Hello Folks.
I'm new round these parts, pretty much a lurker for most of the time. I've never really frequented any local forums, so this is a first for me right now. Nice to see a bunch of like-minded folks in a local setting such as this.
Anyway on to my story. My Ibanez Jem77FP was in dire need of a refret job. I had terrible amounts of fret wear, in certain parts of the neck, think A minor pentatonic positions. Other than the obvious kinks eaten into the fretwire by my abusive playing, the rest of the frets were all flattened out by string bending. A recrown or even a partial refret was not an option for me. I took her to Mark Stevens where I got a full refret done.
I would consider myself a discerning and a very particular player. Having the instrument for so long, I knew exactly that I wanted to see from the results of the refret. In other words I'm anal, very anal. No buzz, deadspots, were of course prerequisites.
But I wanted the fretjob to have that boutique custom shop feel you could only find on high end instruments. Because it's a time consuming process and also to meet production numbers, I believe only a few companies provide this service on their guitars, rounding each and every fret end; so much so that when you run your fretting hand down the neck of the guitar all you feel is smoothness. Most companies today take the easy way out and just use a standard fret end bevelling block and run it down the edges of the neck. I hated this feel in guitar necks. What you would get in the end would be bits of fret inevitably sticking out and eating into your fret hand.
It's a very laborous task, after doing the whole fret job (crowning/leveling etc.) to file each and every single fret end down to my specifications.
I've been going to Mark since I was a teen, that just about 7 years now. Everything from simple guitar setups to pickup changes, right to modifications in electronics of my guitars he has done for me. Even from minor work such at these he has always been generous with the amount of advice he has given me, consulting me every single step of the way making sure he does the job to achieve the results I wanted.
I must say I had my initial doubts as to what the end result would be, not really because I was doubtful of his capabilities but more so my little insecurities because this guitar meant the world to me.
Nonetheless I trusted him completely with this job and he delivered, consulting me at every single stage of the job, right down to the fretwire size to the finish of the fret ends.
This is the result.
I just got her back the other day, and needless to say I'm very impressed with the work done on my guitar. I took her right away to a recording session, and spent the whole night playing.
Thanks Mark you've just made me a very very happy guitarist. Everything I wanted and expected you delivered and even more!
I'll be sending her back to you in another 7 years or so for another refret.
More images and words here folks...
http://lollerskater.blogspot.com/2005/10/guess-whos-back.html
Christopher.
I'm new round these parts, pretty much a lurker for most of the time. I've never really frequented any local forums, so this is a first for me right now. Nice to see a bunch of like-minded folks in a local setting such as this.
Anyway on to my story. My Ibanez Jem77FP was in dire need of a refret job. I had terrible amounts of fret wear, in certain parts of the neck, think A minor pentatonic positions. Other than the obvious kinks eaten into the fretwire by my abusive playing, the rest of the frets were all flattened out by string bending. A recrown or even a partial refret was not an option for me. I took her to Mark Stevens where I got a full refret done.
I would consider myself a discerning and a very particular player. Having the instrument for so long, I knew exactly that I wanted to see from the results of the refret. In other words I'm anal, very anal. No buzz, deadspots, were of course prerequisites.
But I wanted the fretjob to have that boutique custom shop feel you could only find on high end instruments. Because it's a time consuming process and also to meet production numbers, I believe only a few companies provide this service on their guitars, rounding each and every fret end; so much so that when you run your fretting hand down the neck of the guitar all you feel is smoothness. Most companies today take the easy way out and just use a standard fret end bevelling block and run it down the edges of the neck. I hated this feel in guitar necks. What you would get in the end would be bits of fret inevitably sticking out and eating into your fret hand.
It's a very laborous task, after doing the whole fret job (crowning/leveling etc.) to file each and every single fret end down to my specifications.
I've been going to Mark since I was a teen, that just about 7 years now. Everything from simple guitar setups to pickup changes, right to modifications in electronics of my guitars he has done for me. Even from minor work such at these he has always been generous with the amount of advice he has given me, consulting me every single step of the way making sure he does the job to achieve the results I wanted.
I must say I had my initial doubts as to what the end result would be, not really because I was doubtful of his capabilities but more so my little insecurities because this guitar meant the world to me.
Nonetheless I trusted him completely with this job and he delivered, consulting me at every single stage of the job, right down to the fretwire size to the finish of the fret ends.
This is the result.
I just got her back the other day, and needless to say I'm very impressed with the work done on my guitar. I took her right away to a recording session, and spent the whole night playing.
Thanks Mark you've just made me a very very happy guitarist. Everything I wanted and expected you delivered and even more!
I'll be sending her back to you in another 7 years or so for another refret.
More images and words here folks...
http://lollerskater.blogspot.com/2005/10/guess-whos-back.html
Christopher.
