Greco Gob 700 Refret + other stuff

[Biscuity Boyle]

My first Refret. Put it off for the past year but decided to go for it as I have all the tools. What's the worst that can happen.

Turns out I have luthiery skills. The bass (Gob speedway 700) was originally fretted. someone de-fretted it. I wanted it back to its original fretted condition.

Rather than pay £200 for a refret, I bought the tools instead.

I took my time over it. 15hrs or so over three days with many cups of coffee and ciggies in between.

Well chuffed.

Jobs in order.

1. cleaned out, filled where needed, and recut the old fret slots

2. radiused the board

3. filled in the chip outs on the board and flushed

4. Frets in and rounded off at the ends.

5, Frets leveled, Crowned? and highly polished

6, New nut cut, shaped, and polished

7, New strings on, Nut slots cut to depth.

8, Set up.

A couple of tweaks and bobs yer aunty. Plays sweet.

[umcoo]

Looks like you did a great job.   It's always satisfying to work on something yourself and get the desired outcome.  Bass looks fantastic too!

[Biscuity Boyle]

1 hour ago, umcoo said:

Looks like you did a great job.   It's always satisfying to work on something yourself and get the desired outcome.  Bass looks fantastic too!

I'm over the moon at how it turned out. I was actually sweating clearing out the filler in the old fret slots. lol

 

 I wanted to do a refret on an old redundant neck or broken guitar first, and a few times before i attempted this on one of my preciouses but never found either. This bass was just crying out to be fretted and i had the tools at hand.

 

Just had to grow a pair and get started. What was the worst that could happen, I rip the frets back out and restart??, just more practice.

 

 Going to do an acoustic guitar next now i have the confidence and appear to know what i'm doing. It's all the little things that take up most of the time. Repairing chip outs before you move onto the next stage, nut work, trying to avoid sawing into the body. I did (horns), when you get higher up the frets, taping etc...  

 

 The action is crazy low. Like less than 1.25mm at the 12th on the G and 1.4mm on the E. Every note rings true on every fret. It always amazes me how easy a well set up guitar plays. Even just getting the nut slots to the correct height makes a huge difference. Effortless fretting thats for sure. 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Biscuity Boyle

[gary mac]

Well done, you've made what looks like a great job of it.

[Andyjr1515]

Splendid job.  Kudos!

[BigRedX]

Great work. 

 

Out of interest how much did all the tools and materials you needed to do the job cost?

[Richard R]

Very impressed! Nice work.

[Biscuity Boyle]

10 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Great work. 

 

Out of interest how much did all the tools and materials you needed to do the job cost?

To do the job.

I needed a 9.5" radius block, turned out it was 10"

a fret hammer, (i have a fret press i made from a Drill press stand, never used it) found the fret hammer to be excellent for the job.

super glue, non runny stuff.

stainless frets,

Notched straight edge.   

fret levelling beam, 12" You could get away with a fret levelling file here. i prefer the beam. Covers more area. The small file would be ok for when you might have one or two high frets.?

fret end bevelling block with two files inserted, 90 degrees and 35? degrees, Basically for taking down the overhanging fret end and giving them a inward bevel before you start to fine tune the ends.

felt pen, 

Bone blank for the nut, and a small vice to clamp the nut while shaping. vice is option as this job could be done on the guitar but i wouldn't advise it.  

various sand papers for polishing out the rough after your have levelled with the beam.

Steel wool, polishing

dremel tool for final polish, optional but saves on elbow grease.

metal polish,

Nut files, 

fret crowning file, diamond grit.

small jewelers fine flat file. for shaping the fret edges.

 oil for board.

 fret rocker.

Not sure if i missed anything for this job.  

Not sure the total in ££££ or $$$$ as i i have a lot more luthiery tools than i used on this job. I bought loads of stuff over a period of a couple of years for certain little jobs i had came across.

 

 The fret files were the most expensive as i bought from .009-.135. Around 16-18 files in total? £180.  Don't buy cheap nut files. Buy a good set and they last you well...and most important be accurate.

 

  Most of the tools and consumable i have i bought kinda cheap (not stewmac prices) from ebay and amazon, Like fret rockers and straight edges, radius blocks etc.

 

 i'm not sure how accurate these measuring tools are. Is a £25 Straight edge going to be precision engineering grade level straight? Are £17.99 for 4 radius blocks going to be perfect. I doubt it.  I know for a fact the 9.5" radius block turned out to be 10" or my string radius guides are out? but they got the job done. At least they were true. 

 Hey your could spend literally thousands buying precision tools... or trust your own abilities and just go for it with the tools at your disposal and within your price range. 

  

 Some of the other stuff like the rotary tool i already had. I found a brand new old stock 1970's £500 Milbro pendant drill in a Charity/goodwill shop for a £5. Nobody in the shop knew what it was and i got lucky with that find. 😉 

I'm always on the lookout for old and interesting vintage tools.

 

As i said. I had gathered most, if not all of these tools over the course of a couple of years with the intention to learn how to do guitar work. I just never got around to it, I had the perfect donor guitar so why not. You'll never learn if you don't at least attempt it. I'm quite good with my hands. Wish i had started earlier when i had better eyes. Now have to rely on jewelers type glasses for really fine work. I look like Bubbles from trailer park boys with them on.  

Edited April 7, 2023 by Biscuity Boyle