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Fender Strat: Refret

Related Topics: | Refret | Set Up | New Nut |

1. This Stratocaster's Neck is distorted and the frets are shot. Refretting this guitar will allow me to resurface the fretboard and replace the old frets with fresh ones.	2. Low Frets detract from the feel of a guitar, they also require more energy from the fretting hand during play than a fresh set of frets do.
3. Removing the Frets with flush ground end-nippers and a modified soldering gun.  The solder- ing gun heats the frets up which allows me to extract the frets without damaging the fretboard.  The bevel of the jaws pulls the fret upwards while the face of the jaws keep the downward pressure necessary on the fretboard to prevent chipping.	4. Resurfacing the Fretboard will eliminate the distortion in the neck and the ware in the rosewood.  I'm using the shop's Erlewine neck jig to simulate string tension as I sand the fretboard with self-adhesive sand- paper on a flat sanding bar.
5. Pre-Bending Fretwire makes the wire easier to install.  A block of wood with 24 small holes drilled into it keeps the fretwire organized.	6. Beveling the Fret Slots will prevent the fretboard from chip- ping during fret installation.  This will also prevent chipping should this guitar ever undergo another refret.
7. Installing New Frets with a small, brass mallet while the neck rests over a sandbag quickly seats and secures the new frets.  I've pre-bent the wire to a slightly tighter radius than the 9 1/2" radius of this guitar's fretboard. After all of the frets are installed, I'll glue them down with cyano-acrilate to both keep them securely in place (should the guitar ever dry out and the fret- board shrink) as well as keep the tone consistent from fret to fret.	8. Beveling the Fret Ends. I roughed in the bevel of the fret ends and filed them flush to the side of the fretboard with a modified mill file.  I'm making the final adjustments to the bevel with a flat sanding bar with 320 grit self- adhesive sandpaper.
9. Dressing the Fret Ends with a fine grit crowning file will softly round the fret ends so they feel comfortable to the touch.	10. Leveling the New Frets with 320 grit sandpaper and the neck jig only takes a couple of minutes.
11. Polishing the New Frets Since I resurfaced the fretboard before installing the new frets I only sanded away a minimal amount of material during the leveling process. Consequently, there is no need to recrown the frets.  I've begun the polishing process with 1000 grit sandpaper and will move up through 9 stages to 12,000 grit before final polishing on the buffing wheel.	12. A New Nut needs to be fabricated in order to accommodate the new frets.  The synthetic string- nuts that most stratocasters come equiped with these days don't do the tone or sustain any favors so I'm making the new nut from bone.
13. A Bone Nut will not only improve the tone and sustain of this strat but it has the added advantage of a ware-resistance greater than the majority of the popular synthetic materials being used to fabricate nuts these days.	14. New Frets have really improved the tone and playability of this guitar.  A guitar with fresh frets not only feels better to play but requires less energy from the musician for fretting.
15. Fret Ends are kind to the hands when they've been properly dressed and polished.	16. A Refretted Strat