Best place to get a stainless steel refret?

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

I want to get the factory-scalloped Californian new frets. Does being already scalloped increase the chance of chipping?

Obviously, this is a pretty big deal, so I don't want to just hand it over to Guitar Center.

Where is the best and least expensive place to get a stainless steel refret, that will do a guaranteed quality job?

Not necessarily the least expensive, but also don't want to spend $700.  Just looking for the best value for the money from a tech that will take care of it.

[JGale]

Give Phil Jacoby a call. Philtone.

Bonus: You can drive there.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

1 hour ago, JGale said:

Give Phil Jacoby a call. Philtone.

Bonus: You can drive there.

Action Guitars gave me the same name! I love it when you get confirmation!

 

[ArnieZ]

rumor has it you'll need to be patient with Phil..... long wait times

arniez

[cmatthes]

On 3/25/2023 at 12:25 PM, JGale said:

Give Phil Jacoby a call. Philtone.

 

Phil is living off of his hype and Gear Pagers from 20 years ago.  He's good, but from several people I know personally, has become unconcerned with his customers, lead times, and in general, his service.  Two people I know (one who had been going to him since the late '90s) refuse to work with him any longer as he got verbally abusive.  

Take that for what it's worth, but even with a stated estimate of time, add 6-12 months to your wait.

There have been several negative threads on TGP, and mysteriously, they usually disappear.  Go figure...

[cynic]

Shannon Huss at https://www.facebook.com/SCGAAR/

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

1 hour ago, cmatthes said:

Phil is living off of his hype and Gear Pagers from 20 years ago.  He's good, but from several people I know personally, has become unconcerned with his customers, lead times, and in general, his service.  Two people I know (one who had been going to him since the late '90s) refuse to work with him any longer as he got verbally abusive.  

Take that for what it's worth, but even with a stated estimate of time, add 6-12 months to your wait.

There have been several negative threads on TGP, and mysteriously, they usually disappear.  Go figure...

This is good to know before I get into it.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Phil turned me down on refretting the scalloped Cali.

Called Shannon, had a great talk. He convinced me to not mess with the Cali until it actually needs refretting.

But his prices are REALLY inexpensive, so I guess I have a luthier now? By the time he's done, every guitar I have will have stainless steel frets, scalloped fretboard, or both.

"By the time he's done" is assuming he won't get tired of me.  Two are there right now, for scalloping and stainless steel frets.  I have anywhere between 3 and 7 more to go.  Just not sure whether I want to have him mod the last 4 or sell them.  Of these final 3-7, 3-5 just need scalloping.  6 & 7 are a Yamaha PAC 712 and a Yamaha RGX-TT that would need both scalloping and stainless steel refrets. They both have insanely low action, really twangy, wizard-thin necks, and are sentimental favorites, but not ones I pick up THAT often.

[Dave Scepter]

16 minutes ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

"By the time he's done" is assuming he won't get tired of me. 

Well, there went that thought 🤣

[JGale]

Pics of the 712 please or it doesn't something, something...😁

[JGale]

Don't you have a 912 as well? I'm curious as to how they differ with the ash body. My 512 is Alder like your 712.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

5 minutes ago, JGale said:

Pics of the 712 please or it doesn't something, something...😁

 

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

I sold my 912 a while back.  It really didn't sound or play any better than the 712.

I got the 712 for $100 from Atomic Music in Beltsville MD because the manager thinks Yamahas are all crappy.  I guess cuz of all the PAC 012s and 112s.

2 years later, I grabbed an RGZ 820R for $100 that I sold for $600.

 

NGL, I've almost pulled the trigger on your 812 and 604 any number of times, but I think there's no way they'd crack the rotation I already have.

Also, for a bonus, here's a PAC 611VFM that I put a Warmoth scalloped neck on. Woot!

[JGale]

Yeah. I had an epiphany with the 812. Spent a day fiddling and poking around and realized it's safe here for a while longer. The Gravelin bridge doesn't hurt it's case either...

Speaking of HSS bridge humbuckers. How do you choose? To mate with the singles of just be a separate vibe?

[Dave Scepter]

Hey Nate, when you scalloped your project necks, did you have special "specific" tools/files or?.. I'm thinking I may give it a whirl 🤔

[Tortious]

On 3/26/2023 at 10:38 PM, cynic said:

Shannon Huss at https://www.facebook.com/SCGAAR/

He did one of mine. Fucking awesome.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

43 minutes ago, Dave Scepter said:

Hey Nate, when you scalloped your project necks, did you have special "specific" tools/files or?.. I'm thinking I may give it a whirl 🤔

I just did the one.  I used about 6 different radius round or oval files, mostly tried to match the size of space between the frets.

Since then, I decided to just let someone else who actually has experience do it.  I mean, what I did was effective, but it wasn't pretty or consistent.  I ended up giving it to someone who was temporarily guitarless *and* interested in trying out scalloped necks.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

2 hours ago, JGale said:

Yeah. I had an epiphany with the 812. Spent a day fiddling and poking around and realized it's safe here for a while longer. The Gravelin bridge doesn't hurt it's case either...

Speaking of HSS bridge humbuckers. How do you choose? To mate with the singles of just be a separate vibe?

I usually just play whatever's in 'em.

Once I swapped out a Shechter bridge in favor of a Seymour Duncan Full Shred, because another Schechter I liked had that change, and I missed the ease of pick squeals.

But it's still the stock bridge on the 712 and RGX-TT.

The 611VFM has a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 in the bridge, and just LOVE those. Wouldn't change it even I was the pickup-changing type.