After 3 years of woodshedding, the frets on this Ibanez S520EX 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.

The fingerboard is prepped and ready for the new frets. The prepping process involves levelling the fingerboard, cleaning and re-cutting the fret slots if necessary.

The frets are seated, filed flush, beveled, dressed, crowned and polished. Thanks to the immaculate prep work, only a very light dressing is required. I’m very particular about fret dressing and pay close attention so I don’t remove more material than necessary. The edge of the fingerboard is also re-finished.

The guitar is strung, set up and ready to go.

Here’s the customer’s comment on the guitar. Hey man, Here's some feedback for you regarding the wonderful setup you did. :) I'm very pleased with the way you handled the guitar, lots of care and attention, very nice.  It really puts my heart at ease, I've seen techs grab my guitar (in the bag) and just swing (yes, swing) the whole thing by the neck into some corner. In anycase, when I got the guitar back, first thing I noticed what how comfortable the action felt and how smooth the frets were. Then I noticed the lack of fret buzz!  That was something I have lived with for some time.  Then the tuning was great!  Back home, I was playing all high up the neck and going crazy there.  I used to always have this nagging feeling at the back of my head that my intonation ain't perfect (tried to do it right with the tu12) and it made me sort of hold back from going up the neck. Tone wise, I think I do notice something.   Yeah, you did lower the bridge pup but you lowered the trem too and I think the string distance to the bridge pup is almost the same as last time...  but the difference isn't that.  I think its the thinner frets or the better intonation or the lack of buzz.  Its SOMETHING alright.  The tone of the guitar sounds more... there's more snap to it when I dig in.  Its very obvious and I love it, very Paul Gilbert.  Then for the high up (frets > 12) playing, the neck pup sings clearer and seems to breath better.  No buzz there.  And just recently, 2 hrs back, I played with the neck pup high up and that tone sounded FRESH! All in all, I really like the playability.   Oh yeah, the trem being stiffer?  Its okay, I actually find it nice.  Also, you were saying that there would be less/no flutter?  Its still there. :)  A little less but yeah, its all I need.