refretting a maple neck...

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 5:57 pm

the first 3 or 4 frets on my mustang are pretty worn and i was thinking about a partial refret. it has a maple neck though and it looks a lot more difficult to do than a rosewood one would be. has anyone here done it before? i just want to know how much trouble is involved before i start thinking about it seriously.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:43 pm

level the frets.
its a vintage fender right?
you are going to hate life.
have you ever re-fretted before,
do you know the fender shot the frets into the side of te neck rather than the top?
if you try to re-fret it(and its your first time)
you are looking at the hardest refret job ever(if it had binding i guess it would be harder)
but level the frets first.
but if thats not an option, take it to a pro.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:19 pm

robert(original) wrote:level the frets.
its a vintage fender right?
you are going to hate life.
have you ever re-fretted before,
do you know the fender shot the frets into the side of te neck rather than the top?
if you try to re-fret it(and its your first time)
you are looking at the hardest refret job ever(if it had binding i guess it would be harder)
but level the frets first.
but if thats not an option, take it to a pro.

i think the first few frets are a bit too low to level them...

yes it's vintage (hence my fear of royally fucking it up), and no i've never refretted before. my friend's dad repairs guitars and has refretted loads but never a maple one, he says.

hmm. a professional it is, then!

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:25 pm

they may not be too low, i mean really, they are only too low if they are 1/32 of an inch over the board and even then if it still frets and makes a clear note then its fine.
maple boards are kinda testy anyway but when you factor in the shot in frets from the side then its a whole new ballgame.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:41 pm

robert(original) wrote:they may not be too low, i mean really, they are only too low if they are 1/32 of an inch over the board and even then if it still frets and makes a clear note then its fine.
maple boards are kinda testy anyway but when you factor in the shot in frets from the side then its a whole new ballgame.

i see. it makes a clear note when it's plugged in, just a bit woolly when it isn't. i'm having a play about with it now and it's mainly the second fret.

maybe i'm just being a bit over zealous about it, if it's as much of a headache to change as you say i might just leave it for now. thanks for the advice, you've probably saved me a lot of hassle!

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:35 pm

Don't do shit to it. Those are mojo worn frets. If it plays notes fine when plugged in, then why fix it, if it ain't broke?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 11:04 pm

More Cowbell wrote:Don't do shit to it. Those are mojo worn frets. If it plays notes fine when plugged in, then why fix it, if it ain't broke?

it was just something that was niggling at me, when i'm sitting around the house i tend to just strum away unplugged and it gets on my tits a little bit.

but yes, i'll leave it as it is!

holyCATS1415 · Post by **holyCATS1415** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:08 am

fender only did weird side loading frets for a while, you can find detailed lists by year on google,
re fretting a maple neck isn't any different from a rosewood. you just have to be slightly more careful
not to take any chips out with the fret, maple is a lot less forgiving than rosewood when it comes to
hiding mistakes. if the frets are side loaded, you can just tap them out.

However, in most situations the guitar just needs a fret dress. which is a lot less time consuming.

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:40 am

stewart wrote:
More Cowbell wrote:Don't do shit to it. Those are mojo worn frets. If it plays notes fine when plugged in, then why fix it, if it ain't broke?
it was just something that was niggling at me, when i'm sitting around the house i tend to just strum away unplugged and it gets on my tits a little bit.

but yes, i'll leave it as it is!

awesome. I've seen a few "behind the scenes" music vids and documentarys where a famous guitarist will say something like "I love finding old guitars that have those worn frets in all the right places."

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:45 am

i always thought it was weird that frets wore really badley at the "cowboy" chord positions, but i guess it makes sense, you know, the g and b string from the 1st-third fret usually seem the most worn.

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:34 pm

My friend has an american Tele, and has owned it a year now and the 3rd fret at the low E string is worn so bad from him playing G chords that it makes the note go out of tune.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:21 pm

damn, thats intense!