flat fretboard conundrum

XsmnmyXsmnmy Frets: 124
edited June 2017 in Making & Modding
hi - i just got a 1950s electric that badly needs a refret. It has a flat fretboard that's very thin. My first idea was to have the board radiused and re-fretted, but the fb is so thin I don't think it'd work. Would it be feasible to install high frets and dress them so the frets were radiused but the fb stayed flat? I mean, i know this would be theoretically possible, but is it practical?
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Comments

  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    It would be a fair bit of work and waste a great deal of fret material.

    Since any fret and fingerboard work does away with originality, you might as well have an entire new fingerboard made.
    Be seeing you.
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  • XsmnmyXsmnmy Frets: 124
    Since any fret and fingerboard work does away with originality, you might as well have an entire new fingerboard made.
    yeah - i was thinking about that option too, it might even be cheaper...
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71962
    smnmy said:
    hi - i just got a 1950s electric that badly needs a refret. It has a flat fretboard that's very thin. My first idea was to have the board radiused and re-fretted, but the fb is so thin I don't think it'd work. Would it be feasible to install high frets and dress them so the frets were radiused but the fb stayed flat? I mean, i know this would be theoretically possible, but is it practical?
    Probably not. The amount of radius you could create before the outer ends of the frets are too low to be usable isn't enough to be worthwhile.


    Since any fret and fingerboard work does away with originality, you might as well have an entire new fingerboard made.
    I would say that a new fingerboard is a *much* bigger loss of originality than a refret - which is usually seen as fairly non-invasive, if done appropriately - but is still the only practical way to do it.

    Is it really an issue to leave it flat? I know that's not normal for an electric guitar, but if it's a known feature of this model - and the model is in any way valuable - then it would probably be best to live with it.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • XsmnmyXsmnmy Frets: 124
    I don't want to mess with it unnecessarily, i was just thinking about the options, if i was looking at a re-fret anyway...  thanks for input.
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  • NomadNomad Frets: 549

    On a 12" radius, the middle of the fret is about 0.75 to 1mm higher than the ends (increases as you move up the neck, the height difference increases overall as the radius reduces). You'd have to start with pretty high fret wire to still have a decent amount of fret height at the ends, and you'd have abnormally high frets up the centre of the neck. I'd imagine that would feel rather weird when playing.

    I'd be more inclined to accept that the guitar is what it is and keep it flat. Maybe change the profile of the fret wire, but I'd leave the non-radius as-is.


    Nomad
    Nobody loves me but my mother... and she could be jivin' too...

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    It might help to know what make/model of guitar is under discussion. (If I were to hazard a guess, it would be Hofner or an early British solid body such as Watkins or Fenton-Weill.) Some of the original features may be difficult to reproduce. 

    If the fingerboard is so thin that it could be considered a veneer, it might be wise to have the tangs nipped off near the ends of each fret. This may reduce the likelihood of splitting.

    In the spirit of leaving the guitar as you would wish to find it, the safest solution is to leave the fingerboard flat and pay to have the refret performed by a repairer with a good reputation.
    Be seeing you.
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  • XsmnmyXsmnmy Frets: 124
    it's a 2-pickup Dallas Tuxedo, so you're not far off. The one with the tobacco burst type finish. I've had other early brit solids like a Rapier and a Fenton-Weill, but ended up selling them. I still have an early Burns Sonic. I always liked the looks of the Tuxedo and just had a lot of curiosity about it. The fretboard is oddly thin, but more than a veneer, about 3mm.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    3mm is fine. Deep enough to accept fret tangs.

    If you fancy bigger than original frets, just have a correspondingly taller zero fret installed to compensate.
    Be seeing you.
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