Refretting Mandolins
Partial Refret on a Gibson F-5 Mandolin
Grooves worn in the frets by the strings.
This relatively new Gibson F-5 is a perfect candidate for a partial refret. When fret wear is centralized to the first 5 to 7 frets, and the remaining frets have a fair amount of height left, it is often possible to replace only those frets showing wear. You can easily spot the grooves worn into the frets by the strings in the picture above. This tells me the instrument is being played and fret wear is unavoidable, unless you don't play it.
When the wear extends to more than 7 frets I normally suggest a complete refret, it just depends. When performing complete refrets we can sand the fingerboard and plane it if necessary. Not an option when we've only pulled a few frets.
If the fret height on this Mandolin had been shortened by a previous fret leveling this may not have been an option because it would be a waste to replace frets and then file them down to match the short height of those that had not been replaced. Very low fret height can cause buzzing and the need to exert more than usual pressure in an attempt to avoid it.
Even though we are replacing only the first 7 frets, we will still need to do a light fret leveling and blend the new frets into the remaining original frets.
Because we are performing a partial refret on this Mandolin and because I want it to look original I'm going to do my best to save the small binding nubs visible in this picture. Can I do it, I sure hope so!
Binding Nubs
These nubs are a portion of the necks binding that remains after the factory scrapes the binding flush with the thickness of the fingerboard. When boards have binding nubs, the manufacturer most likely fretted the fingerboard first, then added the binding to the sides and then scraped the binding level with the thickness of the fingerboard.
In order to avoid damaging the binding I have to be extremely gentle thru each step. The fret slots have to be cleaned of old glue and prepped to accept our new fret wire.
Fret Slot Cleaning
I've pulled the first 5 of 7 and done my best to avoid chipping the board or damaging the binding while removing the frets.
My tool of choice for cleaning out fret slots is the hooked tool seen in this photo. Using a saw to clean or deepen fret slots on a bound fingerboard is a dangerous proposition and I already have enough excitement in my life. Scraping the slots clean can be hard on the fingers and quite time consuming but it insures a much better outcome, my primary goal!
New Frets
Each fret was cut and filed by hand to fit precisely between the outer binding and it's nubs, not a job for the impatient. If you take a peek you can see the first 7 frets which I replaced.....or can you?
Leveled Frets
After the new frets were tapped in and seated I leveled them with a flat file, or in this case a perfectly flat piece of square bar. Here you can see the flattened tops and the marks left by filing.
Crowned Frets
The leveled frets are then crowned using a special file who's cutting surface is concaved and matches the crown of the fret wire being used. The remaining scratches are polished out using sandpaper and Micro-mesh and we're nearly ready for a test drive...right after I replace the nut.
Once the frets have been replaced on an instrument it is often necessary to shim or replace the nut, especially if the instrument had low action to begin with. The new frets are slightly taller than the old ones, at least we hope they are or we just wasted some time 
, and the slots in the nut are now a bit too deep to keep the strings from hitting the frets. I make a new bone nut for this one and it's ready for a test drive.
Next...Complete Refret of a Vintage Gibson A-5
Interested in reading more about my refretting techniques? Check out my Guitar Refretting Page.
