The Tube Doctor

Do a search for Plek. Take (or ship) your guitar to a shop that has a Plek machine. It's a CNC fret-levelling mill that can cut compound fret profiles (side-to-side as well as length) to suit your playing requirements. I've lost count of how many re-frets and levelling jobs I've done over the years, and even with tons of experience, the best I can manage is 0.005" accuracy on levelling. The side to side compounding is the sole domain of the CNC mill. Accurate to 0.01mm. I spend up to 5 hours per guitar on levelling, recrowning and polishing the frets; the Plek Pro can do this in under 20 minutes and store the results in a database that allows the exact same setup to be restored after a few years of playing wear. Joe Glaser in Nashville, Gary Brawer in San Francisco, Peekamoose in NYC all use Plek. Worth every penny!

I've had the good fortune to have used most of the pickups currently on the market. This includes smaller manufacturers (Fralin, Lollar, Kent Armstrong, Bareknuckle, Kinman etc) and the big names (Dimarzio, Duncan & the list goes on). For my money, you cannot beat Bill Lawrence pickups. Bill and Becky are wonderful folks to deal with, but you must remember that they are a real "Mom & Pop" company. If you've got to wait for your order to be filled, be paitent, it will be worth the wait. There are not many pickups made that are complete disasters, but there are few that I would recommend as unhesitatingly as Bill's. I've never had poor results, dissatisfied customers or been put on perpetual HOLD by an anonymous service department when dealing with these fine folks. It doesn't matter if you choose a single-coil sized pickup or one of their humbuckers. You'll get tone that is at least the equal of anything currently on the market. But you should be forewarned that after using Bill's pickups, your other guitars will sound like there's something wrong with them. Five stars, two thumbs up or however you wish to define superlative performance; that's what you can expect. And no, I'm not related, nor am I being paid or threatened to say all these nice things. THANK YOU BILL & BECKY!!!!!!!!!!!

Page used the EDS 1275 to play "The Song Remains the Same" which segues into "The Rain Song". The 12 string neck is tuned EADGBE, with the 6 string neck tuned DGDGCD. He played it live the same way it was recorded on "Houses of the Holy". Also check out "Wonderful One" from the Unledded album. Gorgeous acoustic tones from a 6/12 custom Ovation. John McLaughlin is another well-known 6/12 player. "Inner Mounting Flame" is a classic album.

I might live to regret giving up my sources, but you should try the offerings at Gilmer Wood. (shitty to hear that the inspirational work of our fine friend in Korea has him wondering about KKK memberships at LMII) They've got a section devoted to luthier's woods, and their supply of fingerboard blanks (among other things) is inspiring. And despite the $100 minimum order, amazing value for the dollar. There is more work involved in using their products, as they are rough cut, not slotted and require some degree of advanced skill. But hey, whoever said good thing come easy, has never built a great guitar! Gilmer Wood

Eh, it would make the refret go easier if that little ledge were there, from the start. The MalmStrat in question had the scallop brought right up to the edges of the frets, so there was not really any level surface to use as a reference. Once the frets were removed from the maple neck, there was pretty much NO level flat surfaces to use as a reference. Sooooo, flattening out the areas left with the frets removed (lands) didn't necessarily give me surfaces even with the rest of the neck. There's some lacquer stuck to the edges of the frets, which means you've got to sand at least a little bit just to get the fret slot ready for new wire. And if you sand with too much enthusiasm, your scallops will become shorter and shallower. I certainly concur with the rest of the comments regarding playability; once you get used to having all that air under your fingertips, you can play with a lighter touch, and your speed will increase like never before!

You must have been right at the top of the "Not Naughty" list for Santa to have dropped this in your lap so long before Christmas. InF****ngCredible!

I had intended to post some images showing fret removal, but discovered late last night that my ISP doesn't allow me any room for such activities. My apologies for not being to provide the promised images. I'm going to try again in the next couple of days, perhaps through one of the free hosting sites.

Well Soapbar, I don't know about the rest of the repair techs out there, but as well as there being varying grades (relative to Rockwell C or B scale hardness) of SS, there are at least as many, if not more variations of brass. Having refretted several hundred guitars in the past few years (okay, maybe more than a few) I can attest to the fact that some of the hammers I've used, do in fact leave less of an impression than others. However, since I added a little bit of lead weight to the side opposite the plastic face of my fretting hammer, I've found that I don't have to remove nearly as much material from the frets when I level them. That means more fret left for my customers, and more material for subsequent levelling and recrowning, before refretting becomes necessary. Unlike Edenhaus, I offer a variety of different sizes. I don't imagine that I do nearly as much business as they do. They must buy fretwire by the 100 weight, while I am simply a humble repair tech trying to make available to others, an item that seems suspiciously rare on your shores. If you wish to use 6105 equivalent size from Edenhaus, your choice certainly does not rely on my approval or the approval or opinions of others. Freedom of choice is one of our most valuable freedoms. I had the freedom to choose the SS offered by Warmoth, and was mostly impressed, which set me on the path to find a supplier who would sell me fretwire that I could install without having to buy an entire neck. The profile of the wire supplied by Warmoth is more elliptical than round, so when you've got to level the frets and recrown them (their initial installation is somewhat uneven) restoring an identical profile to all the frets is unlikely at best. Where have you heard untoward comments regarding a particular Japanese made fret wire? To the best of my knowledge, and based on comments posted on this website, it seems that finding ANY SS fretwire has been an exercise in futility, up until now. The fretwire I'm now using is made in Japan. The stainless steel used was an alloy arrived at after significant testing and experimentation by the manufacturer. It's certainly not as tough as 316, but if you know anything about SS, you'd know that 316 or 304 would be impossible to draw through a die with any uniformity. Look on the Parker website for KP's extensive comments on the development process his company went through in trying to get the formulation right. Our local (Hong Kong) blues guru, Tommy Chung, plays his guitars more than anyone I've ever met. Normally, he'll wear through a set of frets in a year or less. Since I've refretted his #1 Steinberger with SS, he's become a convert. In more than 5 months of HEAVY playing, the frets have shown so little wear, that I've got to use a dial caliper to measure the change. I'll try to dig up some of the translations on the development of the fretwire I'm offering. Peace, Kevin Catalano.

Refretting a scalloped neck, maple or any other wood, is seriously challenging. I refretted a Malmsteen Strat last year for one of my regulars. It took a long time to get right, as you don't have a bunch of level areas between the frets to use as a reference for relief. Also, when you go about levelling the fret slots after removing the old frets, you've got to be really cautious about NOT flattening the fret land too much. I think that something like the Erlewine neck jig would be highly useful on such a job. The relief could be gauged with the guitar strung, before the old frets are removed. That would at least provide a reference from which to work when installing and levelling the new frets.

Later on tonight, I'll post some images for you, with the Doctor's tried and true method of removing frets from either hard-finished (maple etc..) or oiled fingerboards. With all due respect to the other members posting on this topic, I'd hesitate to use a clothes iron. The heat from one of these appliances covers a fairly large area, which could cause the glue holding the fingerboard to the neck to soften. This could be considered a Bad Thing. If there's any water left in the iron, the steam could also affect the lacquer, if the neck has a lacquer finish. Keeping the heat concentrated into a very small, controllable area has always worked supremely well for me. But, a picture's worth a thousand of my typo's. Later, I promise.

I'm really shocked that all the saavy folks on this board don't know that the flames regularly occur after the maple tree makes derogatory comment regarding the geneology of burl walnut on the treespecies.org discussion board. Never slight a walnut, especially black walnut. They never forgive nor forget.............. I think I need more coffee, mu ch more

I've already posted some of this in the SS refretting tips thread, but I'll put it here so it's not missed. I've registered with PayPal. The account name is The Tube Doctor. Mix and match orders are welcome. You need not order 5 of the same size to get the discount. Please look in the "Tips " thread for detailed information regarding the available sizes.

To make things easier than having to go to a Western Union office and pay their service charge, I've registered with PayPal. The account name is The Tube Doctor. Christmas postal traffic will soon reach its annual, chaotic peak, so please be patient when awaiting delivery. My elves will be working around the clock to insure that your orders are promptly filled.

Wow! Thanks again for posting those photos for me NYJBKIM. I'm really pleased to have been introduced to this board. I hope my humble contributions will be helpful to at least one or two folks here. I have just been in contact with my fret supplier, who has informed me that he will gladly cut and package any size frets I choose, 24 pieces, 75mm (3 inches) long for the same price as the straight lenghts. With the kind of service this guy offers, I just find it hard to believe that other suppliers of this "Precious Commodity" are demanding such huge minimums and enormous premiums. So to clarify; you can select whichever size you need from the table posted at the start of this thread, and it can be supplied in pre-cuts, $45 for one set, or $200 for 5 sets. And you can mix and match sizes, no need to order 5 sets of medium and 5 sets of jumbo etc............. I believe that being offered in precuts will greatly reduce the price of shipping. The 25.25" lengths have to be packed in a sturdy plastic tube to avoid damage during transportation. A little plastic baggie with 24, 3" sections won't require any more than a padded envelope. The three sizes I have on hand here in Hong Kong, which I can ship immediately after receiving payment, are; 0.109 crown width x 0.055 crown height x 0.020 tang width. 0.094 crown width x 0.051 crown height x 0.024 tang width. 0.110 crown width x 0.055 crown height x 0.024 tang width. All other sizes will have to come from Japan to Hong Kong (a really short trip) then over to you in North America. I don't currently have any payment options available except for Western Union. Conducting business on the internet is not something I had planned on doing. If the need arises, I'll check into Paypal. Otherwise, just e-mail me if you want to discuss any fretwire. I'll try to keep submitting some of the photos of SS refrets in progress, if it suits the other members of this board. I really believe in the stuff, and I know once a few of you try it, you'll never want to go back to nickel/copper. I've got a few pounds of Dunlop 6150 that has been gathering dust since the SS became available.

Congratulations! Kids are inspirational in ways you simply cannot imagine until you've survived the experience first hand. No spoken advice or gushing praise from others can prepare you. In the end, it's all good. My best to you, your lady and your future.

You might try this site for some inspiration. Tim is an excellent guy, and his guitars, well, I'm saving up to have him build one for me.[url=http://www.timtone.com/gallery/guitars_clips/GuitarsClip46-AShimmyo.html] Check through the other oddities. There's also a 7 string fretless. Must be something in that Canadian beer!

Like many other guitar folks on the net, I have mixed emotions when it comes to Ed Roman. He's really been a flame magnet, but on the other hand, when I was really stuck a couple of years back, trying to find a transposing pin for a Steinberger bridge, his site was the only place I could fill the order. I read his rant regarding SS frets, and would like to offer the following observations; -his comments regarding the tone of a standard Parker guitar seem to indicate his belief that the bright, cold tone he finds in the Fly is due to SS being used for the frets. Yet in another section of his site, he claims to have cured the Fly's tonal inadequacies by replacing the pickups with some non-standard items, either Dimarzio or Duncan, I don't recall exactly which. -ER has a long list of observations on tone wood, much of it insightful, and nearly all of which I find myself in agreement with. Yet Parker is known for using a composite wrap around a wooden core for their neck construction, which seems to contradict ER's belief that Korina is the ultimate tone wood. With these valid observations made regarding the constituent components of a guitar's construction, I find myself doubting that an otherwise good sounding guitar could have it's tone so negatively affected by harder, denser fretwire. Could a guitarist with a good ear for tone tell the difference between the open strings strummed on a guitar fretted with nickel/copper, compared to one fretted with SS? I consider myself to have a fairly decent set of ears when it comes to tonal evaluation, and I cannot and have not heard these negative effects attributed to SS fretwire on any of the numerous instruments I've refretted. My customers are really pleased because their setup remains unaffected; the crowns on SS remain intact, preserving intonation and making bent notes as effortless after a year as they were when the frets were first polished. The grunge that so affects frets here in Hong Kong (really high humidity) is eliminated. Strings do indeed wear out, though not as dramatically fast as some people might believe. The price of the fretwire is higher, but in the end, having to refret less frequently will not only save you money (fretwire is a minor cost consideration when doing a refret, the labor is major) but will spare your guitar from the wear of having the fingerboard and fret slots worked over so frequently. Let's say, for example, that you have your guitar refretted every other year. In 10 years time, that would amount to approximately $3000.00 U.S. dollars. Or you do in with SS, pay a premium for the fretwire, and proceed to save well over $2500.00. Gee, you could buy one of the many tasty looking guitars on ER's site with that kind of savings! My sermon is finished. Thanks for your indulgence.