Refret 1963 Jazzmaster

[Jerome Jeffrey]

I recently acquired a 63 Jazzmaster that I'm slowly restoring. It's in great shape and just needed a couple of parts. The frets however are quite low. I did a very light level and crown but they sit at between 20- 25 1000ths and quite hard to get under when bending. I'm considering doing a refret but have never done a veneer board refret before. Does anyone have any recommendation on the best way to proceed? 

Cheers,

JJ

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

I don't use a different schedule when working on a veener fretboard. Just be extra careful not to tear too much tiny bits of wood when pulling out the frets, and do not sand to much when preparing the fretbard for the new frets.

[Jerome Jeffrey]

 It seems the veneer has about 80 1000ths depth so in theory a fret slot cut for a .062 tang should be OK without cutting all the way through the veneer. The board is in really good shape as well, apart from a bit of pitting around the first two frets, so would need minimal sanding. Would you use a shorter tang for this job? The Stewmac #152 wire is what I had planned on using.

[David Collins]

Those frets were installed sideways, and I generally prefer to pull them out the same way. 

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

The frets need to be pushed through from the bass side to the treble. Dan Erlewine grinds a little dent onto the bass side so a punch or similar tool has some purchase. Once there is enough exposed on the treble side, you can pull it the rest of the way.

 

Joshua

[Paul Verticchio]

I'm just posting to reinforce the need to pull the frets out from the side.

If you don't do it that way, it'll cause hundreds of bigger than usual chips in the already thin veneer board.  Sanding & profiling the FB is mandatory, as with any pro re-fret.

Best of luck with this project.  I have a 65 Jazzmaster to do in about 6 months, the only year they did dots on the FB AND bound the neck.  I have to figure out how to get the frets out from the side without destroying the binding.  Oh well, I'll just have to go into heavy research mode.

[Jerome Jeffrey]

Thanks for the input. I do understand the need to remove them from the side. That said, I have had excellent results using a slightly dull chisel, gently nudging the frets from each side until they come loose. I had to do this on a 69 maple strat neck that had such low frets that I couldn't even notch the fret to use a nail punch. It actually worked like a charm with not one noticeable chip out on the whole board- there were very small ones but never bigger that a vintage fret wouldn't cover it. 

Does anyone know the year that Fender started to use the sideways fret jig? I know they stopped in 82.

[Mark A. Kane]

As an aside, if you haven't decided on a fret wire, the Allparts LT 468 is a good choice at .080" x 042". The extra .004 over the vintage .038 height gives you a little breathing room if you need it.

[nathan clark]

If the board is on the thin side after sanding, I like to grind the fret-tang rather than deepen the fret slot into the maple.  Here's how I do that:

http://fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/pages/repair-descriptions/tools-...

[nathan clark]

You don't have to knock the frets out sideways.  I don't know that chipping the fretboard is a serious concern as most of the chipping will be of the typical under the fret crown type.

Here's a brief description of how I take them out sideways:

http://fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/pages/repair-descriptions/frets/...

[Jerome Jeffrey]

Thanks Nathan. Great site you have! 

That fret tang grinder idea is pure genius. Hopefully I wont need to do that on the Jazzmaster - I think there will be enough room for the fret tang without cutting through the board- we shall see.

[David Collins]

As others said, they don't always have to come out from the sides. Most of the time it works better this way, but one I did just a few weeks ago I decided to pull them upward because for various reasons it worked out better on this one. 

 

For bound boards I wouldn't even consider bothering with sideways removal. A quick swipe of water on the board before heating the frets will turn to steam and soften the wood somewhat akin to side bending. You may still get a few chips here and there, but they can come out quite cleanly if you're careful. Even if there are some chips that need to be glued back down, it's far less intrusive (and less work) than trying to mess with the binding.