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Thread: Maple neck refret

  1. #1
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Maple neck refret

    Well,
    I got up the courage to try it on my '73 tele. The frets were just plain worn down and I could never really play this thing without a fight.

    Started with an exacto, I sliced the finish along the fret edges, then heated the frets with my soldering gun and pulled 'em with an end snip. That was kinda tough. I did a few each of the last few evenings in front of the tube with my wife. Tonight I printed a 9 1/2" radius on a piece of paper and hand bent the fret wire a bit less than that as I like to have more radius to force the ends down.

    "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" was on the tube. I cut the frets about 1/8" oversize by hand using a regular needle nose plier. Put some tape on the end of a general purpose household hammer to pound the frets in. I eyeballed them by porchlight as my wife was upset by all the racket and made me go outside so I wouldn't wake the baby.

    I used a big ol' bastard file to take the extra frets ends off, and filed them smooth 'til I was just barely cutting into the finish on the edge of the board.

    The original nut was still in the guitar and it was a bit tall. I left high knowing I would refret this guitar. I did this whole job without removing it. Heck, it's been in there for years. Why ruin a good joint?

    I put the neck back on and it's strung up. I haven't leveled the frets yet and it's pretty damn good as-is. Not too many fret-outs and the frets, being factory finished are smooth as hell. I may level it with that hammer--one fret at a time!

  2. #2
    Forum Member Gris's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    How much did it cost/you save? How many had you done before? Pretty brave doing a vintage guitar, but then who better to trust...

  3. #3
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    I paid about 5 bucks for the fretwire. I've never done a mple board before. I don't remember the number of the fretwire, and I don't have a micrometer, so I don't even know what size it is. I bought by asking my parts guy for some wire that was a little bigger than factory Fender wire.
    I fits just into the slot left over by the cuts in the finish. The seams are invisible, though I'll likely add finish to fillet the edges like factory.

  4. #4
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    So, I spent some more time working this guitar last night. I cooled the neck to make the frets stick out and I shortened them some more with that bastard file. I then took a small needle file and rounded the corners.
    After playing all the notes and eyeballing the fret heights with the hammer, I got that bastard file in hand and did a quick level. I followed that with may home made fret finishing file. (triangle file that I ground the corners off so I can crown frets and not cut the fretboard.

    Plays real good with no issues other than the board is a bit more than straight. I may add a C-hair of relief.

  5. #5
    Forum Member Gris's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    pic?

  6. #6
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    Here's the guitar, before and after I reworked everything but the frets.


  7. #7
    Forum Member Gris's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    suhweet... :-)

  8. #8
    Forum Member ziess's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    That is a very nice guitar.

  9. #9
    Forum Member Gris's Avatar
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    Re: Maple neck refret

    The finish looks similar to this one I made a year or so ago. I took some finish off and lightened it up so that it looked very much like yours. Went with a white/black/white guard and WRHB in neck in the end...[IMG][/IMG]

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