVines · Post by **InfiniteVines** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:10 am

slightly off topic, but someone mentioned their '65 having jumbo frets. i thought fender started using something larger in '65. mine is the same but pretty sure they are original. anybody know?

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:30 pm

I just picked the guitar up after 4 weeks.

and it's the same as when I dropped it off. He said he just couldn't get himself to refret it, so it still has the original frets on it. I told him that was cool and I picked it up.

It's actually a blessing because I was so stressed out thinking about the fret size I ordered and then changed...not sure if I wanted .080x.040 or .080x.050. It was actually really stressful. My tech. (who builds guitars professionally) said he was too stressed out to possibly make a mistake and mess something up. He didn't want that on his conscience...

anyway, I am in

with my all original '63.
[img]http://[/img]

painted wood · Post by **painted wood** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:06 pm

øøøøøøø wrote: haha. Wow, that's anti-climactic. :)

I know.

Have you considered ordering a small amount of fretwire from stewmac yourself (it's cheap) and actually holding it in your hand in a couple of sizes? I bet that would give you more confidence to pick up exactly what you want.

I actually thought of that on the way home.