
GUITAR REFRETS
The guitar refret is the one part of the guitar repair that any luthier will tell you IS NOT WORTH TRYING TO SAVE MONEY ON THIS REPAIR!
Now that we have that out of the way, lets look at what we are on about, and dive into the stuff you may not realise.
Guitar Repair Economics
Refretting a guitar is not an attractive proposition to most guitar shops. Economics plays a large part in this, as most guitar repairers are single person outfits. In the time it takes to refret a guitar, it is possible to have done setup work on anywhere from 8-15 guitars. Consider that an average guitar setup can cost anything from £50-£100. So a repairer is more likely to want to earn £400-£1500 than the £280-£350 a guitar refret can cost.
Guitar Refret - The Work
Guitar refretting is a time consuming job. Consider that it takes 4 minutes to clamp a fret in with glue, and over the course of a 22-fret guitar, you are now waiting 88 minutes for glue to dry. There are many factors that can go wrong in a guitar refretting job - is the neck straight, has the fret go in correctly - the list is endless.
At Ackworth Guitar Setups, Nick Hartley does our in house fret work. Over the years, he has become a specialist in all aspects of fret work, including fret crowning, fret levelling, bevelling and fanned frets.
Nick likes these longer jobs, preferring to allow his team mates to focus on set up work and guitar electronics. Nick also specialises in more exotic fret choices such as stainless steel fret replacment, or Jescar Evo Gold frets.
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Both our Leeds and Manchester workshops can sort out your guitar refret or guitar fret levelling needs.
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Prices start at £260 for a full refret.
