would it be a Cardinal sin to .....

[Fumble fingers]

Would it be a Cardinal sin to re-fret my 1984 Cavalier with medium jumbo frets ?? I believe it came with the vintage frets stock ...... I'm having a hard time adjusting to the small vintage frets and I don't play as good on them , this guitar is not mint looking but a great player and don't look bad a few feet away ..... I either need to make the guitar to suit my needs with larger frets ( I like the tone of it and general feel other than fret size ) or sell it and get something that feels better ..... If I re-fret I'll get stainless steel with medium jumbo fret size like my 1996 and newer guitars

what do you guy's think ??

Eric

[MJ Slaughter]

If I had a guitar that I really liked, planned on keeping a while and the only thing making it great were the frets I would do it. Unless something has real collectible value I don't care if I alter an old guitar. If it did have a high collectors value and I didn't like the neck/frets I'd just sell it.

+1 for the stainless frets. I intend to use stainless for my next refret on a keeper guitar.

[KenC]

Eric,

I may be mixed up on the terminology, but none of my '80s G&Ls have vintage frets (thinking "vintage" means the thin fret wire used on a lot of guitars in the '50s and '60s). Are you sure yours are original to the instrument?

Ken

[Fumble fingers]

they are the thin small frets , it has had a re-fret before so I don't really know what came stock , my tech called them vintage and they are way smaller than every other G&L I own .... It's not a cherry original and I do like the guitar , other than the frets I like it

[NickHorne]

If you're liking the tone and the feel, you're 90% of the way to guitar happiness.
Just be sure you get a really good guy to do the refret, and don't look back.
The guitar you have is not directly replaceable, so you want to be sure you get a proper job done on its neck.
But "collectible" is not what it's for, it's for playing! I'd do it for certain.

[Craig]

they are the thin small frets , it has had a re-fret before so I don't really know what came stock , my tech called them vintage and they are way smaller than every other G&L I own .... It's not a cherry original and I do like the guitar , other than the frets I like it

The original frets were flat-wide (aka low-wide) and all pre-BBE guitars had them.

Given that the original frets were previously replaced, I would not hesitate to replace the current ones.

[Ray Barbee Music]

^^^^

[Fumble fingers]

I think I will get er done as that's the only thing keeping me from totally being in love with it , seems like the small narrow frets has me hitting some dead notes that are fine with medium jumbo's

[Fumble fingers]

Just picked up the Cavalier today from getting a stainless steel re-fret with medium jumbo fret wire ..... what a difference !! .... the medium jumbo plays better for me over the Vintage but the stainless frets make it so easy to do bends that I wish I would have ordered my new G&L's with SS frets .... anybody on the fence about SS frets ??... don't hesitate , it's worth it

[Case24]

Glad to hear you're really liking it now.

[ant_riv]

Great to hear that you are liking the guitar more with the new frets!

Do you have any pics with the new frets?

[Fumble fingers]

no pictures yet , but they look like a factory set up , If I never said anything no one would notice ..... the Cavalier is now my favorite G&L of all ...... I do have my 1997 S 500 and 1986 Rampage out getting a SS fret job right now , should get back next week end .... I will take some pictures when I get them back ..... Frets by Mark is who's doing them , Mark Kiaser does a fabulous job re-fretting

[Salmon]

Do whatever it takes to enjoy playing that thing or sell it immediately.