First refret after 10 year. Overdue?

Lethe · 2013-01-11T10:29:46+00:00

Hi all! So my trusty Ibanez RG is giving me tons of buzz on the higher frets. It makes me sad. I've taken it in for a fret dress, but the sadness persists....

First refret after 10 year. Overdue?

Lethe

Thanks, Arjun. Sadly I'm a Joburger.

@Bob, thanks for that! Crosses one place off my list of who to phone...

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah - that "feeling too much fretboard" thing is the key indicator for most people.

I think that if they accepted it as a fret dress job it should mean that there was enough meat left in the frets to do a dress (especially in the upper registers, where there is usually a lot less wear). If there wasn't enough meat to do it properly, they should have recommended a refret. So push for them to fix or offset the cost against a full refret.

Malkav

Grant at TOMS does stainless steel refrets - having tried his work I think it's incredibly good, and if he were in Cape Town he is who I would be taking my guitar to be refretted by.

Also for what it's worth I've only had my RG2228 for about a year and a half and it already needs a refret, and I mean full refret - not enough meat left on the frets to dress them ?

peterleroux

Just out of interest, is there a noticeable tonal difference with stainless steel frets?

Lethe

I've had the fret dress done already 2 months back, so I guess it's a bit late to come running back demanding stuff ☹ I must say that it was a poor set up for R600. It did seem like they just replaced my strings and nothing else. I also took in my Ibanez Artist. It came back with fret buzz on the open strings. and all other frets too. I wanted to have a $hitfit. So I'm actually looking for another place to have all my stuff done.

@Chad, thanks for that. I'll be phoning him this weekend ?

Malkav

peterleroux wrote: Just out of interest, is there a noticeable tonal difference with stainless steel frets?

In general the tonal difference is most likely negligible, they should be a tiny tiny touch brighter though, however they feel heavenly so it's totally worth it ?

BluJu

Ye man. Go to Grant at TOMS Sandton.

He is always busy but he will know what to do.

Cleric

Agreed, Grant at TOMS Sandton is about as good as they get locally. I was impressed with the MC guys, a with the guy at Marshall, but Grant is a touch above. If only he didn't make me feel so lame about owning an RG ☹

arjunmenon

Chad Adam Browne wrote:
peterleroux wrote: Just out of interest, is there a noticeable tonal difference with stainless steel frets?
In general the tonal difference is most likely negligible, they should be a tiny tiny touch brighter though, however they feel heavenly so it's totally worth it ?

+1. It feels divine. And the attack does (at least to me) seem a bit quick off the mark.

Lethe

Cleric wrote: Agreed, Grant at TOMS Sandton is about as good as they get locally. I was impressed with the MC guys, a with the guy at Marshall, but Grant is a touch above. If only he didn't make me feel so lame about owning an RG ☹

hahaha, then I'm in for a bad time ?

Lethe

Joe Moore wrote:
Lethe wrote: Thanks, Arjun. Sadly I'm a Joburger.

@Bob, thanks for that! Crosses one place off my list of who to phone...
Dude , you don't need a list , just go to Grant... He'll do the job right , whether you choose stainless / normal steel frets.... :?

Yeah, I think I will do so. He seems to be the man for this, judging by the responses! Thanks all for the info!

tiller

Yeah, guitars require maintenance once a year (at least) because we play them on daily basis. They do the hard work and they need to have maintenance ?