refretting a Fender stratocaster PART 1 (introduction)

Jason from The Musician's Den in Evansville, IN walks you through a complete refret on an '04 American Deluxe Stratocaster. In part 1 we introduce the guitar and make note of a few of the features and how they'll impact the job.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Musician's Den
• Evansville
• Indiana
• Fender
• refret
• stratocaster
• American
• Deluxe
• lutherie
• guitar repair
• LSR roller nut
• fingerboard
• translucent white

[JimmyPage968]

Hey Jason, what do you think of the LSR roller nut? Any new videos coming up?

[smbstressfest]

@JimmyPage968 I don't care for LSR roller nuts. I think it's a factory's solution to a problem (friction) that doesn't typically plague guitars that are tweaked and setup by knowledgeable tech. Also the lack of tweakability in regards to the action of individual strings and overall radius is limiting from a setup perspective.

Alas, no new videos are in the works for the time being. I'm in school full time and working 3 part time jobs... basta

[AxekickerDotCom]

Wow an entire refret just because of some buzzing? Why not even out the frets instead?

[smbstressfest]

@AxekickerDotCom I think it's either in this video or the very next I address your point. The customer played a guitar of mine with a larger fretwire and liked it. So when faced with the decision as to whether or not he'd like to make this one play better and LOSE fret height or pay a little more, have a better playing guitar and GAIN fret height, he chose the latter.

[axekicker78]

@smbstressfest Cool, thanks for the reply. Quick question. I like VERY LOW action. I find I often have to level and file my frets past the 12th to achieve this. I have a decent fret file and crowner, but I have trouble shaping the frets and they often look flat and very low. Do the frets need to be a certain height? If so, why? Thanks!

[smbstressfest]

@axekicker78 I hear you, recrowning frets is quite difficult. Fret height is mostly just personal preference. I for instance like very tall frets but I really don't care if they're narrow. Other players hate the feel of tall frets and prefer the wide ones. No hard and fast rules exist that I'm aware of, but speaking as a repair tech I think once a fret becomes < .025" tall from years or wear and/or redressings it's time to seriously consider a refret. Hope that helps.

[JimmyPage968]

@smbstressfest Well, me being a lefty, I can't have the option of LSR! I'll just go with GraphTech TUSQ XL, I have one on my Les Paul and it's great! Thanks for your perspective!

[who8allthepies]

@AxekickerDotCom i think the guy wants 6000 jumbo frets on it. thats why he wants a full refret. a good choice as i have jumbos frets on my strat neck wiht a compound radius of 9 to 12 radius.

[AxekickerDotCom]

@smbstressfest So I have a crowning file, but I don't see a major difference. I assume I should only move the file in one direction? I've also polished the frets with a dremmel and polish wheel from Stewmac. I'm watching your vids now determining if I should attempt a re-fret. I have the tools, but I'm nervous about it. Rather than keep filing my frets, I'm wondering if I should just sand the neck(s) to an 18" radius, and then fret. Thoughts?

[smbstressfest]

@5150Nobozos I like the diamond recrowning files the best. Toothed files work fast but often leave deep scratches that are tough to remove when you're polishing the frets. Diamond files are expensive but worth the additional cost IMO. Maple necks are sometimes fussy when it comes to fret removal because of the finish that's usually sprayed on the top. Sometimes maple also burns due to the heat from your soldering gun when removing the frets. Keep the iron moving and try to work fast.