These prices reflect our base costs. This price list should only be used to gauge what any minimum service fee might be, just to make sure our base prices do not exceed what you were expecting.
Payments are usually done in three installments:
$100 non refundable deposit for the assessment (fully credited towards the service)
50% of balance before we start the service
balance when work is completed and before we ship the neck back to you
When we receive your package you will receive a link to a live stream. This is when we open your package and do a full assessment of the neck, and also recommend services. During the full assessment the neck will be installed on a surrogate guitar body and strings will be installed. After the completion of the live stream assessment you will receive a service estimate (there might be more than one service option). After you approve the estimate we will send you an invoice for 50% of the balance.
Please note that we will have to use at least pack of strings, and possibly two (one during the assessment and one for the service). We service and test every neck with strings on, to make sure the neck performs as expected, under string tension. Strings, fretwire, nut blanks and other materials are charged separately. The following prices are the base costs for most of the common services, not including material costs. In some cases, more than one service will have to be combined.
IMPORTANT: sales tax will be added to all these costs, as required by law. This cannot be avoided.
premium fret dressing - $105 (base cost)
Every neck that we service will receive a premium fret dressing. If that's all that the neck needs, that's all we will do.
fret end dressing - $65 (additional cost)
If the frets are "sprouting" and the fret ends are sharp to the touch, we cannot just do a premium fret dressing service and leave the fret ends sharp. In that case the fret ends will be filed first, then a full premium fret dressing service will be done to complete the job, so this cost is added to the premium fret dressing fee.
fret glueing - $85 (base cost)
When frets are not seated properly, in some cases, we might be able to get away with flooding the sides of the crowns and the fret ends, with low viscosity CA glue. This is a tedious job and is really something that will have to be discussed on a case-per-case basis, as in some cases the only proper thing to do is to refret the entire neck.
nut optimization - $65 (base cost)
Most pre-installed 6-string guitar nuts can be filed down at the $65 base cost. If the neck is for a 7-string or 8-string guitar, the cost might be more. If the guitar has a locking nut (such as Floyd Rose) there only thing we can do is to add or remove shims, in which case we do not charge anything at all.
nut replacement - $95 (base cost)
This service can range widely in costs. It depends if the old nut comes out easily, or is already missing. It depends if we need to do a nut shelf repair, if we can install a pre-fabricated nut or if full fabrication is the only option.
bone nut UV filling - $65
If your guitar has a damaged bone nut, it might be appropriate to do a UV filling, using dental composites. This is normally done on a vintage guitar, where it is important to preserve the original nut. It is usually only done on a single string, as it might not be cost effective to do a filling on more than one string. If your nut material is not bone, a UV filling is not recommended and on some materials it is actually impossible. In some cases, a different filling option might be available and would be discusses on a case-per-cases basis.
Level Crown & Polish - $325 (base cost)
This service includes a full premium fret dressing service, as well as nut optimization. This service can cost more if there are issues, such as severe fret wear, finish sprayed over the frets, wiggly frets, fret radius adjustment, etc... Most of the times this service is resolved at the base cost of $325 and if it will end up costing more, we will let you know when we send out the estimate. If you are aware of any known issues, you should be mentally prepared that there would be an up charge. If the frets are worn beyond a certain threshold, if the frets have already been leveled before, if the neck has a severe twist or differential relief, this service might likely not be an option.
refret - $525 (base cost)
It is important to emphasize that refrets can vary greatly in complexity and in the time it takes to complete the work, which means they can also vary widely in costs. This is just the minimum base cost or a neck without binding and with no additional issues. Every refret will include a full Level Crown & Polish, which also includes a full premium fret dress.
stainless steel fret surcharge - $105 (base cost)
Stainless steel is harder to work with and wears-down our tools faster. There is more than one kind of stainless steel and some stainless steel alloys are significantly harder than others.
fingerboard resurfacing - $125 (base cost)
With every refret, a light fingerboard resurfacing will be performed, before the new frets are installed. Than service is standard and is included with the cost of the refret. There are exceptions when that is not done (to preserve the original relic of the fingerboard, etc). However, in some cases deep resurfacing is needed and significantly more time will be spent resurfacing. Some cases include a back-bow correction, neck twist correction, differential relief correction, radius correction, etc.
fingerboard respraying - $85 (base cost)
In some cases a maple fingerboard needs to be stripped, and re-sprayed. This combined service starts at $85, if the stripping of the old finish did not cause any major challenges.
string tree install - $45 (base cost)
When aligning and drilling needs to be done to install a string tree, the service cost starts at $45. If it turns out to be more complicated, the cost will be adjusted, but if there is a pre-existing hole and the string tree fits right in, perfectly, there is no charge.
tuning machine set install - $25 (base cost)
When a set of tuning machines fits perfectly, it will only cost $25 to put them on. But please note that if any plugging, drilling, reaming or screw extractions need to be done, the cost of this service can noticeably increase. Also, if you send us a neck without any tuning machines, and we have to install our own set of tuner, to do the services, there will be a tuning machine install fee.
fret cheese removal surcharge - $95 (base cost)
This is not anyone's favorite service. In some cases customers drop off guitars with decades of accumulated "cheese" on the fretboard. That "cheese" is not a dairy product. It is an accumulation of dead skin particles, dirt, dried up sweat, buggers, barbecue sauce, bodily fluids and anything else you can imagine. It is not a pleasant job to remove all that and it cannot be done for free. Usually we need to do that service in a separate area, so that the "cheese" doesn't get stuck in the fibers of the carpet that cover the workbench. This service fee can easily be avoided by simply not sending the guitar neck in that condition.
Fretwork Pricing
Please note that in many cases these services need to be combined to complete the work. We will do whatever if humanly possible to keep the costs reasonable, and in some cases it might be even possible that combined services will have some overlapping costs that will make the combined service more cost effective.
IMPORTANT: sales tax will be added to all these costs, as required by law. This cannot be avoided.
