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What's the politically correct way to refret a bound Gibson neck where the frets bump into the plastic binding? Will anyone complain if I do it the RIGHT way ...remove frets, level board AND binding nibs, undercut new frets.

What were they thinking?

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Kent,

It really depends on the player and the guitar. If it's a vintage Gibson, I'd be inclined to replicate the original. If not, and the player has no objections, just treat it like a normal refret and file the nibs off. Some of them are very particular about those frets. They're really not that hard to do, but it does require more care in leveling the fretboard, as you're working between the nibs.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

Fitting the fret, with its ends squared off, exactly between the nibs, is a PITA. Jimmy, do you have some trick for doing that?

I'd say political correctness is not much of a factor here, unless the guitar is a collectible with at least a 5-figure value.

What does the owner want, what kind of a guitar?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks. That's about what I was thinking.

It's a '70 hummingbird in need of neck reset and new bridge plate (the bridge plate being another unfunny joke on this)....not a 5-figure guitar.

In our initial discussion, the owner was more concerned with doing it well vs. doing it vintage. I'll check with him specifically on all the details before getting into it. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't offend too many purists by sanding off the nibs.

But if the vintage world likes the nibs and a luan plywood bridge plate.....then what?

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Luan ply is a joke right? Even Gibson in the 70's couldn't . . . no, wait, I guess they could have. But they didn't really, right? If this is for real, I would insist on upgrading. We'd have to be talking museum piece before I could stomach doing luan ply.

Nibs? There the answer is, "You can have them, but it's gonna cost ya."

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Agree with Howard. A 70's Hummingbird with neck set and fret job wouldn't fall into the "PC" original redo unless owner wants to pay for it. Not a whole lot of value to lose in my opinion, but my opinion isn't worth much so hey.

That is indeed what it looks like. Maybe it's solid wood but it looks like luan and I'm betting that means ply. It' fills in the entire diamond in the double X so I can't see the edges except through the bridge pin holes so I'm not sure. Well, it fills the diamond except for the 1/8" or so of slop in places. Thanks to the poor fir, I might actually be able to remove it cleanly.

Either way, I'm going with maple and will re-make it full size except for a space up front big enough to get a knife into should someone want to redo it in another 40 years. That large plate should help me be able to flatten a bit of the caving.

Should be a fun repair though. The owner likes it enough to spend what it takes so it will be fun to make this thing playable.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Howard,

No majic bullet here. I'm a fairly deliberate builder and I use semi-hemi fret ends on most of my builds, so the time spent fitting frets between the nibs is about what it usually takes me on one of my normal fret jobs. The one advantage of the nibs is that once you're done fitting the frets, there are no ends to dress as with a traditional fret job.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

I say plow the nibs off and fret it proper. I don't even offer to save nibs anymore unless it's an exceptionally collectable instrument, in which case I feel if preservation is of such importance it might as well be resigned to a collection for display anyway. Once it's refretted the original material is gone anyway, and I'm not always a fan of trying to pretend it wasn't or hide it anyway.

On rare occasion I would save the nibs, I charge from double to triple. The process of fretting within the nibs just puts so many limitations on a proper refret that I don't want to accept. A proper leveling out of the board, having to over-bevel or roll off the ends to match the inevitably worn down nibs - in most cases I would say pulling the binding is the only way to do it.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Thanks all.

Jimmy, I admire your patience! Hope to see you at Healdsburg again this year.

I got the go-ahead from the owner to sand it flat and start over.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com