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[quote="NickD"]Regarding the fret job, the pulling frets out sideways method was only worked out in the late 70s/early 80s as far as I remember, so it may just be an earlier fret job.

Fender installed the fretwire on it's guitar and bass necks from the side up until 1982. Fretwire on a Fender from 1982 and back must be driven out from the side to remove them without causing damage to the wooden fretboard. Removing the fretwire by the traditional method of lifting it up with a pair of nippers will tear up the wooden fret board which is what happened to the "Strawberry Bronco".


Tom can explain it better than I can:

http://tomsguitarservice.blogspot.com/2 ... t-job.html

or this:

http://www.hazeguitars.com/fretting-like-a-crab/

that decal is horrible and gross but, to each his own...

speedfish wrote:

NickD wrote:Regarding the fret job, the pulling frets out sideways method was only worked out in the late 70s/early 80s as far as I remember, so it may just be an earlier fret job.

Fender installed the fretwire on it's guitar and bass necks from the side up until 1982. Fretwire on a Fender from 1982 and back must be driven out from the side to remove them without causing damage to the wooden fretboard. Removing the fretwire by the traditional method of lifting it up with a pair of nippers will tear up the wooden fret board which is what happened to the "Strawberry Bronco".


Tom can explain it better than I can:

http://tomsguitarservice.blogspot.com/2 ... t-job.html

or this:

http://www.hazeguitars.com/fretting-like-a-crab/

I realised my post doesn't make a lot of sense. I meant to say Fender had been fretting from the side for years, it was only worked out by the aftermarket in the late 70s/early 80s. Like your link says, it makes a bit of a mess when you pull them out from the top if they went in from the side.

TBH though, its bloody difficult to get them out without chipping however you do it in my experience.

I realised my post doesn't make a lot of sense. I meant to say Fender had been fretting from the side for years, it was only worked out by the aftermarket in the late 70s/early 80s. Like your link says, it makes a bit of a mess when you pull them out from the top if they went in from the side.

TBH though, its bloody difficult to get them out without chipping however you do it in my experience.[/quote]

Are you heating the frets up with a soldering iron before pulling them? Nice ground fret pullers designed to lift frets out will work better than a pair of nippers that you purchase from the hardware store even though they look remarkably similar.

AKA this:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... uller.html

speedfish wrote:
Are you heating the frets up with a soldering iron before pulling them? Nice ground fret pullers designed to lift frets out will work better than a pair of nippers that you purchase from the hardware store even though they look remarkably similar.

AKA this:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... uller.html

Yes, i heat them, although I don't have proper fret pullers.

I was thinking back to the first time I removed frets though, it was pre internet so the knowledge wasn't easy to find, and I used no soldering iron and got all the frets out with a mixture of pliers and jewellers screwdrivers It worked ok, but the fretboard needed re-radiusing anyway.

I was thinking back to the first time I removed frets though, it was pre internet so the knowledge wasn't easy to find, and I used no soldering iron and got all the frets out with a mixture of pliers and jewellers screwdrivers It worked ok, but the fretboard needed re-radiusing anyway.[/quote]


You've got bigger balls than me brother. That makes me cringe just thinking about it.

xrleroyx wrote:Depends: does the guitar do what you want it to do? I don't think it's going to have a very high resale value if that's what you're looking at.

Also, will the work needed to be done to it cost more than the guitar itself? Is it worth it to you?

I bought the guitar to play, not necessarily as collector's item.

As far as the work goes, I could refinish it myself for pretty cheap.

speedfish wrote:

NickD wrote:I was thinking back to the first time I removed frets though, it was pre internet so the knowledge wasn't easy to find, and I used no soldering iron and got all the frets out with a mixture of pliers and jewellers screwdrivers It worked ok, but the fretboard needed re-radiusing anyway.

You've got bigger balls than me brother. That makes me cringe just thinking about it.

Not really - it was a guitar that cost me £5 and it had been painted in black and white using housepaint - really badly painted. If it got screwed up it didn't really matter.

I gigged the Bronco on Tuesday. Played great. Very Trebly guitar. I need to spend more time with it and master the trem.

taylornutt wrote:I gigged the Bronco on Tuesday. Played great. Very Trebly guitar. I need to spend more time with it and master the trem.

Glad to hear that it is working out for you. Did anyone come up and ask about it?

Yeah. The Strawberry decal was definitely a hit.

That decal is really cool.