Hamer Newport refret: Who do you recommend?

[tonefiend]

HFCE,

I recently bought a Newport that needs some love. One of the main issues is the frets are badly worn, so I wanted to get some expert advice on who might be a good candidate for a refret.  I'm in the Bay Area, CA, if you know anyone in the west coast, but I am also willing to ship - especially someone with exp refretting Newports.

Thank you. 

[kizanski]

Frets OVER the binding!

[tonefiend]

It appears so. Was hoping to avoid that.

[kizanski]

16 hours ago, tonefiend said:

It appears so. Was hoping to avoid that.

You were hoping to avoid awesome? 

[tonefiend]

I was hoping to get it back to original, but you bring up a good point - maybe it’s better going edge to edge.

[Jakeboy]

I would think that a major metro area like the Bay Area would have at least a couple expert luthiers who would be more capable of refretting a bound neck. You just need to decide upon fret type and fret size. I’d go with the standard Hamer fret size but in SS, like I did on my Artist. 

[Jeff R]

You just need to decide upon fret type and fret size.

If you lose the nibs, you can then refret with whatever fret size you prefer. But if you keep the nibs, you are forced to select the fret crown size to match the nibs, meaning you are stuck with OEM spec wire dimensions.

Or even worse, you have to match new frets to what's left of the nibs ... because nibs erode with play time just like those old frets did, and some nibs WILL be more eroded than others. So the nibbed refret may entail rebuilding worn nibs by applying a putty paste made by mixing binding scrap with acetone, and then reshape the new puttypasted nibs to match the new frets. And of course that's a lot of extra $$$ on top of the normal bound board refret.

More to consider if you want to keep (and/or rebuild) nibs as part of a refret:

* If the tech cut the frets too short, gap(s) between the new fret and the nibs will catch and pinch high E strings. I had a nibbed, bound and crowned Hamer Standard whose factory fret job would occasionally catch and pinch high Es. Not fun when it happens, even less fun to play around the issue. It can be fixed by filling the gaps with clear epoxy, but pro-filled yet visible gap may drive some of y'all's OCD crazy - it would mine haha.

* If the tech cuts the frets a smidge too long, to ensure no gaps, the fret can (and will, in dry humidity) push the nibs outward ... and ultimately crack the binding at the contact point and/or separate the binding from the binding channel. I've seen what was initially a "perfect" old-nibs-preserved refret develop binding cracks the first time the refretted guitar was exposed to home heater-induced low humidity. Think "fret sprout," except the fret's only option is to grind into the nibs instead of over the fretboard edge.

If you haven't deduced, I strongly advise saving the nibs.

[BoogieMKIIA]

I waited for years to have my 1973 Les Paul refretted, knowing keeping the nibs would be difficult and expensive. I finally went for it, without keeping the nibs. Absolutely no regrets as the playability was not impacted, maybe better with the smooth, rounded fret ends. Visually, it was not a big deal at all. This guitar has been played regularly since it was new and shows it. No incentive to make it look like new. 

Nibs look good on a new guitar but I would go for frets over binding if I ever spec’s a new, custom guitar. The benefit is playability and future re-frets.

[RobB]

On 12/22/2025 at 6:19 PM, tonefiend said:

I'm in the Bay Area, CA, if you know anyone in the west coast, but I am also willing to ship - especially someone with exp refretting Newports.

Brawer Stringed Instrument Repair

415/621-6904

Gary recently refretted my Dean V. There is no one better in the Bay Area.