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[Scott!]

I was wondering about how much it would cost to get a new nut cut and a refret for my old Telecaster clone. It's going to become a project guitar and I'm wondering if I should attempt a refret myself or if I should just get somebody with know-how to do it.

Cheers
Scott

[Tav]

Full re-fret on a guitar neck with no binding...off the top of my head it''d be near £100 I think...

[Scott!]

It may have to be a DIYer then. Any idea about the nut?

Originally Posted by Scott!

It may have to be a DIYer then. Any idea about the nut?

after trying this myself, i found it extremely difficult to
A)remove the frets without marking the fingerboard
B)insert the new frets fully

After some investigation i found some tools for inserting the frets properly, they cost about £100

the time/effort it takes to do this kind of job is very deceptive. I also knew it'd be a lot of hard work, and i've now had a half re-fretted guitar neck in my cupboard for about 6 months.

A re nut, with a lot of care, is a much easier diy job.

[Chewbacca]

ooo re-fretting aye,well i wouldnt attempt this if you have no experience unless you are an extremely lucky person,i would look about for someone that does it but its entirely up to you.

[Knight of Swords]

Yup I'd also warn against refretting the guitar if you don't know how to do it.

Getting a new nut isn't a problem. There's a company called Stewart MacDonald (I think) who sell lots of bits and pieces for guitars (you could also get fretwire from them if you wanted). It's a big warehouse and I'm sure you can mail order from the internet, if you can find their web address. The main thing you need to find out is what nut would best suit your gutiar/ tone you're looking for. I know there are different materials that nuts are made from and I don't know much about the differences in terms of sound.

In general, if you're wanted to try guitar building, there's a lot of material to get through about all that kind of stuff, but once you can do it and know anything from different wood grains to the best string saddles for a Les Paul, it's an invaluable skill.

[Scott!]

I'm going into town this weekend and I'm going to get a quote from the shops. I'm not terribly concerned about marking the fretboard or even screwing it up, because I got the guitar for free and in its current state it's virtually unplayable.

[ThE bAsS MeKaNiK]

speak ti neil scollay from eric euan. thats what he does and hes pretty good at it (set ups, refrets, etc).

Originally Posted by Scott!

I'm going into town this weekend and I'm going to get a quote from the shops. I'm not terribly concerned about marking the fretboard or even screwing it up, because I got the guitar for free and in its current state it's virtually unplayable.

if you manage to jam the frets in tell me how you did it. Without a proper neck holder/fret pusher i think it's pretty impossible to get them in, i hammered on them for days.

[sonhenry]

you can get them in by hammering, the trick is to curve the wire first to curve of your fretboard and THEN pound the wire in. I usuall anchor the ends first before the middle of the fret. I dont pound right on the fret itself either, I use a block of wood so I don't mark the fret. Oh, I also glue mine in using hide glue as well, because it keeps the frets down and I can always get them out by heating the fret with a soldering iron to melt the glue.

One you get them in and they're more or less seated evenly your done. Now the trick is to get the files out and get the frets all to the same level- and THAT is the most important step, because all fret jobs, no matter how carefully done, *suck* until you get the frets level and re-do the crown on the top.

If you've got a beater, I'd avoid gluing them in at first, but plan on fretting and leveling that neck around 10 times. By about the tenth time you may actually be getting a usable result. And I don't mean that as a slam, fretting is a real art that takes time to learn to do really well.

You'll also need special tools to do thie right. They've got great videos and books, as well as a complete collection of tools at www.stewmac.com