Todd Rundgren's 'Foamy': Should I refret it?
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Todd Rundgren's guitar "Foamy" is in Erick Coleman’s shop for a... refret? That's the question. Erick considers whether the best solution is new frets or removing the wear from the ones in place.
Special thanks for the music track "Kind Hearted Woman" by Todd Rundgren.
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I like how you explained why you wouldn't want to do a refret
i can see his point of view but i think every person is different. I like guitars to feel new as much as possible. But then again thats why there is Stainless steel frets not days.
That is really cool that you played his music while we watch you work on his guitar :) very respectful of the artist and it was very professional to take precautions when caring for his instrument. As someone who has been burned by a careless repairman before, I highly respect this
I wish the orthopedic surgeon that ruined my left knee had this much consideration for the big picture
Did you have a knee replacement? I had one and it nearly killed me! I actually was near death!
subluxing patella corrective surgery; and they used a very medieval technique that was a failure .im thinking a replacement would be hell
I hear ya, my knee reconstruct work probably went a long way towards my doctors 50 ft boat on the St. Croix. Never came back right.
My knee replacement became infected with e-coli. I had several subsequent surgeries, was in intensive care, septic, underwent dialysis for 8 days and had several units of blood transfused. A large section of my wound couldn't be closed! I was kept heavily sedated because seeing the hole in my thigh was horrific. I was on a PICC line for 12 weeks. It's been 13 years and I have a big dent in my thigh. I live in Florida but cannot wear shorts because my leg freaks people out. What a nightmare! But I have no knee pain.
@@BluesLicks101 With the complications I experienced my knee replacement costs were over $250,000 in 2006.
The amount of care some people take in guitar repair is so beautiful. The fact that there are people so knowledgeable and skilled at it just goes to show that a guitar someone has played for years is irreplaceable. I would absolutely love to learn these skills, seems like such an interesting job but it also seems to require a whole lot of patience which is something I could probably work on. I love how Erick has really gone above and beyond what he needed to do to this guitar and used his brain to think about how what he is doing is going to effect the feel of the instrument. Hats off to you.
Yeh if your a rock star and have a ton of money no problem,Thats why I learned to do it myself Thanks to the internet and a few of Dans books
I get the feeling that Erick takes this level of care with all of his customer’s guitars. Sure, it’s expensive work, but I feel fairly certain Todd would’ve only taken Foamy to the best - someone he trusts
I played that guitar onstage in London with Todd in 1994. It's a lovely guitar.
Rhys Parry you and everyone else
@Cyberbob ty for the break sir
i'll bet dollars to donuts Rhys P. knows more about music then the hole lot of you put together Bunch of jack asses. At least he has a music video unlike the rest of you Loser's ... ua-cam.com/video/MbpUrrjmoOI/v-deo.html
Detrick Vintage Replicas aren’t gitar made with wood though 🤪
The gig was actually video'd & released commercially ("Todd Rundgren - Live in Cyberia"), which makes it kind of pointless to lie about... Have a nice day.
I suppose it's a matter of trying to work out what the customer really wants as opposed to what he thinks he wants. Todd may have communicated that he wants a refret (unaware of the drastic change to the overall familiar feel of the instrument that would bring) What he got was priceless. Problem sorted to the point where a seemingly magic wand was waved. You did the right thing there, I'm sure Todd will now be thinking... man I'm glad he didn't refret it.
Yes, I had this happen to me. Guy named FreddyFrets (does great work, check him on UA-cam). Anyhow about 10 years ago I asked for a refret, instead he just leveled and dressed saving me tons of work for him, and me cash.
Same thing here. I was lucky enough to be turned on to an excellent luthier who works from his home. I took 2 Strats to him I was certain needed a refret. I'm so glad he didn't listen. The level, dress, polish and the work he did on my frets and fretboard edges is amazing.
Personally I would have had a re fret. I can adjust to a new feel. Stevie Ray Vaughn had re frets multiple times. Even David Gilmour changed necks for the same strat.
Todd Rundgren was my first ever concert! I went with my dad when I was 12 which was around the time I started playing guitar. It's cool seeing his guitar up close like that! Great video
This is not at all the video that I was looking for but I watched the whole thing anyway
Jay Vav literally same
Tell me about it.... But I know how to crown my frets a little better anyway...
Awesome guitar work, Todd will most definitely love the work you did on it
I did fix two high locking floyd nuts - it's not a real major surgery, just have to sand the bottom of the metal locking nut after unscrewing it from the neck. Can use a coase grit sandpaper glued to a flat surface and slowly take away the metal. The tricky part is knowing how much to take off, if you want to be sure take away little by little and put it on the guitar (it's a bit of a pain because you have to set it up with the strings again, so my advice is - lock the trem bridge into a "fixed" bridge for the time being with some wood ;) ).
Was initially surprised you didn't just use new wire w/ original spec, as that was the 'feel' Todd was used to on this guitar, and those new .045 Jumbos would last a lifetime based on the last set of frets.
However you have done a fine thing.keeping the guitar in its relatively original state and very playable without disrupting the fretboard in any way, so that may be a significant advantage of keeping the first frets ever set into the rosewood. You won't maintain a better mechanical integrity than this, and the instrument won't have to 'settle' to the pressure of the new tangs.
Good call. Because if Todd still misses the fret height, you can always do that refret, regardless than I'm sure he appreciated your crazy amount of hand work reshaping. You basically can't tell the frets are rejuvenated. Cool!
We need people like you in the world sir.
This is right up there with the great guitars that you share. Thank you for these!.
I could watch these videos all day.
Really nice job. Thanks from a huge Todd fan for taking such thoughtful care.
National Treasure, Todd! Peace and Love to you all
Nice chunk of neck there, BTW
Amazing as always
Couple of things - the song was _Kind Hearted Woman_ by Robert Johnson, from the album of Johnson covers _Todd Rundgren's Johnson._ The gouge by the bridge was from a piece of lighting scaffold that fell during a soundcheck. Another couple of inches, and Todd could have lost a hand.
Great info. Erick was wondering about that large scratch!
Nice job there Eric, I know how much of a tedious job it is recrowning super jumbo frets when you've taken so much material off. The video makes it look like it was easy but it's a back breaking job! :)
Ehh yeah, he makes it look like it's a easy job to do. But it's another story when it's all in front of you. 🎸
Then, there’s the magic of video editing!
I’m a HUGE Rundgren fan. Great job in showing restraint with Foamy. Great job. Great decision.
Awesome craftsmanship and attention to execution so it doesn’t change playability... impressive
Action issues with a floyd locking nut shelf can be addressed by filing the wood under the shelf very carefully in one single direction until the action is ideal while maintaining a level surface. As long as the fingerboard radius is the same as the shelf radius there should be no problems. I've learned this the hard way friends...for example a 14" radius shelf with a 10" radius fingerboard will give you intonation problems especially with the open position D major chord.
In some cases yes. But with this guitar the truss rod adjuster was right under the locking nut. Removing any amount of wood would have cut into the channel.
Oh wow yeah makes sense @@stewmac
I'd tried exactly what you did ..and it works! My old guitar is working great now. No more string buzzing and string marks dissapeared. Thank's for the idea.
Lovely job. As always.
Thanks. I’ve been playing over 40 years and learned quite a bit.
I appreciate men that take their work as serious as this guy does. It speaks volumes. If your heart aint in it, it will show in the final product. Good job bro!
What we need now is an evaluation for Todd to see how well you fared
I love these videos 🤙🤙🤙
Great video where an excellent tech does what is best for both the player and guitar.
Yes, my favorite guitarist "Todd Rurngernern!"
Thank you, President Bye Done
Wow, great work. My Strat is the same colour as that one with matching headstock and with black hardware. It also has emg pickups. HSS. Mine has a black 3d Schaller bridge. It did have a matte black scratch-plate when I built It more than 20 years ago. I had no idea who Todd was when I built it. Looks very similar.
Awesome video, Eric! You should tell people that your fretwork apparatus keeps the guitar neck from moving out of position when you take the strings off. I’ve thought that guitar was a Stratocaster! Thanx to Stu-Mac for being the best source for guitar parts and the tools to repair/build them!!! About 20 years ago I made a guitar with Warmoth parts and Stu-Mac products, and still love it!!!
Man, I love these videos... I learn so much...
Eric....just so glad to see you handling an unknown guitar. I have so much less experience than you do, but just as much passion. I have been doing guitar repairs for about 2 years, and it is a never ending learning experience. So many manufacturers, so many models, so many intricacies. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
As an learning amateur at the whole luthier thing, it was great to see you work, particularly with such an iconic instrument (for a Todd fan such as I). Regards.
Good call and nice work!
The P-Project guitar is a custom guitar produced in Japan around 1990, and I own a different type. The tremolo unit is a floyd rose type, the pickup is an emg product, and the body material is alder and the fingerboard is ebony.
say hi to Runt 4 me..his biggest fan since "Something/Anything?"
Todd Rundgren's guitar? No pressure there haha. Nice work.
thanks Erick, was Todd happy with your work ?
Great job and getting to meet all these amazing people.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing the process!
Honestly my personal preference and from experience is that if you're gonna go for a locking tremolo bridge along with all its complexities, just shoot for a German Original Floyd Rose. It is for sure the real deal.
Cool. I personally spend a lot more time time polishing the frets. Then use a rotary tool with metal polish. It love the glassy feel of finely polished and frets.
TheScaredofsilence - this is a great thing. I've always had a stick of jeweler's rouge to gently clean up the frets between string changes. Silky bends and longer fret life.
Love these videos, please make them longer and more in depth!
This guitar is actually the PAW-3 Akira Wada model guitar (Guitarist of PRISM, japans first fusion band).
P-project is fernandes pro brand started by legendary guitar builder Yatsuse Saijo. He left Fernandes in the 90s and builds guitars and basses under Saijo Guitars name now.
Extreme attention to detail is given for all guitars he built, designing everything from a patented locking tremolo system to pickups made from scratch, working together with Akira Wada to get the tone and playability he was trying to achieve.
Saijo still does maintenance and repair for some of japans top musicians together with his son at his workshop in Seijo, Tokyo.
I don't even play guitar, but as a video producer and equally a huge Todd fan; great video.
Good tutorial. Love that color
I had a luthier do this to my guitar because of one bad fret, never felt the same, never played it after the frets were taken down.
Those frets are huge .
Nice work as always .
There are literally hundreds of pictures of him with that guitar. I've seen that guitar at least 50 times over the years and I'm not even a Rundgren fan. Nice piece of music history.
great to learn about this process so clearly, thanks
I love watching a craftsman at work!!!!😁😎👍🎸🎵🎶
I wish this guy worked in my area. I had an owner of a guitar store file down my frets and either he didn’t know what he was doing or he forgot to polish the frets after. They looked like you could see the actual filing marks. I had to sell it. I’m sure bending the strings a few times would break the strings too. What a mess and what a lesson. Did a trade to a store of course they gave me hardly anything being the horrible one store we had. I walked in the next day and see a guy playing it. Sold that quick. 🤦♂️
he didn't know what he was doing, or worse and most likely he didn't care if he ruined your guitar. flame that asshole on the web to pay him back.
I would love to see the fret board brought up fresh too.
Interesting and entertaining as always. For a professional player producing such a wear, I think a refret with stainless steel wire in the exact existing fret high would have been the better solution. Also, with a fretjob you change the play feeling because the frets are lower now.
Great video. Well explained and enjoyable. Thanks. 👍
Awesome informational educational video experience Y'alls
Erick Coleman is a Great guitar repairman!
For those who may not realize how difficult it is to find someone who does good fretwork, here's a story about what a crappy repairman did to one of my guitars:
In the late 70's, I took my vintage Les Paul Jr to a "reputable" guitar repair shop next door to Chuck Levin's Washington Music because it needed to have one of the fretboard bindings replaced; when I got it back, the asshole that did the work had filed down the edge of the fretboard between each fret to get the binding down to height. He didn't stop filing the plastic binding down to height when he should have, he kept right on going deep into the rosewood, making a 45 degree ledge on the entire side of the fretboard! When I had it refretted a couple years later, I sent my LP jr to Strings & Things in Memphis Tennessee. I don't even know if they exist anymore, but they did a great job. Believe me, I didn't like shipping it, but I sure wasn't going back to the same place that hacked it up the first time. Strings & Things called me when they received the guitar and said (paraphrased) 'who the hell did that to your guitar's fretboard?!' They had to plane the entire fretboard to get that freaking ledge off.
Fret work has to be one of the hardest jobs to do correctly on a guitar. Finding someone who does it well is not easy!
Any buddy was a guitar repair cat! His fingers were always cut up from razors and such. I noticed your are the same! Thanks for the video!
I get why you didn't want to refret, and I'm glad it came out playing well, but I can definitely feel a .005" difference in first-fret action if I'm making or adjusting a nut. I have no doubt you're far better at fretwork/setup than I am, though, and I'm sure your logic was sound.
Unfortunately this guitar went missing after Todd started his tour with Daryl Hall in April. Haven't heard much from Todd about it other than the airline last tracked it in Connecticut. He's replaced it with a Schecter Hellraiser. Hoping it miraculously gets sent to his home.
Aw, man, that sucks to hear.
@@Doomchild2XL he got it back a couple months ago from a guy that bought it at a yard sale for 150.00.
Nice work , and thank you so much for these videos , I am a hobby Luthier and I have learned so much from you guys :D so thank you so much :D
Great video - loved it
Whay a unique cool guitar and lovely job.
Lovely piece of work sir
Pretty cool he could keep a guitar so long over so many tours and not have it get stolen or ruined. It belongs in a museum some day.
Maybe the R&R Hall of Fame if he makes it this year (or someday)!
Not a museum. Should be passed down like a Stradivarius
excellent work thanks Sir, thanks for sharing
Amazing jig! nice work.
Enjoy all your work Todd FYI since I started shaping With a triangle all man life has been so much better! Fret job time cut in half! More consistent outcome every time!
Cool hair !
I have seen Todd play that guitar onstage with Ringo's All-Starrs.
Wow! Awesome. 👏🎸
Dammit! I read this as “should I regret” and went:
“Ooooo....Erick effed up! Erick effed up!”
Rats, that would’ve been a fascinating video.
EDIT: This was a beautiful call for several reasons, by the way. Some people might think “he just talked himself out of several hundred dollars”....not true. The time and effort it would’ve taken to properly shape these into the fretboard and level them all to 45-50 thou (to retain feel and nut clearance) would’ve been insane. Sometimes it’s MUCH better to take the $200, “complex” fret dressing job. You move projects quicker and your clients trust that you aren’t trying to milk them. The importance of the latter can’t be overstated...
I feel like if you had planed the frets back down to .45 (from larger unworn wire) it may have worked beautifully. And the frets wouldn't be .05 less than he's use to.
But yeah. A refret indeed can change the feel if you don't get it like it was before
Awesome work!
You can DIY a better tool for the initial levelling:
-Buy a good quality (i.e. accurate) pre-radiused fretboard blank
-Route a channel about 1/2" deep down the wide side of a cedar 2x4 the same length as the fretboard blank and about 1/2" wider (if it's an extra wide blank you could glue some thin wood to the sides instead, the point is to have a channel a bit wider than the blank)
-Fill the channel with bondo, put a single piece of waxed paper over it, and then press the fingerboard blank into it, making sure it's square with the 2x4 in every dimension.
-use a second 2x4 with some bricks on top of it to hold the fingerboard in place with enough pressure that you get a firm impression but not so much that the fretboard blank presses deep into the bondo - you want to cast the entire surface of it but not have it press in any deeper than necessary.
-Let the Bondo cure, then trim and sand the squeezeout along the edges so that it's flush with the cedar, and you now have a stable, durable, full-neck, radiused sanding block for less than $10 that should last for decades.
The great thing about this method is that you can make a block with a conical or compound radius (credit to George Morris of Vermont Instruments for teaching me about the advantages of using a conical, full length sanding block - he hand-sanded them out of poplar, but casting an existing fretboard with Bondo is a lot easier and at least as durable).
In use, you place the block over all of the frets and sand with even pressure and small strokes - less than the space between the nut and the first fret, so all of the frets are sanded evenly. When the frets are leveled, they will already be very close to perfect and should only need minimal hand filing, if any, after they've been crowned. It can also be used to sand the radius onto a raw findgerboard, of course, and it takes a lot less practice to sand in a conical radius this way than it does to plane one by hand (even if you plane the rough radius, it's good to have a full length block to finish with).
It's also possible to clone the fretboard geometry of an existing guitar this way, although the end result will be harder to use because it will also be the exact width of the original. The frets will be cast into the block, but once you attach sandpaper that isn't an issue. Also, because Bondo cures exothermically, there's a small but real risk of the heat loosening the fingerboard or worse, so I wouldn't recommend trying it on a gutar with any kind of value or rarity (that said, my personal full lngth block that I use for conical radiuses was cast from a '95 Parker Fly Deluxe without any problems at all).
That's a very cool approach and really nice to see the process (although I appreciate a lot of time and effort has been cut from the video)
I think you did the right thing. Once the old frets are removed, they are pretty much trash. If for some strange reason Todd insisted that the guitar be refretted after this, it can be done. If you had refretted right away and he did not care for the feel you can't put the old ones back. The best you could have done at that point would have been to try and make replicas from brand new fret wire. Excellent work.
A legendary guitar, to say the least. It more or less replaced another legendary axe ("The Fool" SG, previously owned by Eric Clapton) as Todd's main guitar in the early 1990s
Wonder if replacing the worn frets with fret wire same as the lesser worn frets, then a leveling and crowning could be another option? I am no luthier just a tinker.Always appreciate videos with real craftsmen .thanks
That was definitely an option but felt this was the best route for this guitar. It is a case by case situation.
Man and I thought my frets were bad! they are getting close though I've had my Epiphone les pual for 13 years. I was thinking about a re-fret but like he said you don't want to undo all that playing in..plus i have binding in my neck, i would like some bigger frets because i play 11's
I'm glad you didn't refret. Your decision process was well explained and I hope luthiers and 'wanna-be' luthiers here were listening. ;-) Was there any buzzing or 'fret-out' going on with those worn frets? Good job as always!
I think it was more about the worn frets hurting the intonation, I don't think there was any buzz
@@elneutrino90 Good point... hadn't even thought about that.
@@3dsman How could you not think of intonation with worn frets? I mean, why comment if you don't know anything about the subject?
@@Vichedges OH MY GOD!! JASON ALLEN!??! I'm in the same comment string as JASON ALLEN!? Whoa! My life is now complete. Someday maybe I'll be as awesome as you. Do us all a favor and save some puxxy for the rest of us.
@@3dsman Mic drop in 3..2..1..!
AWESOME!
He'll love it.
Great job
It has a lot of tone!
And this is why I have stainless steel frets on my custom made guitar neck. They last my life time I am 52 now. Nice guitar and looks like heavy metal guitar but good blues sound too ?
kipponi why not all use stainless steel. Cost?
@@juantailor Maybe but some are allergic to Nickel so they have to. And hard to install and file for guitar repairing man or lady. So much work and expensive.
kipponi thx! I’m on the 30 year refret schedule 😄, so I may never get to stainless steel
This was a nice video. It showed products but it doesn't feel like it's built around a product. I wish they did more like this
How I wish I had a pro like this in my neck of the woods
Wow! Thx for showing about recrowning the fret cause i had the same on my strat
One of my guitars that I got used had no fret wear what so ever when got it. It looked like that after about 6-8 months. I went to stainless steel after that and I've never looked back since 😂
Stainless steel does last a lot longer than nickel, but the tradeoff is that refretting in SS is a lot more work. I'm guessing labour alone for SS is going to be significantly more than a standard nickel fret job. Still, worth it if the guitar in question is your main player.
Eric's face looks like he's 40. His hands... look like he's 140... but what trustworthy hands they are!! Great job dude👍🏾
You made the right repair call. You're right, a refret would have totally changed the feel and dynamics of the guitar... and not for the better.
Great info thanks
Hi Erick, I have two questions if I may.. When sanding to level the frets, why did you sand with the aluminum 16” block instead of just leveling the frets with the radius block? And with regards to the possibility of the locking nut being possibly too high after the removal of fret material, could you have just have sanded underneath where the locking nut was installed to make up the difference instead of performing a complete re-fret? Thanks!
Excellent Work!
Is a partial re-fret of the worst couple of frets not an option?... To keep the fret height at its biggest? Great work here. Sx
So many frets were worn up the neck, we decided this was the best option.
Sometimes I crown the worn frets BEFORE I level, if I’m trying to maintain as much fret as possible. That makes it less likely that I will overshoot the minimum levelling I need to do.
You said "done" and I thought "what? No polish?" and then you said....
Wonder if J Cantrell got the idea of using a Kahler bridge with a Floyd nut from Todd? Could be coincidence.
Amazing video, hope you can get your hands on other famous guitars
Cool! I'm just getting into guitar buildng...you got a new subscriber!
Sick axe! Nice job!