Your guitar has started buzzing and choking out on a few notes, and you’re wondering if it needs a full refret. That’s a big repair, so it’s worth slowing down before you book one.
Plenty of worn frets can be saved with a lighter, cheaper job instead of new wire. The hard part is telling which camp your guitar falls into.
This guide walks through the warning signs techs actually check for. We also cover how long frets tend to last and when the bigger job is genuinely worth paying for.
One quick caveat: some players keep using badly worn fretboards for years with no real trouble, so the signs matter more than looks alone. Here’s how to tell whether you truly need a refret.
How to Tell If You Need a Refret
There are a handful of things to look out for before you commit to a refret. Most of these you can spot with a good light and a careful eye, though a luthier can confirm anything you’re unsure about.
Signs of Pitting on the Frets
These are spots on the frets where you’ll see small pits worn in by the strings over time. The frets may still be playable, but they’ll need to be dressed if they’re dished or dented.
You often see a lot of this on the original frets of a vintage guitar.
Worn or Rounded Fret Crowns
The crown of the fret is the part that sits above the fingerboard. If it has become worn flat or rounded, you’ll start to have intonation issues, because the crown needs a defined high point for the note to ring true.
Check the level across crowns too: if one fret sits lower than an adjacent fret, it can cause string buzz.
Bad Fret End Slots
If your frets aren’t seated tightly in their end slots, you’ll have tuning issues. Loose fret ends can also lift over time and catch your hand as you move along the neck.
Fret Height Under .020 Inch
If the frets are closer than .020 inch to the fingerboard, you’ll have intonation problems. If they’re higher than that but worn unevenly, the frets can feel sharp and create fret buzz.
Measuring fret height with a small gauge takes the guesswork out of this one.
Have You Seen a Luthier?
Have you taken the guitar to a good luthier for a fret dress or other setup work? If a pro has recently leveled and crowned the frets, then a full refret probably isn’t your issue, and the buzz may be coming from the nut, neck relief, or action instead.
What Problems Do Worn Frets Cause?
Worn frets can cause a number of intonation and playability issues. Worn frets tend to develop sharp, uneven edges, which puts the string under uneven pressure at the contact point.
This can create fret buzz, a buzzing noise that shows up when you play, and it leaves too little clean contact for the strings to vibrate properly.
Worn frets can also make the instrument play in tune in some spots and out of tune in others. When that happens, the strings aren’t fretting at a consistent height, so they vibrate at slightly different rates and the tone shifts as you move up the neck.
Keep playing a guitar in that state and there’s a good chance it won’t sound as good as it could.
How Much Fret Wear Is Too Much?
This is a hard question to answer because everyone has a different idea of what counts as “enough.” Still, here’s a rough guide to how much fret wear is too much.
When the frets are still around .020 inch above the fingerboard, many luthiers and music stores consider that “good enough.” The guitar will tune and play normally.
Once it starts to buzz or lose intonation, you know the frets have crossed the line.
When the remaining fret material drops well below that, the wear is usually past the point of a simple dress and a refret becomes the better fix.
How Long Do Guitar Frets Last?
How long frets last depends on how often you play. The more you play, the faster the frets wear.
In general, you should get at least a couple of years out of a set of frets if you play the guitar every day, and far longer with lighter use.
If you play your guitar hard one day and then don’t touch it for several months, the frets will obviously last longer than if you played daily. String type, technique, and even how much you bend notes all factor in.
How Much Does a Refret Cost?
Depending on the type of material you choose for the fret, a full refret can get a little expensive. Here are typical ballpark figures:
- Stainless steel frets: around $400.
- Nickel silver frets: around $300.
- Level, crown, and polish (fret dress): around $160.
A fret dress is the cheaper middle ground when the frets still have enough material left to reshape. A full refret replaces the wire entirely and is the bigger job.
Is It Worth It to Refret a Guitar?
It can be worth it, but it depends on the guitar. If the instrument isn’t worth very much, it may make more sense to replace the entire guitar neck instead of paying for a full refret.
If money is no object, you can absolutely have the refret done and keep the guitar you love. But if you’re on a tight budget and the guitar has little sentimental or resale value, it may be better off sold for parts or kept as a project rather than repaired.
How Many Times Can You Refret a Guitar?
You can refret a guitar multiple times. How many depends on the condition of the fretboard and how much wood is removed during each leveling.
Most luthiers say a typical fretboard can handle at least one or two more refrets before serious work is needed. After that, repeated sanding and leveling can leave the fretboard too thin for frets to seat and hold properly, at which point a fretboard replacement enters the picture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you refret a guitar yourself?
You can, but it’s an advanced job that involves pulling the old wire, leveling the fretboard, seating new frets, then leveling, crowning, and polishing them. Mistakes can ruin a fretboard, so most players are better off paying a luthier unless they have the right tools and a practice neck to learn on.
What’s the difference between a fret dress and a refret?
A fret dress levels, recrowns, and polishes the frets you already have, removing a little material to even them out. A refret pulls the worn frets entirely and installs new wire.
Dressing is cheaper and works when there’s still enough fret height left. A refret is needed once the frets are too low to dress.
Does a refret change how a guitar plays?
It can, in a good way. New frets restore clean intonation, eliminate buzz from worn spots, and let you set a lower action.
You can also choose a different fret wire size or material, such as taller stainless steel, which subtly changes the feel and how long the new frets last.
How do I know if it’s the frets or the setup causing buzz?
Buzz can come from low or uneven frets, but also from too little neck relief, a low nut slot, or very low action. If a recent setup didn’t fix the buzz and you can see visible wear or flat crowns, the frets are the likely cause.
A luthier can isolate the source in a few minutes.
Final Thoughts
As always, this is a recommendation based on experience and research rather than a hard rule.
The .020 inch guideline and the warning signs above are starting points. Your specific guitar may play fine with more wear, or it may buzz with less.
When in doubt, have a trusted luthier evaluate the neck before deciding between a fret dress, a full refret, or a neck replacement. The right call depends on the guitar’s value, how much fretboard you’ve left to work with, and how the instrument plays today.
Hopefully this has given you a clear picture of when a guitar needs a refret, how long frets last, and what the job costs, so you can keep your instrument playing in tune for years to come.
