What frets are on the Jem7VWH?

WildWayz · #1 07-02-2002, 02:02 PM

Hi ya

I took my guitar into be professionally setup and was told that they cannot get the action low because the guitar needs re-fretting. Also the neck is everso slightly twisted (by a mm or two).

Anyway, I got in contact with Jon Haire in Peterborough (UK) as he has been recommended by a lot of different people. He asked me what fret wire I want on my Jem7VWH so...
1. What frets does a '93 Jem7VWH have?
2. Are there any better frets?

Thanks

James

littlegreenman · #2 07-02-2002, 02:10 PM

Dunlop 6105 fretwire. It's as good as you can get.

If your neck is twisted by a millimeter or more though, he may need to level the fretboard, that is a lot. but, to say they can't get your action low because of the frets is probably BS. Unless they are worn down so far that there is no room for levelling, there is no reason they can't be levelled and polished. My thought is more along the lines of if your neck is twisted, that will be the reason you can't get low action.

These guys can do a refret too hehehe

oops, but your united kingdom so you prolly don't wanna ship it that far LOL

WildWayz · #3 07-02-2002, 02:17 PM

heehee - I was looking at your site today and it looks sweet

Here's the pics of the guitar as it is...
http://www.dvd-critic.net/files/jem7...re_refretting/

TBH - I didn't really buy into the concept that they cannot get the action down. They claim some frets are flat on top and some are rounded still, so as soon as they lower it, the notes start hitting dead spots.
(pic below)

They also said I shouldn't worry about the twisted neck (pic below)

James

littlegreenman · #4 07-02-2002, 04:16 PM

You have lots of fret left for a level and crowning. I don't think you need a refret, just a good levelling. It's hard to tell from pictures, but from that first pic down the neck, it looks pretty twisted, I would get that taken care of, which will probably require refretting anyway, but I'd get it checked by a company more "in the know"

WildWayz · #5 07-02-2002, 05:01 PM

Thanks m8

The shop I took it to before I don't think knew what they were doing.
Their luthier wouldn't touch the guitar cos it was expensive - I mean, WTF?

Anyway Jon Haire in Peterborough is meant to be sh*thot and from what people have told me, he wants YOU to be happy.

When I called him, he said "I really cannot comment on the guitar until I see it. Bring it in and we can sit down and work out what frets you want and how you want it set up. I will also assess it for free and advise you if it DOES need a refret or just a fretdress".
So tomorrow I am taking it there

Hopefully the neck isn't a write off

I think it must have been damaged in transit (it's 2nd hand) - and I trust the guy who sold me it (he's a Jemsiter).

James

Jeroenn · #6 07-02-2002, 07:17 PM

That does look twisted. For how long did you have this guitar?
I would suggest you make sure that the neck is fixable before putting money on it. A new 7v neck is about 500 EUR, that is *if* your distributor is willing to take the paperwork and crap to get you a new one. Also, the dutch Ibanez dist. has its own repair shop (quality!), I don't know about the UK?

WildWayz · #7 07-02-2002, 07:32 PM

I've had it about urm 4 weeks - maybe 5 weeks now.
When I got it, it looked fine (never noticed the twist) - well, I kinda did but thought it was just a truss rod adjustment needed.
Also the action was way off too.
I was heading out on holiday to Canada that week, so I left it with the guitar shop where I have lessons to be 'professionally' setup.

In all honesty the only change I could see was new strings. Action was still WAY too high. They said they lowered the action and the notes would be dead, so they raised it until all the notes were clear again.
It was then they told me it needs a re-fret.
I then showed the pictures before the refret on uk.music.guitar newsgroup where someone pointed out the neck is twisted.

I then told the guitar store about this and they said a re-fret should solve that as the twist wasn't too bad... but they won't do the re-fret because of the value of the guitar and they don't wanna balls it up (TBH - the guitar tech didn't seem to know what he was doing).

Anyway, tomorrow I will show this Jon Haire guy the guitar, and see what a professional guitar repairer/maker says about it.

James

PerKr · #8 07-02-2002, 07:55 PM

hmm... I can´t see the twist in that neck... the whole guitar seems to be tilted in the pic, but that´s all I can see... could someone please point out what makes it so obvious to you? it just seems fine to me, and that´s really annoying since you´re saying it´s twisted...

Two hands31 · #9 07-02-2002, 09:39 PM

If nothing else, those are some decent pics of some parts of the VWH that get ignored (back of Lo-Pro, I've never actually seen that before (see my post in Offtopic forum)).

littlegreenman · #10 07-02-2002, 10:29 PM

It's hard to say how much twist is actually there, I just took the image into paint and put a couple lines across of the frets, and it doesn't look that twisted in teh picture actually. I think the different size's of strings have it appearing twisted more than it is.

Dude, if you were just in Canada, you should have brought it!!! LOL

Anyway, due to climate changes etc, the seller may have sold a perfect straight guitar, they do move. lots in some cases. In another couple weeks, that could be back to perfect again, it's hard to say. Plus, I can't guess how bad a twist is just from a picture

Rich · #11 07-02-2002, 11:10 PM

It's pretty tough to tell with those pics, if you see it it's there, just make sure the body is perfectly horizontal (which it isn't in those pics) when looking. A little tiny twist really isn't a problem, and since it's 9 years old I'd figure it's probably stable. If it's a minor twist I'd say go to work looking for low or high/low frets instead of worrying about twist. Lower the action down to where you want it and play it, see where it dies, check those frets with a straight edge.

caprile · #12 07-02-2002, 11:39 PM

my catalog says warmoth frets. is it dunlop distributed by warmoth?

WildWayz · #13 07-03-2002, 02:03 AM

Thanks peeps

James

WildWayz · #14 07-03-2002, 09:58 AM

aaah just got back from John Haire.
He is SUCH a nice bloke!

His workshop was hard to find, but there was a guitar shop near by so I asked them (turns out it was 100yards on the other direction

).

I showed him the guitar, and the 1st thing he done was run a straight ruler along the fretboard. He done some measuring and said "Neck is nothing to worry about, in fact the twist is hardly there".

Now onto the refret. He told me it does NOT need refretting as the fret heights are about 1.8-1.9 and he said it is when they get about 0.x then I should think about it. He did say he needs to give it a fret dress tho - level out all the frets, set up the locking nut bit and set the action properly.
All in all, instead of paying £120-£140, I only have to pay £68 (fretdress, strings, LoPro setup etc) for all the work.

He isn't gonna do the action until I pick it up this saturday as he wants me to sit down with it and tell him how *I* want the action, then he will do it on the spot.

He showed me a guitar he made. WOW - VERY nice. It was like a PRS and the tone was outstanding! I wanted it :~(

So all in all, no re-fret needed and I will have my baby back on Saturday!

Highly recommended if you live in the UK.

James

Jeroenn · #15 07-03-2002, 10:30 AM

Cool, great news! Enjoy your new axe then :-)