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I have a standard SG and I think it could use some work on the frets, but I don't know anything about that sort of thing.I have had this guitar for about two years, the action is great, no buzzing. Chords feel fine, but when I'm soloing it's hard to play faster because the frets seem like they are kind of high.I'm going to bring this guitar in to a pro to work on, but what should I tell him?

Tell him what you just posted here. IF he crowns the frets it will take some height off the frets and this will make it feel better for you. Just make sure you take it to a reputable repair facility. The last thing you would want is to have someone mess up your guitar.

I got an entire fret job on my Les Paul a couple of months ago from this guy in Berlin, MA...

from : localhost/a full-fledged luthier, builds violins, banjos, guitars from scratch. Sounds like you just need a fret dress. Tell him Jay with the lefty Les Paul sent you.

Good luck!

Tell him exactly what you said on here. I am personally a full time luthier and that should be good info to tell him. A good fret level, crowning, and polishing should do the trick. If you are interested, I would be more than happy to do this for you also! PM me if interested.

Thanks for the replies...I'm going to take it to a local shop this week.

About how much does this kind of work cost?

Be careful before you ask to have the frets lowered, this may not be the problem.

Gibsons have high frets; about 1.4mm, but this is good because it allows you to get a low action. high frets means that the strings ground on the frets before your finger grounds on the board, leaving you plenty of leverage for bending and allowing you to use heavier strings for a lower action.

That said, all Gibsons need a fret dress because, even new, the frets are usually irregular especially around the 3rd to 5th position where it is critical but this shouldn't involve taking off any more material than is necessary.

The problem is that if a guitar is out of adjustment - e.g. too much relief in the neck leading to too high an action - then it can feel very stiff to play.

Gibson nuts are usually cut way too high as well. Get the nut down to the minimum height (with the string stopped between the second and first frets you should only have a gap of around the thickness of a cigarette paper between the string and the first fret) get the frets dressed so that the neck can be straightened up to about .010quot; fall at the 7th fret then fit the heaviest gauge you can cope with to get the action down as low as possible. Make sure the guy who does this crowns the frets properly as i've seen a lot of Gibsons with flat top frets and they feel horrible. You really won't notice the height on the frets if it's set up properly but it will feel beautiful...

Oh, and it will cost as much as it costs. Over here, about £50. That's about $87. but then Gas, Chocolate and Airbrushes all cost more over here, but I reckonif you pay less than about 70 bucks the guy ain't doin' it right...