Refretting In The Lower New York Area Without Breaking The Bank

[Rehashchap]

I'm looking to get my mandolin refretted somewhere in the lower New York area. I'm located in Westchester county so anywhere within a reasonable distance will do.

I play an Epiphone MM-50 F-style, which, while not being a particularly good instrument to start with, has had a lot of work and playing hours put into it. I installed a pickup system in the body, replaced the tuning heads, and have played the hell out of this thing to the point that it sounds significantly better than its off-the-shelf counterpart would, which would be a difficult test to conduct since the specific model has been discontinued, last I checked.

My issue is that I payed $500 for the mandolin, and combined with the pickup and tuners, I've spent about $650-$700 getting the mandolin to where it is now. With its bound neck, Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island, NY gave me a quote of $600 for the full refret. While I could put that money toward buying a new mandolin, I feel like I'd be backtracking in quality unless I dropped a full grand on a better mandolin, which I'm not quite ready to do. I feel like this little guy deserves to be kept in playing condition. So I would wonder if there is a luthier that could do a comparable job to Mandolin Brothers for a price that makes it more worth it given what I paid for the instrument.

[Mandoplumb]

Several years ago I was where you are with an Aria F-5 I wound up doing it myself not a perfect Job cosmetically but it made the mandolin play right again. First and last fret job I've done - wouldn't try on my more expensive mandolin but worked pretty good on that one. Is this a possibility for you?

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

I'm looking to get my mandolin refretted somewhere in the lower New York area.

No help here but just gotta say when I read the thread title, I thought "Lower New York' was used to describe a certain section of the fretboard, like "Florida" is used to describe the end.

OK carry on.

EDIT: To the OP: doing it yourself is definitely an option. I am sure there are places other than Mandolin Bros who can do a good job for less in NY. Also, do all the frets have to be replaced, or just the first 5 or 7? That can make a difference in price. Another option is mailing it out to someone outside NY if the price difference is big enough (you're looking at around $100 for round trip postage).

As a comparison: Around here a full refret would cost around 4-500 depending on who's doing it, and whether the neck is bound.

[Andy Miller]

$600 is quite a bit more than I can ask for a refret here in Chicago. I'd shop that around if I were you, too.
I just read an article in the GAL magazine about Evan Gluck at newyorkguitarrepair.com - you might try him.

[BradKlein]

Respected repair shops in NYC are TR Crandall, Mandolin Bros, Retrofret, Bob Jones, and Mamie Minch - Lark St in NJ. You should be able to find them all on the web. But in keeping w your budget, you might try a less well known place, perhaps outside the city where costs should be lower.

And you may well find that you don't need a full re-fret on that instrument as an earlier poster mentioned.

[pops1]

Are there enough of the frets left to simply level them? Should be way cheaper. I can't charge any where near $600 where i live.

[Rehashchap]

Also, do all the frets have to be replaced, or just the first 5 or 7? That can make a difference in price.

I realize I forgot to specify the amount of frets. I could definitely get away with replacing just the first 12, possibly less. But i also wanted to get bigger frets than what is currently on the mando, as I hear big frets are all the rage, and from what I've read they would benefit my playing more.

[Rehashchap]

Are there enough of the frets left to simply level them? Should be way cheaper. I can't charge any where near $600 where i live.

Unfortunately they have quite large divots in them. I really think I'd be sacrificing tone and even just general playability if i tried that.

[Nevin]

Did you take the mandolin in to get the quote or did you just phone or e-mail. Your mandolin may be in need of a fret leveling as mentioned above but a qualified person has to see it.

On another note, have you played a mandolin with bigger frets? In my experiance the quality of the fret job has much more influence than the size of the frets. If you can get the frets leveled at an affordable cost, that sounds better than having to spend more than the instrument is worth to get larger frets.

[Grommet]

I re-fretted my first mandolin a year or so after I did a fret level on it. I hadn't done any previous fretwork, but in both instances the instrument (Santa Rosa A style) played much better than new. Neither task was too difficult, but required some research, a few new tools, and very methodical approach. If I could have upgraded at that time instead I would have, as the fretwork was just a side job to resetting the failed neck joint. IMHO You already put alot into the MM-50. You could fix it yourself if you have the patience...or you could pull the new tuners and pick -up and set it free! For 600 bucks you would almost be in in used Breedlove A-style territory. The difference in quality would be substantial. My Santa Rosa still plays better than new with it's new radiused ebony finger board, wide EVO Gold frets, bone nut and Red Henry one piece maple bridge, but it only gets played if I don't have enough picking time to unlatch the case and take out the Pava.

[pops1]

You can level what seem to be large divots in the frets. You can also recrown them so the divots are small and not even have to level which i will do for myself if i don't have time to do a level and it will work for quite a long time. I personally do not like large frets and pulled frets in a new mandolin after a week to put in smaller wire. just couldn't get used to them.

[sgrexa]

My only suggestion if you do plan on getting all frets replaced is to go with EVO fretwire. It has a golden bronze color and lasts much longer than regular fretwire. The cost should be the same or maybe $5 more or so for materials. Well worth it IMO.

Sean

[Ron McMillan]

One of the benefits of living where I do (north Thailand) is that there are good luthiers around, and local prices are quite a bit friendlier than in the west. I just had my new A4 re-fretted (the maker shamelessly supplied it with a different wire from what we agreed upon, trying to fob me off with the lie that Evo Gold 37080 was 'not in stock' - it took me two minutes online to confirm that it was in stock).

I supplied the wire and the luthier here did a fine job for 1100 Thai Baht, or $33.70.

[With apologies to the OP for offering up nothing that might help his quest]

[Pete Jenner]

Are you sure it doesn't just need a level, crown and dress?