My first homemade refret

[steve506]

Hello fellow economy-pickers,

Just wanted to share some pics of my first refret job ever, thanks to a kind donor of a Schecter 006.

The fretboard was uneven, so it required some leveling of the wood with a radiused block, and it was a fascinating and educational experience. Of course, mistakes happened and I gotta work on my finishing game, although, in the end, the guitar plays like butter and I appreciate that perfectly did not get in the way of fun.

About the tools I used, the only professional-grade ones are my fret dressing file and a stewmac japanese saw. Other than that, they were all cheaper tools I got from ebay.

I learned from Ted Woodford on Youtube that installing the frets starting from both ends until you reach the 12th position helps keep the neck straight and it seems like it worked in my case.

Also, I learned from another luthier on YouTube that using titebond for the frets, even though it will not “stick” to the metal, it helps getting a tighter fit by simply letting the fluid fill any gaps between the wood and the fret tangs. I support that idea.

![IMG_3359|666x500]
(upload://5m05YgTwfOSqRM87dIYdIbBluFy.jpeg)

Also, I took up the challenge of creating my own bone nut out of a blank, based on a Thomann tutorial on Youtube. It makes me really proud that the guitar stays in tune really well, the nut height feels comfortable, and there is no buzz.

Finally, I had intended to hot-rod the guitar with new electronics and stuff, but after playing it for a while, I think it might be unnecessary because the tone I’m getting makes me happy and don’t think upgraded electronics are gonna make it sound a lot better. I can even roll the volume down to get the overpriced-old-guitar-at-the-edge-of-breakup thing very naturally.

Moreover, the guitar responded really well to the setup I usually prefer and there is no fret buzz whatsoever. I have the action at 1.5mm at the 12th fret just out of taste because I simply can’t bend at the 1mm height I initially set it up, although it was a good sign that the guitar still played fantastic at such low action.

Finally, here’s a quick test I recorded with my phone. I have the guitar tuned to C# standard to see if I can be
Iike the cool kids and their seven-stringers.

Schecter refret test

[Troy]

Nice work! 4/64ths is the standard for me. I don’t need sheet-of-paper low action – at that point the tone suffers.

Refret is one of those jobs I always wanted to learn because it’s the one point of failure where you really depend on pricy and overbooked outside help. At least in NYC.

[eric_divers]

Yeah, refrets are really pricy here too (Boston area). Only one really good place to have them done.
On the other hand, it looks like I might be taking my guitars to @steve506 for some work in the future

I agree on super-low action: I pick pretty aggressively (Not on purpose! Just what feels good) and really low action just doesn’t sound good at all to me.

Steve, I gotta have you teach me some of those licks toward the end of the video, they’re savage.

[Drew]

@eric_divers

Yeah, refrets are really pricy here too (Boston area). Only one really good place to have them done.

Where’s your spot, if you don’t mind my asking? I’d been a long time Mouradian customer, but the fret dressing was a little rough when I had my Strat done a few years back, in part because Jim had passed away after I’d dropped it off and what was a six month backlog blew out to two years as his son kept the business going. I’d probably still go to them for most work outside of my skillset, but I ended up dressing my Strat myself and felt confident enough doing it that I’m considering taking a crack at refretting my other Strat myself, just to get proper jumbos on that as wlel.

To the OP - what equiptment do you think is necessary to do this, and what did you find helpful or wish you knew before starting this? I think you can buy pre-cut (but still needing to be trimmed) and at least partially pre-radiused frets from Stewmac, but I don’t know how easy it would be to hammer them in to fit a multiradius neck, and if I might need to buy a fret bending jig anyway here. I should probably start on something cheap, but you also seem to have done a really good job on this for your first go at it too, so who knows. Thanks!