So if you build a guitar what about the frets?

chromatuna · May 2023

I have occasionally thought about building a guitar, probably some twisted Tele variation, @lovestrat74 has some great ideas, but I have always wondered about frets. What I mean is, if you buy a parts neck is it likely to need a full work over by a tech or do they generally come pretty much ready to go?

WezV · May 2023

Expect to do some work.

lovestrat74 · May 2023

If you buy used and the neck has been on a guitar already then you could be lucky and get one where the frets and nut have been worked on.

BillDL · May 2023

If buying a new pre-fretted and finished neck, the more you spend most often equates to the less work you will need to do to frets, but not always. Even on some expensive new necks you can still need to dress the fret ends, although you would usually expect the frets to be quite level. As WezV says, always expect to do some work but if you don't it will be a bonus.

If buying a used neck that hasn't yet had any noticeable fret wear, you will usually get better fret work if the neck was taken from a higher level guitar than from a budget one - just the same principles with regards to fret work as your expectation should normally be when buying a new guitar at the different price levels.

Unfortunately you will never really be able to know for certain from photographs or sellers' descriptions. I have bought a couple of used guitars where the seller used the usual blurb like "perfect frets, very well set up with low action, plays like a dream", etc, but on receiving the guitar I have wondered how anybody with any experience could have described it as such - uneven frets, sharp fret ends, ridiculously high nut action, terrible neck relief and sting action, and so on. What one person thinks is a good neck might be a disappointment to others.

One important aspect to consider if you are thinking about bolting a strat neck to a tele body, or vice versa, is the shape of the neck pocket and the shape of the neck heel. A telecaster neck's heel and the corresponding neck pocket in the body are flat and squared off. A strat neck and corresponding pocket are rounded. You can push a strat neck into a tele neck pocket until the apex of the convex curve hits the back of the flat neck pocket and it will usually be located properly for the existing bridge, but it will leave visible gaps in the neck pocket that a standard tele scratchplate won't cover. You would have to some surgery to round off the corners on the heel of a tele neck to fit into the pocket of a strat body but you would have to be careful about how far into the pocket it went to ensure that it matched the placement of an existing bridge, and you could end up with visible gaps.

chromatuna · May 2023

Thanks folks, lots to consider there, sounds like a potential minefield without the necessary skills, still… maybe one day :-).

A playable basis for modding might be a better place for me to start.

elstoof · May 2023

Depending on what you buy, the frets shouldn’t be such a disaster that the guitar is unplayable and they can be improved at any time in the future. Plenty of finished guitars on the racks of all the shops have had nothing done to the fretwork and they’re still ok, you might not be able to get the action shreddy low but they’re perfectly playable

FelineGuitars · May 2023

It's far from unusual for techs like us to get asked to add some finishing touches to a project build or rebuild, and of course we are happy to oblige

https://felineguitars.com/pages/finishing-off-your-project-or-guitar-kit

chromatuna · May 2023

Now that’s attractive @FelineGuitars ;

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So if you build a guitar what about the frets?

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