Fret dress or refret?

[Angus]

Definitely a refret on the Warwick. And do yourself a favor- get rid of the brass frets. Brass is soft, so I don't know where people seem to get the idea that they are harder than the standard nickel-silver frets. I've seen so many used Warwicks with malled brass frets that I'd never even buy one used.

Remove frets, toss them, and put some standard fretwire in. If you want softer frets like the brass ones, just ask for 12% nickel silver frets.

You could technically still do a big dressing on the current frets, but it'll be almost as expensive and you'll still end up having to do it again anyway.

 

[Turnaround]

Hi,
Looking at the photos I would recommend a complete re-fret. While it may be possible to dress them it would require the frets to become too low to have optimum playability. When a bass in this condition comes through my shop I usually recommend a re-fret because that will ensure excellent playability for many years to come. Low frets also cause poor intonation.

Sorry, but I have to disagree. Many players prefer mandolin or banjo frets on their basses beacuse they feel that they give better intonation. What's left of the frets in the pictured bass is still quite a bit bigger than mandolin frets. So I say dress them.

 

[PilbaraBass]

Hitting the E and A strings, especially with a pick does give a little buzz. It's not unplayable by any means but I think the time is coming when I need to think about a refret.

A maple neck refret is a bit pricy too

one refret every 25 years is pretty good, wouldn't you say?

 

[Angus]

Many players prefer mandolin or banjo frets on their basses beacuse they feel that they give better intonation.

I'm in this group. Better tone, too, imo.

 

[the low one]

one refret every 25 years is pretty good, wouldn't you say?

I've only had the bass half that time but yes you're right.

 

[gfried84]

I was not referring to the size of the frets but the height of the frets. When frets become low they become flat on the top and the string no longer touches the crown of the fret. Mandolin or banjo frets are low but the crown is well defined. Flat frets are bad for intonation.

 

[Akami]

As long as there's enough fret left then they can still be good candidates for dressing, which will remove the flat profile. Basically, if there's enough left to turn them into mandolin or banjo sized frets, big savings on labor and time waiting for a full refret.