• From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2008-10-26
  • Posts: 2,926

Topic: Whats a decent deal on Fret Leveling and Crowning?

I've played for around 10 years now and none of my guitars have had any fret work done to them because I usually work on my own guitars.  I'd love to tackel this but didn't like the prices of the tools to do this myself.  It might pay off later but its a lot to learn and a lot of money up front for tools.  I'd much rather pay someone who knows how to do this thats qualified to mess up my stuff so I can make him fix it if it isn't right.  Does anyone have a price range for this job?

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  • Registered: 2007-09-30
  • Posts: 556

Re: Whats a decent deal on Fret Leveling and Crowning?

Around $130 give or take.

Ben

  • From: Earth
  • Registered: 2008-10-24
  • Posts: 33

Re: Whats a decent deal on Fret Leveling and Crowning?

Fret dressing and leveling from me is $140.00 but you would have to pay shipping both ways. Not really an economical choice, but if you want your guitar done correctly, it is something to think about. I do them every week and they are very tedious. but once they are done correctly you can pick up and play the guitar and really tell the difference. Unless your frets are fretting out or buzzing, or the edges are extremely sharp I suggest letting it ride the way it is. But if any of the above concerns you, you may call me at 386-852-1875 and I would be glad to walk you through doing it yourself over the phone. Sincerely, Big B

4 Reply by NPB_EST.1979 (edited by NPB_EST.1979 2009-01-19 08:48:56)

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: Whats a decent deal on Fret Leveling and Crowning?

WHOH!

I get get a refret for $140
Fret dress for me is usually around $50. And that's if the guitar is all setup already and needs no adjusting.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool
  • Registered: 2008-11-01
  • Posts: 103

Re: Whats a decent deal on Fret Leveling and Crowning?

140 for a refret? Whoa, that's a rediculously low price. If this guy is good you should consider yourself very lucky. I do fret dressing for about 100-120 but it's very time consuming so I'd say 100-140 is fair for a good job.
When I want a complete refret done I take it to a friend who does phenominal refretting for around 300-325. He's an amazing luthier and has a real gift for it. We're in Canada but he has a number of well known players in the US ship their guitars to him for refretting.
In the far past I've had refrets done for less but they were cowboy refrets(felt like they were done while riding a horse).

Fret dressing involves taping everything off, levelling the frets, then re-crowning and polishing and it can be a royal pain in the a.. depending on the instrument.
Again, I think 140 is very reasonable for a good job.

6 Reply by NPB_EST.1979 (edited by NPB_EST.1979 2009-01-19 13:19:48)

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: Whats a decent deal on Fret Leveling and Crowning?

I should agree. It is a guy I've been going to for 20 years. Getting a new nut is more expensive than a fret dress... so his prices are a little different than most. The refret he did on my '79 Explorer is simply amazing.

Slidewinder wrote:

When I want a complete refret done I take it to a friend who does phenominal refretting for around 300-325.

For Gibson guitars, I can totally see that... but for a bolt on neck? You can go on eBay and just replace the whole neck for $325 instead of doing a refret! That's how Leo Fender viewed "neck maintenance" anyways... just replace it.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool
  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2008-10-26
  • Posts: 2,926

Re: Whats a decent deal on Fret Leveling and Crowning?

Ah cool deal!  $140 for one guitar is more then resonable.  The Crowning tools alone were anywhere from $40 to $100 on WWW.STEWMAC.COM  Thanks everybody!

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