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October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | This guitar needed a refret and a new nut. I learned a lot re-fretting an old acoustic first, and this Viper turned out really well. If anyone is thinking about doing this kind of project, you can do it but you'll spend a fair amount on tools and materials. I still have at least 2 other guitars to re-fret in the near future.
The frets had been filed low in the distant past, and now also had some wear in them. The wood showed a lot of wear. 
I don't know if these were the original frets, but they were installed with hide glue. It was a bit of work getting all the glue out. Finally I resorted to using a fret slot saw. 
There was a crack in the end grain. I sanded it, then wicked thin cyanoacrylate glue into it, then sanded the excess. 
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October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | The next step was to sand the entire fingerboard with progressively finer sandpaper using a radius block (a piece of wood with the correct radius). The ebony took on a mirror finish by the time I got to the fine polishing pads.
The frets were installed using slightly diluted carpenter's glue. I decided to not use CA glue because it might make future work more difficult, and I didn't use hide glue because of the shorter working time. Liquid hide glue might have been a good alternative but I didn't have any on hand. This picture is from the acoustic guitar I practiced on, showing a veterinary syringe being used to inject the glue into the slots.
Once all the frets are installed, the ends are nipped off and filed flush. The key to this step is to use the angled file to get the ends beveled all the way to the edge of the wood. If you don't bevel enough, the ends will never be flush with the edges of the wood.
Here's a look down the edges of the new frets after the job was completed.
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October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | All done!
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June 2012
Posts: 2316
Location: Pueblo West, CO | Nicely done. |
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December 2003
Posts: 13987
Location: Upper Left USA | Very nice!
It accentuates that Pickguard (show me your Woody) and guarantees a long life for that Viper!
And, you are right about the tools... |
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October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | Thanks, guys. Tools are fun to buy, and the cost is less than paying someone else to refret a couple of guitars. The Viper was a lot easier to fret than the old acoustic, which had obsolete dimension fret slots. Yamaha did a great job of copying 1960's Martin products, including the oddball frets. Nobody makes fret wire with the thick .030" tangs any more. And, specs for fretwire are rather poorly defined. I'm an old parts engineer who used to write specs, and it was really frustrating trying to decipher fret specs from different manufacturers.
The new frets on this Viper are the same dimensions as on my Hamer Newport, and I really like this feel much better than low crown frets. The fret wire came from Stew-Mac, and it is rather soft. Getting the new frets to sit properly in the slots was fiddling. Hammering just a bit too hard will flatten it out and the ends pop up. Even when overly radiused by a lot it was a problem. The Yamaha was fretted using wire from AllParts,which was somewhat stiffer and easier to get properly seated. For my next project I'll try the gold Evo wire, with a hardness and stiffness halfway between regular fret wire and stainless steel. It supposedly seats perfectly without having to over-radius it.
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Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Fine Work, and educational thread.
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June 2012
Posts: 2316
Location: Pueblo West, CO | FlySig - 2014-07-29 7:51 AM
The new frets on this Viper are the same dimensions as on my Hamer Newport, and I really like this feel much better than low crown frets. The fret wire came from Stew-Mac, and it is rather soft. Getting the new frets to sit properly in the slots was fiddling. Hammering just a bit too hard will flatten it out and the ends pop up. Even when overly radiused by a lot it was a problem. The Yamaha was fretted using wire from AllParts,which was somewhat stiffer and easier to get properly seated. For my next project I'll try the gold Evo wire, with a hardness and stiffness halfway between regular fret wire and stainless steel. It supposedly seats perfectly without having to over-radius it.
Good info to know about fret wire. Thanks.
The problem with softer fret wire isn't limited to seating it, but also it will wear faster once it's installed which means it will need to be replaced sooner. |
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August 2007
Posts: 1008
Location: Tuscany, Italy | Bravo. You guys make me feel adventurous to try doing repairs by myself.... |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | Funny thing is that I had considered sending one of my O's back to the factory for a refret, but the announcement of the closing caused me to decide to do it myself. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | You guys make me feel guilty for not replacing the nut on my UKII yet. John Budny sent me a new one a couple months ago. I need to get busy. |
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April 2010
Posts: 823
Location: sitting at my computer | FlySig - All done! Nice job, looks great! Mark in Boise - I need to get busy. Slacker! Better hurry up before they revoke your BFLG license!  |
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March 2005
Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | SOBeach - 2014-07-31 11:24 AM
FlySig - All done! Nice job, looks great! Mark in Boise - I need to get busy. Slacker! Better hurry up before they revoke your BFLG license!
Even if they issued licenses, I couldn't have qualified. I've done very little beyond changing strings and when I do, it's always a challenge for me to just not make it worse than when I started. |
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Viper re-fret completed!