Vintage Fender refrets on maple board - who do you trust?

oldsongs · Sep 17, 2015

A friend of mine just had an old Telecaster refretted by a very reliable luthier and the results were not so great. I've got a similar guitar that will need some new frets soon. I want to make sure the frets go out and back in the right way and the neck finish is not disturbed. The board is heavily worn and I don't want that messed with either.

Can you recommend somebody to do top quality fretwork on a blackguard Tele?

Wilko · Sep 17, 2015

I only trust myself. Lukily, others trust me as well. I've done a couple of black guard teles and it can be done with a little extra effort to not mess up what's there.

Some tricks are to undercut the fret ends as if you're doing a bound neck, but a just a hair.

Forget leveling the board. That kills all the mojo. The old frets worked there, the new ones will too.

Use taller frets than you think you need. That will give you room to level the frets, and give a few more level/dressing jobs before you have to refret again.

mingus · Sep 17, 2015

Joe Glaser in Nashville. (615) 298-1139

JBLPplayer · Sep 17, 2015

Joe Glaser plus 1

58burst · Sep 17, 2015

I do my own frets too. The main trick with vintage maple boards is to remove the frets by pushing them out from the side, the reverse of how they were installed, leaves the fingerboard pristine.

Here's a blonde '58 strat I did recently for a friend-

kiwi burst · Sep 18, 2015

58 Burst hit one out of the park refretting my 58 Strat. For a long time I'd contemplated replacing the original frets on what had become an almost unplayable guitar and have zero regrets. Big thanks .

latestarter · Sep 18, 2015

I've done a few.

- As 58burst says, out from the side, but make sure that pathway is clear
- If there are lacquer humps beside where the frets were, I typically take them back a little without touching the fingerboard. Although the fret levelling looks after the final playing plane, it's a good idea to get as much flat as possible prior.
- Undercut the frets slightly
- I usually press frets in on Fender necks...and maybe use a little glue in the slots if required.
- I tend to angle the ends a little steeper than most initially to give maximum playing area. It's a fine balance of feeling the bump, or having narrower string spread.

Go forth and refret that thing!

oldsongs · Sep 21, 2015

Thanks for the advice.

Does Glaser do the work himself or is it a group environment with a few different people involved? I really prefer having 1 on 1 contact with the guy who does the actual work.

57gold · Sep 22, 2015

oldsongs said:
Thanks for the advice.

Does Glaser do the work himself or is it a group environment with a few different people involved? I really prefer having 1 on 1 contact with the guy who does the actual work.

Glaser's shop did my 1958 Strat, one of his guys did the work and Joe is the PLEK meister.

He was doing two Blackguards for Vince Gil that I handled at shop to try Joe's proprietary fret wire, which is a tad wider than vintage to cover divots from extracted frets and taller, to allow shaping of the playing surface (flatten radius in upper register and lower the frets in lower register wound strings to maintain intonation).

Have a 1956 Tele I want him to do, and a 1957 TV Jr.

Davidos · Jul 31, 2017

Just bumping this old thread to get recommendations for a maple regret on a vintage Tele... am open to shipping the guitar as well...

thx for for any recs.

F-Hole · Jul 31, 2017

Joe Glaser.

The thing with old Fenders is that the frets didn't go in from the top. Rather, they went in from the side. If you compare the bass side with the treble side, you'll see that the treble side is tinner. The treble end of the fret was sharpened to aid installation, hense it's thinner than on the bass side.

The frets should, therefore, be both removed and new frets installed in the same way.

Joe G does that, others tend not to.

sws1 · Jul 31, 2017

My blackguard was also done by Joe Glaser. Great job.

Davidos · Aug 1, 2017

Thx for the replies. Did you ship Joe the whole guitar or drop off? I would be shipping. Did he need o do any refinishing? Am hoping to avoid that.

Did Joe do the work himself or one of his guys? Do you have to specify Joe? What is turnaround time?
thx!!!

CDaughtry · Aug 1, 2017

Our very own Hogy of Trainwreck amplification does a KILLER fret job on old maple boards.:dude:

Vintage Fender refrets on maple board - who do you trust?

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