REFRETTING A ’ 72 GIBSON LES PAUL DELUXE BY JOHN BROWN
If you’ve been reading this column recently, you’ll recall
we’re in the middle of restoring a
’ 72 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. In
my September 2011 column, I
took you through the evaluation
process we used to determine
exactly what this restoration
would entail. In October’s
column, I covered extracting
the flat and pitted frets, and
explained how I prepped and
skimmed the rosewood fretboard
to remove any micro high spots.
When you’re dealing with
vintage guitars, some clients
don’t want us to even take a
polishing cloth to the instru-
ment, because it changes the
mojo for them. So when it
came to micro-spot sanding
this LP’s fretboard, I made sure
the owner was okay with the
procedure. [If you missed these
previous columns, check out
“Evaluating a ’ 72 Gibson Les
Paul Deluxe” and “Restoring a
’ 72 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe” at
premierguitar.com.]
Once I’d checked the fret-
board with a straightedge and
radius gauge, I confirmed the
guitar was ready for its new
frets. After consulting with
the client and referencing the
original frets, we decided to go
with Wide/Medium fretwire
(item #149 at stewmac.com).
This is slightly taller than the
old Gibson jumbo wire, and
its .046" crown provides ample
height for a precision leveling
after the frets are installed.
Preparation: For starters, I
used a Japanese Fret Slot Cleaning
Saw (#3616) to deepen any shallow slots in the fretboard, measuring the depth as I went with a
Fret Slot Depth Gauge (#5435). I
then used the Fret Slot Cleaning
Tool (#4870) to remove old glue
and debris so the new frets would
seat correctly.
Tailoring: Over the years,
I’ve occasionally chosen to bend
each individual fret by hand
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1. Cleaning out the fret slots before installing new fretwire. 2. Pre-radiusing 24" of fretwire with a FretBender. 3. Undercutting the fret ends so they’ll sit over the neck binding. 4. Setting the new frets. 5. After the frets are installed, their
ends are beveled and de-burred for a smooth feel. 6. A close-up view of our ABR- 1 Correct-o-matic. 7. Using a revolving leather-hole punch to cut mahogany end-grain caps. 8. Plugging old screw holes with punched mahogany caps.
before installing it, but typically
I use the FretBender (#0345)—
a time-saving tool that lets me
accurately radius 24 inches of
fretwire at a time. Once a strip
of fretwire was radiused, I laid it
across the fretboard slot, gauged
the length I’d need, and cut
it with a Fret Cutter (#0619).
This Les Paul has neck binding,
so I used a Fret Tang Nipper
(#1626) to undercut the fret
ends so they’d sit over the binding properly.
Installation: A Deadblow
Fretting Hammer (#1296) and
brass Fret Setter (#1666) are
my tools of choice for this task.
As part of this process, I used
StewMac #10 Thin Super Glue
(#7001) glue to secure each fret
in its slot.
Dressing: After the frets were
installed, I used a Fret Beveling
File (#3759) to put a uniform,
35-degree angle on all the fret
ends, and then took off any
burrs with a Fret End Dressing
File (#1175). The next step was
to give the Deluxe’s new frets a
full dress. When it comes to fret
dressing, there are a variety of
tools and procedures for leveling,
crowning, and polishing fretwire.
You’ll find lots of information
online, including reputable dem-
onstrations on You Tube. If you’re
interested in this subject, my
advice is to keep an open mind
and really do some homework.
JOHN BROWN is the
inventor of the Fretted/
Less bass. He owns and
operates Brown’s Guitar
Factory, a guitar manufac-
turing, repair, and restoration
facility staffed by a team of
talented luthiers. His guitar-tool and acces-
sory designs are used by builders all over the
world. Visit brownsguitarfactory.com or email
John at info@brownsguitarfactory.com.
