After several years of woodshedding, the frets on this Fender '57 AVRI Strat are worn resulting in fret buzz. A re-fret is in order and the owner of the instrument chose to go with my preferred and highly recommended fretwire, which is similar to the popular Dunlop 6105 fretwire. The fretwire I use is 0.010" narrower than the 6105s.

The frets are removed cleanly from the fret slots. Fender frets and then finishes the neck with a vintage toner. That explains the discoloration along the fret slot. The finish on the subject neck is pretty thick and the new frets will not sit into the fret due to the thickness of the finish. After discussing with the owner of the instrument, we decided to strip the finish and oil and wax the neck instead of re-finishing in poly lacquer. We will do a "ErnieBall/Musicman" finish where the headstock is lacquered till the nut slot and the rest of the neck is oiled and waxed. I personally prefer the oiled/waxed finish over the thick polyurethane finish.

The fingerboard is sanded perfectly flat, fret slots cleaned up and re-cut. We’re now ready to remove the rest of the finish on the back of the neck.

The headstock area is masked and the finish on the back of the neck is removed by slowly chiselling away the thick polyurethane finish. It was quite fun.

The fingerboard and back of the neck is oiled and waxed. We're ready to fret.

The frets are seated, filed flush, beveled, dressed and crowned. I’m very particular about fret dressing and pay a lot of attention so I don’t remove more than necessary material.

The guitar is strung up so the new Tusq nut could be slotted.

The Tusq nut is slotted and the set up process begins.

The electronics were changed out to a new CRL 5-way switch, CTS pots, Orange Drop cap, and a Callaham baseplate to tame the bridge pickup.

The guitar is set up and all ready to go.