Hi Guys!

It turns out that a month ago ( approximately) . Guitar fell on its front, and the guitar strings pierced two frets. So every time I play on that fret the string gets stuck.
I have a set of frets that I bought about 8 years ago to change the whole guitar and I never use it. So I was thinking of changing at least those two frets myself.

Have you ever changed any or several frets on the guitar? Do you think it's dangerous?

I would like to discard for the moment the option of taking the guitar to a luthier because of economical problems.

 

I don't know how much technical talent you have, but of course you can do it yourself. If it goes wrong, you buy a new guitar.
Here is a video with instructions for changing. Watch the video if you are confident enough to do the work.

How to refret a Guitar

 

You just buy a new neck.

 

Depends on your fretboard material, binding, the tools you have and the quality of tools you have, acoustic vs electric - setneck vs bolt-on.

just form a constructions point from easiest to hardest: fretboard - rosewood, ebon, maple -> bolt-on electric, set-neck electric, acoustic, then repeat in same order with biding.

It's not technically hard. but you have to be patient and have good fret pullers that are sharp and well ground as well as good nippers, jig files, radiused blocks, crowning files, etc...

Also if you are going to pull frets might as well pull all of them and use new type fret materials like evoGold or SS.

I've done it a few times on mandolin, a banjo, an older telecaster and acoustic Yamaha. In all cases it turned out well with minimal chip out.

The first time with the mandolin I had to buy about 550 dollars worth of tools and with all those instruments if I had had messed them up I wasn't going to cry over them.

If you are not doing it for fun or because you like to mess with things out of curiosity it's going to be cheaper to just pay a luthier to do it for you.

 

guitar tech here! changing frets can be a pretty involved process. a typical refret usually consists of the following:

- prepping the board
- pulling the frets
- dressing the slots
- pressing in the new frets
- snipping the fret ends
- leveling the frets
- recrowning the frets
- dressing the fret ends
- polishing the frets

the requisite tools and files can be fairly expensive and usually wind up costing more than a single refret (or a new neck), so i typically recommend bringing the instrument to a professional or getting a replacement neck if you're only planning on using the tools once or twice. it's sometimes possible to replace a single fret or two, but it can be a little tricky, especially without the proper equipment / experience

if the gouges aren't too far beyond normal playwear depth, it might be possible for you to spot level the frets to help smooth them out again without having to remove them. could be worth a try first if all of your other solutions prove to be expensive ones

 

I don't have those tools, and the ones I have are no good.
So I will have to wait, and take it to a luthier or buy a new fretboard (the one I have doesn't tune the guitar).

 

Sorry to hear about that, Ryck. About 18 years ago my brother in law's wonderful Labrador Retriever knocked a fairly rare and fairly valuable Roy Noble acoustic guitar to the ground from where it was leaning on a couch and the result was that the neck broke where the neck meets the headstock. The world literally turned black to my vision for about 30 seconds when I saw the sad result. It was fixed immaculately by a local luthier and plays now just as sweetly as the day it was gifted to me by a patron of my work. It'll be as good as new for you in no time as soon as you find the cash to fix those frets. It'll probably will cost about 125 bucks.

I'd contribute a few bucks if you put out a go fund me.

 

Thank you very much for your words and your nice gesture. But I have something here in storage and I will use it to fix it. Seriously thank you for your kind heart

 

Re-fretting is among the most difficult fixes on guitar and is almost always done by a professional luthier. If it's not an expensive or important guitar you can try to do it, but if the damage is quite shallow you might get away with just reshaping the frets (something that is very doable for an amateur).

 

Yeah, I wouldn't even consider trying that myself, even if I had the tools. It would be like George Michael asking Andrew Ridgely to take a solo.

 

Strings can't go through frets so you probably have dings in those two frets. Depending on the size of your frets, just have the frets recrowned and dressed on the whole guitar. A lot cheaper than a refret. If your really tight on money, I understand. Maybe a local luthier will just buff out the dings on those two frets for you. Don't try and refret it yourself!

 

Is it worth buying famous brand necks?

 

yes. I destroyed a Fender neck thinking I could change the frets. In the end I bought a Stew Mac neck for around 100 bucks. Better than the fender neck. still my favorite neck to this day.

 

Refretting is one of the guitar maintenence tasks with the highest skill requirement to do it well.

Also, the chances of you being able to lift frets out of the neck and get the new ones in without causing more damage are verrrrry slim, even if you spend the money to get the right tools.

When you say you bought a set of frets - as in a pre-cut set? I personally would be a bit sceptical about using them, unless you had someone cut them specifically for your guitar.

(Good) fret wire doesn't come pre-cut - a tech buys it in a coil that's about 5 feet long, radiuses it to the guitar, and then cuts each fret to length individually.
You then need to dress the fret ends (ie profile/bevel them properly, and smooth them off so you don't slice your fingers on the sharp cut fret ends. And you need to do this with the fret in the neck, without damaging the wood/finish on the neck).

If your fingerboard is bound, given you have zero experience, the chances of you fucking the binding while removing the fret are huge. If your board is maple, you'll be very likely to pull at least one chunk of laquer off it.

I don't think you mentioned what kind of guitar this is? If it has any significant monetary or sentimental value to you, then please don't attempt to do this yourself!

I'm all for people tinkering and learning about how to work on their instruments - I do most of the general setup/maintenence/wiring/etc work on all my guitars myself, but I would personally never attempt a refret - I have an excellent tech who I trust with jobs like that (and usually also send all my guitars in to once a year for a really good service).

I know it may seem a bit pricey, but finding and building a relationship with a really good tech is absolutely, 100% worth it. I've been with my guy for years, he knows exactly what I need/want out of all my guitars, and has the skills and experience to be able to make whatever I ask for happen.

If you're talking about an electric guitar, then technically a new neck might be an option, but that'll actually be more costly than getting a refret if you want an actually half-decent neck. As an example, a refret on my #1 strat would cost me about £250-300. A like-for-like replacement neck is £600.

If you're only getting a couple of frets replaced, it should cost you at most about £80, and that should hopefully include a quick setup too.

Please try to save the money up, get some recommendations from local guitar folks, and take it to a tech with a good reputation.

@julianbre is right - if you can get talking to a good tech in the area, unless you've *really* fucked those frets up, they should most likely be able to recrown them, and it's perfectly reasonable to explain to them that you're really skint atm, and ask them to literally just focus on those two frets for now, just to get the guitar playable again. They'll understand - we've all been there!

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2022

It's not really about "famous" it's about what feels right for you and the guitar.

There's a couple of specific Fender necks that I would always use as replacements, because they work with the strats I have (which are 50's reissues and both genuine & reissue 70's).

They are quite pricey (£600+) as they're hand-shaped, American-made models. But I know they suit pretty much any Strat I own, and they're consistent, reliable, and feel awesome, which is what you're paying for. So in that sense yeah, they're definitely worth it.

Having said that, I've swapped out a couple of USA Fender necks for Squier ones in the past, because those specific, £150 Squier necks felt incredible on those particular guitars.
I'm sure some people looked at me playing those necks on stage (and one was on a genuine mid-70's Strat worth like £2.5k) and probably thought "Urgh, look at that cheap, shite guitar - but who gives a shit?

You kinda just have to know what you want/like, and then be open to trying stuff out - no rules in rock n roll right?

 

It's not dangerous, but I would get somebody who knows what they are doing to have a look at it. There are plenty of skilled luthiers about who undertake all sorts of repairs, and I always have my guitars setup properly whether they are new or used, even if I have to go without food! It's worth it, and even cheap guitars can sound great when touched by the right hands.

 

brb tearing my LP neck apart

 

Nibs or no nibs?

 

Every city in every country in the world has guitar luthiers. Unless you are 99% sure you can do it without damaging the neck and board permanently, take it to a luthier.
If it is a really good instrument, you should look at it like a really good car. It needs maintenance every so often.

Pick up the phone (or email) one and get a quote. If it is a good instrument, the fret job is worth every penny. A full fret job generally will cost you about as much as a full service on your car will
You can also specify action and other minute things you may have wanted to do but never got around to while he/she is doing it, likely at no charge due to it being part of the process.

 

the best practices is to always change strings and you need to clean out the fret wire and fingerboard often, but if you have no re fret there's no problem so far with all my guitars that are re fretted. Just make sure you went to the right Luthier instead of guitar tech.