Refret And Scallop + New Nut

[Bytrix]

I just got my hands on a cheap 22 fret Yamaha neck which has a great feel to it but the first 5 frets are heavily worn on the bass end so I'm going to replace them, but I might aswell replace the whole lot (is it mad to attempt this if I've never done it before?).

I've always fancied having a go at scalloping one of my guitar necks but never built up the courage to try it on one of my 'proper' guitars, I think I might try with this neck, now onto the question :

Since I'm doing a refret and the scallop, would it be easier for me to remove all the frets, scallop, then put in some new frets ... or should I do it some other way around (attempt the scallop first, then remove/refret?..

Plus, does it make alot of difference what fretwire I use? I'm gonna be ordering some pickups from guitarpartsresource.com and mightaswell get some fretwire from there while I'm at it, any recommendations which I should get? I'm thinking I'll get the Dunlop Accu-Fret 6130.

and finally.. a new nut for the neck, graphtec tusq, or bone?.. The neck only cost me just over £20 and I want it to be really nice when I'm done with it.

[Marzocchi705]

Refret then scallop. As for the refret, you gotta start somewhere right?

[mikhailgtrski]

A bone nut will give you the best tone and sustain (in my opinion). It's very hard and takes more work to file, but I found that a jeweler's saw works great for roughing it out. Cuts through it "like buttah".

If you're using a trem and you have stay-in-tune issues you might go for the Graphtech.

Mike

[frank falbo]

I've always scalloped first, that way you don't have to worry about hitting the frets when you're doing your scallops. You can even sand across the scallops, allowing the paper to hit the frets and scratch them all up, because you're removing them anyway! It's a little more likely to chip out during fret removal if your scallops are close to the fret slot, and overly deep. Otherwise it's fine. You can also clean up your scallops when the frets are out, too. You pull the frets, level the board, and then clean up the lines where the scallops begin and end. For me that's always been the way I do it. I've done plenty of scallops without refrets, too. So it's not a big deal to do a scallop with frets installed, you just have to be more careful to work AROUND the frets. Since I do a lot of wood removal with the automated tools, there's always a risk of touching the fret.