Refret on a Vintage Kel Kroydon Acoustic

Kel Kroydon guitars were no-frills, economical instruments made by Gibson during the Great Depression. This is a good example of how we re-fret a guitar.

When this Kel Kroydon  arrived in our shop, it was suffering from a case of excessive relief, or “front-bow” where the tension of the steel strings has pulled the wood into a slightly curved shape. With most modern guitars, this condition is easily corrected by a turn of the truss rod. However a guitar like this one,  made between 1931 and 1933, doesn’t have a truss rod. So we have to pull the frets and re-level the fretboard to ensure great action and clear-sounding notes.

Upon closer inspection, we realized that this guitar has been re-fretted before and that the tongue is now pretty thin. Most fret-boards need to be leveled before the frets are installed but the shop that did this last one just went a little far. Now the board is just deep enough for the fret tang to grab so we’ll be careful not to overdo it!

We start by heating and carefully removing the old frets. Heating the wire softens any glue that may be holding it in place.

Next we stabilize the neck on a jig and level the fretboard. Here, Dan is using adhesive sandpaper on a carpenters’ level to keep the playing surface perfectly even. He’s taking special care to keep this step to a minimum since it’s already been leveled very thin. There’s several layers of blue tape protecting the top shoulders of the guitar from the sandpaper.

After cleaning the board and each slot, he hammers in the new frets.

Then he trims the leftover fret-wire and uses a file to smooth and slightly bevel the edges.

Finally, he shapes and polishes each fret to a mirror shine.

With a fresh set of strings, the action is just right.

A quick strum proved that this small guitar, very lightweight in its construction, is as loud and clear sounding as many larger instruments. It’s a fingerpicker’s dream!