How often does one need to refrett their guitar?

I play pretty hard and the fretts have a lot of dents in them but I don’t notice anything wrong with the notes they produce….

Weird_oh84, I concur with Synchro. You will know when it's time. When your guitar is set up properly, but yet you experience intonation problems, the out of tune notes will stick out like a sore thumb. That's when it's time to take action.

I'm a fret mangler, because I do a lot of bends and pronounced fret- grinding vibrato. (Not from surf. I also play a lot of blues, Americana, and classic-type rock.) I've never had a refret job done. That said, a good Luther can often dress the worn frets, and give you another "100 thousand miles". I've had the frets dressed on two of my guitars. It's lot less costly than a refret job, snd those two guitars are going strong, years later.

Bob

Last edited: Oct 04, 2024 18:22:02

IceratzSurf wrote:

Once a hammering wear gets established in the fret, the string will also have worn, and a string replacement will not last as it is then worn by the grooved fret.
Choose your maintenance program.
I would dress the fret with basics using 400-600 grit sandpaper, between longer lasting string changes.
Sure you can fuss over a proper leveling and crowning using proper tools.
But overall it's really not that difficult.

IMO, at least some of it comes down to technique. I strive for a light touch on the left hand, and perhaps that has helped to avoid fret damage.

You make a great point about a bit of maintenance during these infrequent string changes. I always use some fingerboard treatment and a bit of fret maintenance might be in order. When I built with world famous WarJag, I had to do some fretwork, which was no surprise; Warmoth made it known that would be the case, even before I ordered the neck. Having to do all of this, I fluffed up the coffers at StewMac a bit and bought some nice fret tools, including files for dressing frets. Lots of bucks, but the WarJag deserves the best, doesn’t it?

For ongoing fret maintenance, I would think that you don’t need to spend hundreds on specialized tools. Probably the greatest strategy is to not let things go too far, before addressing small problems. Remember guitar aficionados who want to do fretwork, Painter’s Tape is your friend.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

To answer the original question; not very often, Generally under moderate use it takes years to wear frets to the point of requiring a dressing or replacement. I play aggressively with heavy strings and I play a lot - obsessively all day when I'm thinking while working. A guitar I had for twenty years developed the need for fret work so I gifted it to a friend in the music industry and he had it fixed up in Nashville. Of the two guitars I play currently, one has been played regularly for close to six years now and the frets are no where near needing a dressing. You don't know me, I'm nobody but I've been around the block, worked in guitar shops and have been a tech. Other people rarely work on my guitars. There are certainly people willing to have you pay them to do fret work whether you need it or not but it does not sound like you need it.

Lastly, unless you are experienced do not try to dress your own frets. It isn't difficult exactly but it is nuanced and you are unlikely to produce good results on your first or second attempt.

The Vicissitones
Diesel Marine
The Rasputones

Last edited: Oct 04, 2024 13:51:01

It's been a while since I had to have a guitar refretted, but (as others have said) when it's time, you'll likely know. One guitar in particular, I'd had the frets dressed (levelled, crowned & polished) several (4? maybe 5) times and there just wasn't enough material left to do that job again properly, so the guitar got new frets.

Out of all the guitars I've ever owned, I've had to have several of them (fewer than 6, I'd guess) refretted just from playing wear over a long period of time. One guitar I was able to have just the bottom 8-9 frets replaced rather than all of them, which was nice. I've got one right now that started with jumbo frets and now they're more like low jumbo, so it's likely in for a refret in the next couple of years. A tech who does great fretwork is worth their weight in gold!

Only once of all the refrets I've had done was I dissatisfied with the work. Unfortunately it was on one of the few vintage guitars I've owned, and despite taking it to a second tech (who "saved" the refret with his Plek machine), the guitar never played right again and I ended up trading it away. Broke my heart. Ever since then, I'm way more picky about who I let do fretwork on my guitars.

Some folks say switching to stainless steel frets ends the worry about refrets, but it's a tradeoff in tone and feel. Not sure I'd be willing to take the leap.

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