Guitar Maintenance & Repair

9 Definite Signs Your Guitar Needs a Refret

By · 12 min read

Best flamenco guitars: close-up of a nylon-string guitar on a dark background

Playing the guitar is a fun activity that provides you and your listeners with enjoyable music to dance to, relax, or make memories. But sometimes, your guitar might need some repairs to keep up with your playing. So you might ask: What are the clues that your guitar needs a refret?

Here are 9 definite signs that your guitar needs a refret: 

  1. You can see dents in your frets.
  2. You can hear your fret buzzing.
  3. Your frets are no longer level with each other.
  4. Your guitar doesn’t feel the same in your hands.
  5. The frets are coming off the guitar.
  6. One of your frets is missing from your guitar entirely.
  8. There are markings on the edge of the guitar neck.
  9. Your frets are extremely tarnished.
  10. The frets have sharp edges. 

The guitar is an amazing instrument, and you should ensure that you take care of it in order to make music for many years. Your frets are an integral part of your guitar, and you might find a decline in your sound as your guitar frets near the end of their lifespan. Read on to find out 9 things to look for that are obvious signals that it is time to refret your guitar.

Related: how to turn a right-handed acoustic guitar left-handed and how to test an electric guitar without an amp. For the full overview, see our guitar maintenance basics.

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1. You Can See Dents in Your Frets

Perhaps the most noticeable sign that your guitar needs to be refretted is when you see dents or grooves on the frets. Over time, the repeated playing of a guitar affects the components that make up the instrument. One of these is the frets.

 Playing the guitar repeatedly for years and years causes small but noticeable grooves to form on the frets of the guitar neck. These grooves can affect both the performance and sound of the guitar. 

You know it is time to have your guitar refretted if you can see large dents in the fret. If you catch this problem early enough, you might not have to refret your guitar. There is a relatively simple solution called crowning. You can do this at home with a small file. 

This video from The Art of Lutherie shows how you can crown your guitar frets:

However, if you ignore this problem long enough or inherit a guitar from someone who did, you will need to take other measures. 

Once your guitar fret height goes under .38 inches, many experts advise that it is no longer possible to solve the problem by crowning the guitar fret. It is officially time for you to refret your guitar. So, if you keep an eye on your fret and watch out for the divots to not get too big, you may be able to avoid refretting your guitar. 

2. You Can Hear Your Fret Buzzing

Fret buzz is one of the most frustrating phenomena in the guitar world. There is nothing worse than playing your favorite song and hearing the string make direct contact with the neck of the guitar, which causes the common problem known as fret buzz. 

playing the guitar

You are not alone if this happens to you. It occurs to guitar players at many skill levels in different situations. But it’s not a great thing to occur during a performance, indicating that you need to refret your guitar.

It can be caused by playing the guitar with too much vigor or not playing it correctly. Whatever the reason that is causing you to hear fret buzz, it is one of the most obvious signs that you need to refret a guitar. While refretting may not be the only thing that’s causing your guitar to have fret buzzing, it is most likely the culprit responsible for the irritating noise. 

So how do you recognize a fret buzzing sound? How do I know what things to look for to tell me if I need to get my guitar refretted? Understanding what fret buzzing is, is essential to know whether or not you need to get your guitar refretted. 

Here is a video from Stew-Mac on what fret buzz sounds like: 

So if you hear your fret buzzing or one of your friends or fans mentions it, then it is time to refret your guitar. Take your guitar into the shop, or do it yourself, and you will be much happier with how your musical instrument performs. Once you refret your guitar, you will love how it sounds and know what to look for in the future as a sign that you need to refret your guitar. 

3. Your Frets Are No Longer Level With Each Other

Having your frets level with each other is vital to playing your guitar correctly. You may be wondering how you can tell if your frets are level? You can determine if your frets are level in several ways, depending on your experience and your tools. Some indications that your frets are not level include:

  • The amount of time you have played your guitar. If you have owned your guitar for a long time, have never brought it into a shop, or have not looked at it yourself, then there is a fair chance that you may need to get your guitar refretted. Examine your guitar, or let an expert do it if you have been playing your guitar for years without any maintenance. You may need to get your guitar refretted.
  • You can see the strings are not the same distance from the frets. A telltale sign that you need to adjust your frets to the same level is if you can see a difference in how the string rests over each fret. You can look down the neck of your guitar and assess whether or not the strings are all the same distance from the frets. If they are not, it may be time to refret your instrument.
  • Purchase a tool to test if the frets are level. One thing you can do to