Gibson Les Paul Fretboard Replacement

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

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Question. My colleague knows of a LPC in need of a fretboard replacement. The story is the owner pulled the frets, ruined the binding and then proceeded to cut the fret slots both too deep and too wide.

My Luther friend says no big deal, just mill away the old board and install another and refinish/rebound.

I can get the guitar cheap and the offeted to do the work for around $500

Is this operation as easy as the Luther makes it sound???
 
............not trying to be difficult but the easiest thing to do would be buy one that isnt gooched---

However --- it doesnt SOUND that difficult for a pro with the propre tools/skills
 
Adrian, my brain has researched and computer bookmarked hundreds of how to's on many topics from auto repairs to guitar and amp builds n repairs to where to buy the best firearms etc.
 
received_10207184245428845.jpeg Here is a Lester he built from what he described as a lot of scraps...received_10207184204987834.jpegreceived_10207184245508847.jpeg received_10207184245228840.jpeg
 

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Robert Herndon said:
Question. My colleague knows of a LPC in need of a fretboard replacement. The story is the owner pulled the frets, ruined the binding and then proceeded to cut the fret slots both too deep and too wide.

My Luther friend says no big deal, just mill away the old board and install another and refinish/rebound.


I can get the guitar cheap and the offeted to do the work for around $500

Is this operation as easy as the Luther makes it sound???
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be a problem for a competent luthier. Myself, I would try to steam the fretboard off. But who knows, I am probably wrong. Steaming the board off might mess up the finish or do some other damage I haven't thought of.

At any rate $500.00 seems fair to pay a skilled craftsman for his work. Good luck!
 
shreddy bender said:
It shouldn't be a problem for a competent luthier. Myself, I would try to steam the fretboard off. But who knows, I am probably wrong. Steaming the board off might mess up the finish or do some other damage I haven't thought of.

At any rate $500.00 seems fair to pay a skilled craftsman for his work. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I'm just exploring options. While I do LOVE the black Les Paul's with Gold Hardware, I still have a soft spot on my heart for that kinda yellowy-orange burst with a figured maple top....
 
shreddy bender said:
At any rate $500.00 seems fair to pay a skilled craftsman for his work. Good luck!
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If nibs are involved, $500 is a gift. It is not a particularly difficult job in a shop. Here is where I may seem a bit ocd. I would want to be assured that OEM materials and proper techniques were used in the replacement. On a guitar that valuable, I'd want it put back to "stock."
Was it originally "fret over" binding?
 
Biddlin said:
If nibs are involved, $500 is a gift. It is not a particularly difficult job in a shop. Here is where I may seem a bit ocd. I would want to be assured that OEM materials and proper techniques were used in the replacement. On a guitar that valuable, I'd want it put back to "stock."
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Wise input, Biddlin...

I have seen this guy's work, so I have no doubt that he can do the job. He has done a lot of setup work for me and I send him a lot of work, so I am sure the price is really fair. I'm not looking at this from an investment standpoint, so as long as it looks good and is playable, I would be happy with it, but your points make a lot of sense.
 
I know whenever a nibbed fretjob is refretted and nibs restored, my luthier charges about $300-$350 just to do the refret. A quote to essentially redo a LPC top to bottom for $500 seems very reasonable.

And if it is me, I am losing the nibs and doing fret over binding. Screw nibs.
 
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Ok fellows....

Crazy as it sounds, I went ahead and made a deal on the boogered up fretboard LPC. I dealt through my luthier friend (who still has the guitar in his shop) and I paid $1400 for it. I told him to go ahead and start doing the work right away and that I don't want to see it until it's done...otherwise I will stress over what glue was used, etc., and end up hating it like I did this Gibson SG.

I guess time will tell....
 
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Now, this is kind of cool...the Luthier has asked me not to broadcast his name and such in public and I will respect that. But he has worked under Kris Derrig and one of his specialties is custom-made replicas. We have been discussing building a complete custom Gibson Doubleneck...an exact replica built with the very best materials, for less than the $6,499.00 price tag on a brand new EDS-1275...

This has got me thinking!!!!
 
JohnnyGoo said:
What color is it Robert ? Or did you already say.It will be a nice guitar when done
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I really, really wanted a heritage cherry suburst Les Paul...and I have for years, but at the ssme time, the kid in me loves black with gold hardware...this custom is black & gold.

I'm not sure how I am going to like living with the gold, but I love how it looks.

For the money, I couldn't pass it up.

The Luthier (Alex is his name) ended up taking the damaged custom in on trade for the Les Paul studio I posted previously in this thread, so he passed what I think is a very cool deal along to me.

As strange as this sounds, the previous owner started yanking the frets out right after he bought it. Its almost unbelievable someone would start nodding a new guitar like that, but Alex says its more common than you might think.

He has a brand new SG standard in the shop for repairs that the owner tried to install a split dismond on the headstock and dug out the inlay and installed a botched set of abalone inlays.

That guitar is getting a new fretboard and a headstock veneer.
 
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