Anyone have any thoughts on how you'd go about refretting an aluminum necked guitar?

A buddy has one made by a maker who is now out of the business and he's played it so much that it needs new frets. He's afraid to put it in the mail to Chris Jury, though he has a CJ and loves it.

We're in the Southeastern US. Less distance traveled, the better. This is a pretty rare guitar by a maker I'd never heard of.

He may be the only aluminum guitar guy I know who is not on the forum.

p.s.- It's a Greg Bailey, turns out.

Not that he has the greatest turnaround or reputation sometimes but isn't Kevin like one state over?

Am I weird for playing guitar for over 30 years and I don't think I've ever 'worn out' frets.

dontfeartheringo wrote: Mon Jun 09, 2025 2:11 pm Anyone have any thoughts on how you'd go about refretting an aluminum necked guitar?

Is it a wood fretboard? If so I dont know how it'd be any different than refretting a standard neck.

An aluminum fretboards I dont know how (or if) thye are installed. I kinda figured the frets would be all the same piece of aluminum, thus non-refrettable.

I strongly doubt you could have usable aluminum frets, they’d be gone in a month.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Mon Jun 09, 2025 4:08 pm

dontfeartheringo wrote: Mon Jun 09, 2025 2:11 pm Anyone have any thoughts on how you'd go about refretting an aluminum necked guitar?

Is it a wood fretboard? If so I dont know how it'd be any different than refretting a standard neck.

An aluminum fretboards I dont know how (or if) thye are installed. I kinda figured the frets would be all the same piece of aluminum, thus non-refrettable.

I think they're installed like any other guitar, but a tech not familiar with a metal fretboard on an EGC could do some damage to the fretboard itself.

dontfeartheringo wrote:p.s.- It's a Greg Bailey, turns out.

If it's a wooden fretboard, yeah any decent tech should just be able to do a normal refret. Also in general way more techs seem familiar with these than 20+ years ago, at least in my limited experience.

The frets are likely glued in, as are many on wood necks. You can first just try pulling with end nippers, protecting the aluminum with some thing strong material

Bad news is the aluminum is going sink away heat, although the glue might release since it's between the fret and the neck on the tang. good news is it'll withstand solvents better, although the anodize might not. If heat didn't work, i would spot test some acetone on the anodize.
Also possible they're epoxied in (bleh)

It's an aluminum fretboard!

dontfeartheringo wrote: Mon Jun 09, 2025 6:35 pm It's an aluminum fretboard!

My bari egcs have aluminum fretboards. The fret slots are very narrow. I'm not sure if they are even glued in there...the tangs in the fret wire would probably keep them in place. But a tiny bit of the right glue would probably be enough.

The slots are so thin--I think it's probably a pretty specialized thing. I'd get Jury or Kevin to do it. Geoff Benge here in town might do it, dunno.

matttkkkk wrote: Mon Jun 09, 2025 4:15 pm I strongly doubt you could have usable aluminum frets, they’d be gone in a month.

LOL oh yeah.