What a difference a great fret dress and setup make!

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I haven't done a thing to my Ibanez AF207 except play it since I got it new about 24 years ago. I'm pretty easy on my stuff, so it still looks like new despite being my only archtop for all that time. But the frets showed what I thought was significant wear, and I thought I was in for a refret. One of the reasons I got my new 16" Eastman was to have a second gigging archtop, so I could leave the AF with a luthier. I fully expected to be without it for weeks while it got new frets plus whatever neck and other work was necessary to bring it back to perfect playability.

I took it up to Guitars 'n Jazz for evaluation and whatever work it needed. Marc is the in-house luthier at GnJ - he does all the work on all those wonderful guitars that pass through. His setups on the guitars I've bought from Lou have been perfect, and he's a very nice guy to boot. So I had great faith that I'd pay a fair price for a lot of work. But he called me the next week to tell me that it didn't need frets and that it was ready to be picked up.

I didn't know it was possible to reshape, recrown, and polish frets like that. I don't know how he did it, but they're absolutely like new - there can't be more than a few thou reduction in height, since any change at all is undetectable to me. He adjusted the truss rod so there's minimal relief. He shifted and adjusted the bridge a bit for better intonation and optimized the string arch with hairline adjustment of the slots. It plays exactly as I like it, and it's absolutely as good as new but with a better setup.

It's set up with JS113s plus an 0.075 Chrome 7th and D'A NY XL 13 & 17. Here are two clips of it through the Blu 6 (mic'ed, not DI) - same tune, played FS and plectrum (Dunlop 207 Jazztone). Please ignore the crackling in a few spots - it's new, and I have to sort out the cause.

[sgosnell]

I often think that the primary reason players don't like a guitar and get rid of it is poor setup and adjustment. A really good fret level, and nut and saddle adjustments along with trussrod tweak, make a world of difference in how I perceive a guitar. Sometimes it takes me a few passes at it to get it perfect for me.

[bluejaybill]

I often think that the primary reason players don't like a guitar and get rid of it is poor setup and adjustment. A really good fret level, and nut and saddle adjustments along with trussrod tweak, make a world of difference in how I perceive a guitar. Sometimes it takes me a few passes at it to get it perfect for me.

Yes, and this is particularly true of vintage guitars, many say they hate them, when in many case they just need a good setup, or new frets.

I have an older R8 that I wasn't too crazy about, an extensive visit to my repair guy turned it into a new guitar. In fact better than it was new!

[2bornot2bop]

Lovely playing too!

[jazzkritter]

Never: you’re a better Lenny Breau than Lenny Breau!
Tasty playing there.
jk