Refret or new neck?

[Herec]

I've got this guitar which is basically my blood and soul. First electric I owned, bought it with my own money.

2000 Mexican Strat. Upgraded pickups, Callaham tuners/bridge/tremolo setup. Neck feels like home, because it was the only guitar I played for so long.

NOW, the frets have considerable wear. The neck itself is very resonant, the finish is very thin (the body not so much haha).

I know of one guy who will refret the neck for $250. I'm pretty sure he'll charge an additional 60 bucks for the setup afterwards, and $310 is pretty close to the price of a new neck from USACG or Warmoth, and I could probably find something nice on the 'bay for that too.

So, am I getting reamed with this $250 quote? Or is that reasonable, and probably a better choice to get an aftermarket neck since the guitar isn't close to "stock"?

[Structo]

Is it a maple or rosewood fretboard?

[Herec]

Is it a maple or rosewood fretboard?

Maple

[vibratoking]

$250 is cheap for a good refret IMO. Probably too cheap. I am talking about a GOOD refret. I have learned that it is not wise to skimp on a fret job. I had one bad refret many years ago and it is not an experience that I would ever want to repeat or wish on someone else. It is hard to find the right guy that is meticulous and a perfectionist. That's what you need in order to get a good refret. I always ask to play on examples of the work and really talk through it thoroughly before ever comitting to a refret.

My last refret on a maple neck Strat was around $400. It was done very well by a local guy. On the last guitar that needed a refret I bought a new Jeff Beck neck on ebay for cheap. There used to be a guy disassembling new strats and selling the parts. He normally puts them up with a reserve that is too high, but every now and then he will put them up as a true auction. I waited for quite a while before finally buying the new JB neck at auction for $325.

[passfan]

Check with your guy and see if the setup is included. You can't do a refret without a setup.

[Reeltarded]

Shit has gotten too expensive, huh?

I do fret jobs (Yeah, really good ones) for $15 per fret (unbound) so it's in the same park.. the only time a job would approach $400 on a maple neck would be something wrong with the radius, or add a new nut.

Setups come with a fret job, or a new nut, or a dressing/polish/crowning.. or anything else that changes the playing surfaces.

If I didn't love that neck, I'd have a new neck in about a heartbeat.

[9pins]

I've seen necks that were re-fretted so many times that they had to get a new player.

If you love it, hang on to it.

[Phil_S]

Tell us where you are located. Maybe someone here will give you a referral. If you intend to invest that much in a MIM strat, you should at least feel good about who's doing the work.

[Buschman]

Allparts has great neck imho. I have one on a Tele and one on a homebrew strat. You will still need a setup. I do fret work but don't really have time to. If I could charge $400 I would have to find the time to. You could try it yourself. We all had to start somewhere.

[sonicmojo]

I'm not offering but I've done 1 refret on my 1995 American Strat. Frets, $6. Basic tools from Stewmac, about $150. The lost 24 hours or so of my life, priceless! In my case it was maple and the edges had worn through in places so I totally sanded the old finish off the fretboard and refinished it, just the board not the back, and it actually turned out pretty well. I imagine that kind of job would be even more than $400 (or the price of a very nice, brand new neck). But....I'll probably NEVER do it again.

[rdjones]

Tell us where you are located.
Put it in your profile so we don't have to ask.

If you intend to invest that much in a MIM strat, you should at least feel good about who's doing the work.

A concern with most '70s and later Fender guitars is that the serial number is on the headstock.
So you get into the "My Daddy's Ax" quagmire.

Grind 'em down a bit and polish if they're not too far gone.
I see a lot of guitars for sale with "fresh refret" that makes me think if it's not a good enough job many people would rather just look for the new Ax.
I try to rotate out guitars to split up the wear.

reddog

[dreric]

I've got this guitar which is basically my blood and soul. First electric I owned, bought it with my own money.

If I felt that strongly about the guitar, I'd keep the neck and get a re-fret.

I've gotten about six new warmoth necks for custom builds (before i figured out how to make a neck) and they all needed dressing.

For a few vintage pieces I had Gary Brawer in SF re-fret and plek the necks. It's amazing what a difference a skilled luthier can make, I wouldn't skimp.

Eric

[Structo]

What did you think of the Plek job?

[dreric]

What did you think of the Plek job?

Gary Brawer is a friend and I think he he was the first in CA to offer pleks. He had to talk me into it, now he's done about 8 guitars for me. The fret work is very good, you just stop noticing the frets. The dead spots, buzzing are gone. He did one strat neck a 61' (that I got in a garage sale!), it had a back bow and a twist. He heated, clamped, re-fretted and pleked, turning it into my favorite guitar. I don't think he could have saved that neck without the plek.

However, at the same time he's done set-ups for me and I think it's the combo that makes the guitars come to life.

Not to spam but: http://brawer.com/

Eric

[Reeltarded]

I have an opinion on plek, and that's not it. It depends on if the frets are touched by a human afterwards.

Rarely.

Plek straight out of Gibson is horrible. A leveled playing surface is a must, but they still need profile/crown/polish.

I have been doing fret jobs for 30 years. Plek is a solution looking for a problem, and in the worst situations it takes half the fret life out of a fret to make it easy to level. A good set of hands and eyes are better.

There is one case where I think it makes a little sense, bar frets.. and ouch.