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My frets are wearing fast on my strat because of lots of playing time. I think this is also taking a toll on my intonation as some frets have little to no wear compared to others.

How much would a good stainless steel fret job go for on a maple neck?

I´d say about 50-100 bucks more than the going rate for a standard fretjob in your area (fretwork prices vary widely across the country... I´ve heard of 150$ pro refrets and also 600$ quot;guruquot; refrets)

damn that's expensive!!!

Why do we have to pay such a steep price just for playing our axes too often??

How much is a good leveling and re-crowning?

Reread my post please... that´s 100% dependent on where you are exactly.

And as far as expensive: How often do you have your guitar refretted? most have them DRESSED every 5-10 years, and refretted every 20 or so.

And if you consider even the low range expensive, than ask yourself this: how much would you be willing to do 10 hours of highly qualified manual labor for? Not Mc Donalds or Wallies or such, but something you have to spend years learning first, and in those years you were essentially starving 24/7/52

I had my Gibson SG refretted about a couple of years ago and then my Fender Strat refretted last year. The SG was $120 and the Strat was $140 with new strings and intonation included. The tech did a very job on both of my guitars. I asked him if I could have stainless steel frets because of the same reasons you have and he told me that stainless steel frets are only available to OEMs. It is not available in the aftermarket. I don't know how true that was, but I was unsuccessful in getting any stainless steel frets by my self.


Originally Posted by AmateurI had my Gibson SG refretted about a couple of years ago and then my Fender Strat refretted last year. The SG was $120 and the Strat was $140 with new strings and intonation included. The tech did a very job on both of my guitars. I asked him if I could have stainless steel frets because of the same reasons you have and he told me that stainless steel frets are only available to OEMs. It is not available in the aftermarket. I don't know how true that was, but I was unsuccessful in getting any stainless steel frets by my self.

I'm fairly sure there are people that will do refrets w/ stainless, but it's more expensive because stainless steel requires diamond files, etc, and can eat up a set of fretting tools in one useage.

When you do refretting can you go from vintage to something larger like jumbo frets?

yes... since you´re pulling them all anyway, you can replace them with a quot;preferredquot; size... Some people actually go so far as to refret every axe they buy with their favorite wire practically before even changing strings... this I wouldn´t recommend, though, unless you know exactly what you want

But that´s actually one of the big advantages of a refret: if there´s ANYTHING about the action, Neck (ex. Profile), or frets that you don´t like 100%, NOW is the time to speak up, because NOW it can be changed/fixed


Originally Posted by greendy123When you do refretting can you go from vintage to something larger like jumbo frets?Yep, fretwire isn't just a quot;tubequot; in shape, it's basically a half-circle with a stem of sorts (called the tang) that fits into slots in the fingerboard. That way, with different size frets available on the same size tang, you can interchange fret size on a refret.


Originally Posted by FretFireYep, fretwire isn't just a quot;tubequot; in shape, it's basically a half-circle with a stem of sorts (called the tang) that fits into slots in the fingerboard. That way, with different size frets available on the same size tang, you can interchange fret size on a refret.

Or for example do what Jake E. Lee does, fret the first 12 with super-Jumbos and the 13 th and up with high but narrow wire


Originally Posted by Quencho092damn that's expensive!!!

Why do we have to pay such a steep price just for playing our axes too often??

How much is a good leveling and re-crowning?

Alot of players dont understand that it takes alot of time to do these jobs correctly!!! It takes easily 10 hours!! Also, the one you hire has to be qualified and hve the correct tools to do this task. You have to pay for that also!! So, do you expect a tech with that kind of experience, tooling, and the time that tech will take to do it right will do a job like that for $50 or $75??? No way!!! For a highly qualified person that would come down to $5-$7.50 an hour plus that dosent even cover parts/supplies/wear and tear to tools. Thats why the cost is $150-whatever for re-frets.

A good level and crowning? That would probally be done for the $50-$100 range.


Originally Posted by theodieAlot of players dont understand that it takes alot of time to do these jobs correctly!!! It takes easily 10 hours!! Also, the one you hire has to be qualified and hve the correct tools to do this task. You have to pay for that also!! So, do you expect a tech with that kind of experience, tooling, and the time that tech will take to do it right will do a job like that for $50 or $75??? No way!!! For a highly qualified person that would come down to $5-$7.50 an hour plus that dosent even cover parts/supplies/wear and tear to tools. Thats why the cost is $150-whatever for re-frets.

A good level and crowning? That would probally be done for the $50-$100 range.

I actually think those prices are more than reasonable. That's a small price to pay to have the guitar have it's life renewed and play perfectly.

I would not recommend stainless frets. I have played many guitars that have been refretted with ss and they all sounded a lot brighter than they did before. IMO you are better off going the way Zerb suggested. Crown the frets when needed and replace them as they wear. It is an expense that we all have to go thru. I have 3 Strats... all of them have been refretted with 6105 fret wire. My Guild D55 is ready to be refretted as well. I have had that guitar since 1979. I think I got my moneys worth out of them!

I ordered stainless jumbos on the Warmoth neck I have coming. I don't mind if they add some brightness, because this is going to be a fairly dark-sounding guitar (chambered mahogany LP, mahogany LP neck). I will def. let you guys know how it goes.

I had my 73' Les Paul Deluxe refretted with Stainless Steel frets. It is a touch brighter, but not unreasonably so. After a year and a half of hard playing there's barely any wear on them.


Originally Posted by AmateurI asked him if I could have stainless steel frets because of the same reasons you have and he told me that stainless steel frets are only available to OEMs. It is not available in the aftermarket. I don't know how true that was, but I was unsuccessful in getting any stainless steel frets by my self.

This is not true, you can get ss frets at (which I can't seem to open right now) or here: from : localhost/edenhaus.com/frets.htm I have ss frets on a couple of guitars I built. The guitars sound great, not appreciably brighter than comperable guitars. Plus, I hate worn down frets, so a little brightness is worth it to me.

You wanna find-out about SS frets, and debunk the myths (too bright, eats strings, etc.) go here:

Harmony Central SS refret thread

Here's a poll on people's desire to only buy SS fretted guitars:

SS fret Poll

I own 14 electrics amp; 4 acoustics, playing pro amp; semi-pro since the mid 80s - I won't refret or buy a new guitar without SS frets, they wear forever, have better presence/tone IMHO and play like butta!

I don't really care what the frets are made out of. If anything I like the wearing of the frets because it reminds me that I play a lot...I guess I should also point out that within the next 6 months I'll finally have the money to buy the tools to do my refrets myself.


Originally Posted by itbepopplesI don't really care what the frets are made out of. If anything I like the wearing of the frets because it reminds me that I play a lot...I guess I should also point out that within the next 6 months I'll finally have the money to buy the tools to do my refrets myself.

Now it will be 6 months-1 year after that to get some good practice!

Personally, I dont mind SS frets. I think alot of folks blow the changce of tone out of porportion. I think it is subtle but, not a huge change in tone though.