Setups, fret levelling and refrets

“My guitar has never played this well!”

Setups

  • “My guitar has never played this well!”

This is something we’re always happy to hear, and we hear it a lot!

Check out more customer reviews below, on Google and on our Facebook page.

There are several adjustments you can make to a guitar (or any stringed instrument). The main ones are truss rod, bridge height, intonation and nut slot depth. When they are properly set the guitar will be a joy to play.

At Agrajag Guitars a setup includes the following:

  • Fret polish
  • Fretboard reconditioning: removal of build-up and gentle scraping to reveal a fresh layer of wood, treatment with natural oil and wax
  • Restring: we can help you choose a string gauge for yor desired tuning and playing style. We can also calculate and fit balanced tension string sets. D’Addario is the string of choice here, starting at £7 for a set. We can also order your favourites, or you can bring them along yourself.
  • Truss rod adjustment
  • Bridge height adjustment (action)
  • Intonation
  • Nut slot depth correction
  • Electrical service
  • Pickup height setting
  • Clean and polish

Setups start at £40 and we can supply the excellent D’Addario XL strings starting at £7 for electric guitars, phosphor bronze start at £10 for acoustic, and bass start at £20. The setup procedure varies for other stringed instruments.

Fret levelling, crowning and polishing

Guitar frets get worn down by the strings (pictured left). When this starts to cause buzzing or choking you can have the frets levelled. We straighten the neck, protect the fretboard with tape and use a purpose built steel levelling beam with abrasive paper to grind a very small amount from the top of the frets until they are all level again. This leaves flat tops, so then we use a radiused crowning file to put the rounded top back on the fret. Then a triangular dressing file is used to achieve a perfectly rounded shape. Finally, several stages of metal polishing leave the frets shiny and smooth.

The fret levelling, crown and polish is £60 and is often done along with a setup.

Refrets

When frets are worn down too much to level they need to be replaced. The old frets are removed and the fretboard surface re-radiused if necessary. This is sometimes a good time to choose a new radius if you fancy a change. The fret slots are then cleaned and prepared. New fretwire is cut and matched to the radius before installing with a bonding agent.

The ends are trimmed and bevelled, then shaped for comfortable playing. The frets are levelled, crowned and polished. We can offer nickel, stainless steel and evo gold fret wire in a wide variety of sizes. We can help you decide which fret wire would be best. Nickel refrets are £250 and stainless steel are £300. These prices include a setup with strings.

Before a refret (pictured left) and after (right) on a Rickenbacker 330. The lacquer was removed during the re-radiusing leaving a natural wood surface. This was done in agreement with the customer. It is usually possible to keep the lacquer face if desired.

Setup reviews

Read more, and see happy customers’ photos on Facebook

  • “Brilliant work… fixed all issues at a very reasonable price. It plays beautifully now.”
  • “I have a Gretsch that would not stay in tune. At all. After a Setup from Agrajag it’s a totally different guitar. It now plays like a dream, the bigsby trem works as it should. Fantastic service.”
  • “A great experience using Agrajag… my guitars play great and sound awesome, I will definitely use Agrajag again and recommend them to anyone needing their guitar looking at”
  • “I took my mandolin to be restrung and a setup, it has made a big difference to how playable it is”

Check out all our 5 Star reviews on Google

  • “Really competitive pricing and servicing turned around in double quick time. James is excellent at his craft and I wont go anywhere else!”
  • “I took my new bass guitar for a professional setup/re-string and couldn’t be happier with the work they completed and the service I received at a very reasonable price. Highly recommended.”
  • “I’ve had 4 guitars set up recently… all come back playing better than ever (some of the guitars I didn’t think could get a better set up).”