Fret wear?

JezWynd

I'm thinking of putting in an offer on a 62 Gibson bass. The owner has sent me a couple of pics of the frets and is of the opinion that the frets don't require levelling. From the picture I've received it looks like some work might be necessary but I'm not an expert on this stuff. Can anyone advise on what action might be needed to get it into playable condition.

RandallFlagg

That looks like a refret to me, either partial or full.

ToneControl

fret skim is £50-60

those frets look past that

£200 maybe for a full refret?

JezWynd

@RandallFlagg, @ToneControl

Thanks for your comments, it looks like a refret is necessary then. The frets in the second picture are a bit alarming. It's a really nice looking EB0, a 72 not a 62 as I originally stated, up on eBay. I've also learnt that it has the nylon bridge saddles and I've had problems with those in the past so I'll probably pass on it.

ICBM

I'd try a fret dress first. Fret wear always looks much worse than it is, and after dressing it's often remarkable how much height is left even when they started like that.

I've actually had a couple where the owner refused to believe it hadn't been refretted, until defeated by the simple logic of asking why I would only be charging for a fret dress if I had actually done the much more expensive job .

Generally if it's a borderline case I will usually try dressing it first - not bothering with the full smoothing and polish which is the biggest part of the job - and see if it seems playable, before committing to a refret.

JezWynd

ICBM said:

I'd try a fret dress first. Fret wear always looks much worse than it is, and after dressing it's often remarkable how much height is left even when they started like that.....

Speaking with the seller he's of the opinion that a refret job may not be required so I may go to view it. I wouldn't rule out buying if a fret job is required but it's useful to know how much it might cost. It's not something that I've ever needed before, but saying that, my Tele, which I bought new about three and a half years ago is showing definite signs that a fret dress may be required, esp around the cowboy chord shapes.