- The most common reason for a re-fret is where fret wear has got to the point where the frets are too low or worn for a fret dress to return the guitar to a comfortable playing feel. Very low frets make string bending much more difficult.
- Sometimes a player wants different frets on their guitar to match their playing style. Rock players often like high and wide frets to make modern playing styles easier. When you bring your guitar in for a re-fret we can decide on what kind of fretwire will suit. I have guitars with a range of fretwire available for you to try. If you play a guitar in a shop and like the frets then tell me the make and model and I can match the fretwire.
- Some guitars have a rather small radius on the finger board. Early Fenders often had 7.5 inch radius fingerboards - this makes playing bar chords easier but chokes out when bending strings with even a medium action. These days a 12 inch or flatter radius is common. There are two ways of changing the neck radius.
- Firstly by removing the existing frets and re-shaping the neck to the required radius before re-fretting.
- Secondly, by fret levelling in such a way that the higher frets are filed in the middle giving a flatter profile. Often a player will not want to change the actual radius of their vintage instrument so a re-fret with high frets allows an adjustment of the neck radius by fret filing.
|