What's the going rate for a refret job?

[jay4321]

A straightforward refret around Philly area would run about $225 for a simple job on say a a typical modern Strat type neck. If you have binding or any kind of other complications the price goes up. Everything else extra, nut work, cost of strings, vintage instrument concerns and so on. I'm not a tech by trade but still do them once in a while for other folks. Commonly in trade for something, I recently did a 70s Gibson V refret + new nut in trade for a nicely worn in 1960 cab.

I have owned a Kramer Pacer (and a cheap Striker as a kid), those are about as vanilla as they get if the truss rod functions and the neck/fretboard is true and straight. If I recall the radius is somewhat flatter like 14 or 16 and I think I made my old one into a 12 to be closer to the Floyd, but I can't recall if that was the original neck or not.

 

[bruce9432]

Putting this out there, why not use 3D printing to replace fret material. Laser sintering can put down SS or ant other metal. You could do 5 necks at a time . Then 15 seconds on a 5 axis CNC and you're ready to dress. With a $1000 an hour rental time you would need to do 5 an hour.

Another thing, powder coating can be done with Temps as low as 180 degrees. Do you think a two piece strat body could handle 180 degrees for 20 minutes? Really vibrant colors, but as of now they just do MDF.

 

[swarfrat]

Let us know how it goes. I imagine fixturing wouldn't be the least of your worries.