Refret Cost

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bardagh
  • Start date Start date
I would expect to spend $300-$350-ish for a fret job. In my neck of the woods, I find more than just a little bit entitlement on the part of some of these guys to charge exorbitant prices. I believe this has something to do with the fact that locally, many of the usual suspects over the past 15-20 years have either died or retired and those that remain or pop up, feel it is their prerogative to over charge.

Case/Point, there is a popular local guy who I brought my Strat to and asked for an estimate on a refret. It literally went like this:
  • My fret jobs start at $400
  • You will need a new nut which is another $100
  • You will need a setup for another $100
  • Is it a lacquer covered maple neck? That's another $100
I said "not thanks - for that price I will just buy a new guitar." By way of comparison, I asked another guy in my state for an estimate and he quoted me $320 "all in." The latter shop is a bit too far south for me to drive to/fro, but that's the sort of pricing I would expect and he enjoys a sterling reputation -so maybe a road trip is in order.

I am not going to drop names because my intention is not to defame or promote anyone. The moral of the story is simple: - be informed and shop around!
 
I saw similar costs for refrets and decided to teach myself on a crap neck. I bought the tools, fret wire, and a spare low end neck to practice on. Yes it took some time but I'm glad I learned, though I'm not nearly as good as some professionals by any means - just good enough to fix minor fretwork issues, that sort of thing.

That said, I had a vintage Kramer neck with binding and didn't want to screw it up. Sent that one off to a fellow Kramer fan for a full refret at the cost of $300 last summer. I wasn't going to do it originally but I needed his help with a repair to a chip that also broke the binding on another neck, so it made sense to just ship him both necks wrapped up together in a box and he did both jobs and sent them back. (obviously the neck repair was a separate cost, the $300 was just for the fret job).
 
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