Refret Strat Maple Neck

[Patrick Mooney]

I'm trying to get an idea of how much it would cost to have a maple Strat neck refretted. The neck is straight as an arrow and I'm happy with the radius. I would just want new frets installed and leveled. Any help would be appreciated.

[thefishinmusician]

Looks like it worked!..This is a veneer board Mustang. Pulling the fret trditionally, you are asking for major chippage...First, I wet the fret sides. One, I think the steam you get when you heat the fret helps, and two, when you heat the fret, you can easily see when it's hot enough...You get little bubbles on each side of the fret..That lets you know it's hot, and it's time to remove the heat. I think it also lubes the slot...I've got some old dental tools that I've ground to different points..Some stubby ones and some longer finer points..I use the longer sharper one to dimple the top edge of the fret..Then I use a stubby point to tap the fret out..Slow and steady..Keep the movement in line with the fret..I have it to the side in the photo...Don't do that...That was done to show the contact point..Be carefull the tool doesn't pop off the dimple, you can gouge the fingerboard!! Take it easy!!...I did my first one on MY 57' Musicmaster about 15 years ago..Boy was I scared!!...But I went quite well...Problem with learning this is finding Pre 84' fenders to practice on!!!..Anyway, as you can see in the photo how clean the slot is...No chippy!!...On Maple boards, I lightly score with a fresh exacto each side of the fret...On dreaded thickskin poly boards I score really well, pointing the blade in towards the fret..And still, you'll get a fair amount of paint chipping, altho not near as much as taking them out from the top..To clean up the look of the board and cover any chipping and/or loosening of the paint.( you can see when a bit has chipped and you can flow thin uberglue and see it wick up under the chip )..I'll fill any chips with glue and build it back up..I often run some glue on each side of the fret slot to solidify the area for sanding and reslotting..I've found that with a buildup of glue, you can sand it flush when you sand the board, and the fill pretty much dissappears when you polish it out..That thickskin finish is SOOO thick, that I've actually taken quite a few thousands off a fingerboard to level imperfections in the neck!!..Also, thickskin finishes didn't really yellow over the years, so the superglue fill works well..Also, while I'm on the subject of maple fingerboards and imperfections, I've used this trick a few times...On boards that have a dip or kickback near the nut, I use taller fretwire in the valley...You can get a few thousands play in a dipped part of the neck, leving a bit less work leveling afterwards..Time for a Blatz!!