Re-Fret by Frank Falbo on my BSB...

davenit · #1 09-13-2005, 02:47 PM

Yesterday I received my guitar back from Frank. I can't begin to tell all of you the quality job this man did for me. The only guitar I have ever played that had lower action was a zero radius Vigier. He also shaved the neck pocket for me a little bit. Everything is perfect. The frets are finished wonderfully. No fretting out and the action is miles below spec...

Believe it or not he also fixed the combo latch on my case for me. It was busted when I sent it to him and came back fixed... He didn't even mention it.

I will be sending him a couple more to do in the next month or so...

Not sure if this is the right place for this post, but I just thought others would want to know...

JM5150 · #2 09-13-2005, 05:51 PM

Great to hear. How much did you have to pay for it to be done?

Thanks!

davenit · #3 09-13-2005, 06:21 PM

His refrets are in the low $200's depending on the wood and if there is binding, but because he also installed a slight neck angle into my neck pocket it was a little more. Very reasonable stuff for such a great job...

I doubt fixing the latch on my case is included either... LOL...

sniperfrommars1 · #4 09-13-2005, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davenit

His refrets are in the low $200's depending on the wood and if there is binding, but because he also installed a slight neck angle into my neck pocket it was a little more. Very reasonable stuff for such a great job...

I doubt fixing the latch on my case is included either... LOL...

thats service right there. How worn were your frets to require a refret though?

davenit · #5 09-13-2005, 09:02 PM

Good enough wear, plus some were lifting and no matter what anyone says, Ibanez necks aren't the greatest out of the box... :-)

Knowing what I know now, I will budget this into my guitars from now on. The difference is just unbelievable...

Chris From Singapore. · #6 09-16-2005, 01:50 AM

Nice to hear that! I'm expecting my floral back from my local tech soon as well. Nine years of abuse have made my baby in need of a refret as well!

Expect some pics soon...

fettouhi · #7 09-16-2005, 03:00 AM

Congratz

.

Regards

André

**jemaholic** · #8 09-16-2005, 01:52 PM

I have a FF guitar too. Very nice work!
Congrats!

-Jemaholic

Vladdrac · #9 09-17-2005, 09:17 PM

Hi..
i have a BSB too..did you change go for the same fretwire or change to jumbo?..
can we see pictures of the fretting job?..

cheers,
Vladdrac

Chris From Singapore. · #10 09-18-2005, 01:35 AM

Can anyone give me some pointers as to what constitutes as a good fret job?

I'm expecting my guitar back soon and I need somewhere to start.

JESTER700 · #11 09-18-2005, 09:28 AM

Well, it should be buzz free, if setup was included. There should be no high or low frets. Fret ends should be smooth. There should be a nicely rounded crown (I've had a job where the leveling was fine, but I think his version of "crowning" was a few passes with steel wool). They should be smooth (I had a different fret job where the level & crowns were fine, but there were still file marks parallel to the neck length that made bends "scratchy"). Actually, *I've* never had what I consider a good fret job. But I've only had two, and I've played on guitars that had good ones, so I *know* they exist...

BTW, this is one reason I currently favor stainless frets - much less worry about having to deal with this when they wear down.

timi_h · #12 09-18-2005, 11:56 AM

im waiting for some titanium frets to come into production, that stuffs so hard it snaps drill bits

gpenguins · #13 09-19-2005, 08:51 PM

I'm on a good trading basis with Frank, as we live about 20 miles from each other (he's a good friend of mine,too), and I can't say enough about his skills working on guitars. I've brought some guitars to him that I've gotten off of the auction site that we dare not speak of and he's done some wonderful work to make them into playable instruments. I saw the before and after of Dave's BSB, and the difference was unbelievable. I also just sold an RG550 to Jemsiter zct that Frank did an incredible setup on before I shipped it, and he had nothing but compliments about the action.

And, if you're intersted in doing some cool things with electronics, Frank pretty innovative in that area, too. He's made some pretty cool combinations lately by splitting the coils of different Dimarzios and making cool custom pickups that are tonally completely cool. But, that's another discussion...