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I am pretty confident in my fretting abilities but am just wondering before I start this refret if there is any good tutorials online. I know there is a great set of videos on youtube but I cant watch video right now.

And I may as well ask, do you find it essential to heat the frets before pulling?

Thanks

Frets.com has some info and photos of fret jobs, and A google search will turn up more info than one can handle. I did my 1st refret on a vintage Gibson with the info from frets.com and had no problems.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

second vote for frets.com - Frank Ford's tutorial with pictures worked very well for me.

I second Dan Erlewine' s Fretwork: Step by Step.

Bob

Erlewine's Fretting DVD's the full set. Nothing better out there, forget the book unless you want it for ref. and get it as a package set from StewMac. It will be the best money you spent on fretting. He even has video of Frank Ford dressing the ends as well as others. Takes you from basic tools to advance work. He even slips a neck. I think there may even be a someone showing bar frets in there too. Nothing else out there compares and is on my must have or at see list along with Larry Robinsons Inlay tapes.

Here's one that's quite good a luthier I know made I believe he lurks here occasionally too

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

I ALWAYS heat frets before removing them. Far less likely to pull chips out of the fretboard.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Exactly!!!!!!!, and don't just grab them and pull them out. Let the little pulling pliers work them out by kind squeezing under them.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

What do you heat them with - a hair dryer?

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

A soldering iron with a flat tip, file a small slot in the face so it won't slip off the fret and burn the fingerboard. If you slide this back and forth across the fret a few times it will heat it enough to make the pull easy.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Heating them with a soldering iron worked great. Thanks for the good tip.

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

Why is a hot fret less likely to lift a chip?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I've always wondered that, but I've had better luck when heating them. It seems to me that heat should make the metal fret expand. This should make them harder to remove(???). Maybe heat helping is all in my head. I use a little white glue in the slot when installing frets. It's probably not necessary but it the way I was taught. I'm sure a little heat helps when removing them. I believe the most important thing for chip free fret removal is beveling the top of the slots, but we've got no control of that on a guitar that already has frets.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Helping with glue is easy to see. But helping with the barbs pulling a chip up as they exit? Expansion from heat ought to make the fret fit tighter, not looser, and that would be regardless of whether wood or metal expands more.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.