We get many inquiries concerning custom work when doing a refret, from installations of hardware to electrical installation/modifications to body modifications to complete one off guitars.  Estimates for the desired work are always the question.  To give you an idea of what your project may cost we currently charge $45 per hour for shop work and 65$ per hour for CAD, CNC design and prototype.  That is low as the industry goes.  Many things such as installing a pickup, a nut or tuners take from less than an hour to 2 hours.  There are other things that can take from a few hours to tens of hours and may entail the construction and design of jigs, fixtures, CNC files, templates, etc.  These may include routing for bridges, replacing and installing a new trem, moving pivot points, or routing for pickups.  Generally we can make an educated guess at the number of hours a given project may take and using our shop rate we can then give you an idea of the costs you are looking at.  For example, if you believe it is reasonable for a project to take 4 hours in the shop, then 4 x $45 = $180 plus materials, in addition to the cost of the refret.  Another more extreme example would be a one off guitar. It would not be unusual for design to prototype to encompass 80 hours or more in the full development cycle and that would be on the order of 4800.00 US.

There are projects we may turn down if we deem they are best done locally or are not practical. These generally fall under the category of physically altering the guitar in a permanent fashion. One example would be installing a Floyd on a Les Paul. Something like that can be fraught with trouble and in the end not worth the cost.

If you are serious about the work, please contact us and we can discuss your project and estimates further.

Thank you.

Greg Hails