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Hi all, looking for some opinions and advice on the following. I have a 1973 maple neck Strat with original frets in for a re-fret. I’ve done my fair share of re-frets but for whatever reason never had the experience of a sideways-fretted maple-neck Fender with original frets (the ones I’ve had were previously re-fretted). My question is this: some people have a preference for removing frets sideways on pre-1982 Fenders, I’ve seen others who prefer to remove them from the top regardless to avoid blowout on the side of the fretboard. On a rosewood board, chipping can be touched up either way to make it look almost invisible, but on a maple board we don’t really have that luxury. Does anyone have any insight or opinions on removing frets in this type of situation? Thanks in advance!
Karl Borum - Borum Acoustics6 Comments-
Ted Woodford did a great video in 2020 where he refrets a ’71 Telecaster and removes the frets sideways:
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@patreon_105088020 Thanks!
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One other thing to consider beyond blowout cosmetics is how well the fret barbs are going to grab if you take them out sideways. In my estimation, sideways removal is probably going grab better.
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@ianhatesguitars Hadn’t thought of that, good point. Thanks Ian!
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Ted Woodford goes sideways and Scott St. Dennis has vid pulling. From watching different pulls, (and Ian touched on “cosmetics”), I think the key is in dealing with the finish which is unusually thick and varies. It looks like all the successful pulls, whether up or sideways, involve scoring the finish enough to ensure that one, the fret tongs are able to get under frets, and two, that you don’t get what Ian calls “cosmetic blowout”. Interesting that we try to retain cosmetic look of what many consider to be a horrible, thick mess of a fingerboard finish. But that’s our job.
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@patreon_150226515 thanks for the insight, definitely something to consider. In this particular case I got lucky, the finish isn’t nearly as thick as some others.
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