My uncle gave me this old Kramer PDG (Paul Dean something something, it’s repainted originally it was yellow). It’s one of his first guitars, but after he got injured, it hasn’t been played or maintained for about 30 years.

The problem is, I’m a new player, and I’ve been playing only acoustic for less than a year. This Kramer needs some maintenance: the fretboard is extremely dirty, the frets are almost worn flat, and there’s some rust here and there.

I have no idea about its possible value or how much it’s worth spending on repairs. I don’t have any problem with cleaning, restringing and working on electronics, but I’m more concerned about the refretting process, which I’ve never done before and would have to learn as I go. Is it possible to do it on my own without expensive professional tools and without making a disaster? Or would it be better to go to a professional for this task? How much would they charge for this job?

  • Baron Von JEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    I don’t know about the cost, that will likely be regional and vary with the reputation of the luthier. If I was going to undertake it myself, I would do it as part of a build from parts type of project, rather than starting in a professionally made guitar.

  • ManuEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Everything aside the frets is easy and low effort. But without experience on a cheap guitar I wouldn’t put my hands on the frets, especially if you have neither a fret press nor have done a few fret jobs before. You could get your hands on the right tools and buy some cheap, used, necks and learn the process or find a luthier. Fretwork and swap (depending on the amount that have to be exchanged) goes for around 400€ upwards where I live. You might get away with recrowning the frets and adjusting the nut one last time though, they look like they could tolerate one last fret job before they are finally worn out.

    • @[email protected]English
      1•1 year ago

      Agree. A re-fret, and fretwork in general, sucks. That, and it does require a few specialized tools. A couple you can make yourself but you’re not going to get around needing a crowning file. That, and if you install new, higher frets you may also need a new nut as the old one may have had the string slots filed down to compensate for 1st fret playability (in general, not talking about locking Floyd-type nuts)

  • @[email protected]English
    1•11 months ago

    Cool guitar! I would clean it up the best you can, take the strings off and clean the fretboard with baby wipes to get the gunk off, and apply lemon oil if it seems dry.

    Then take it to a guitar repair shop and get their input on the frets. It’s possible they can recrown the frets instead of replacing them completely which is much more expensive.

    I’ve been quoted ~150 to recrown the frets to give you an idea.

    As far as value, I’d suggest finding the serial number on the guitar and figuring out the exact model and year of manufacture. Then find similar guitars for sale on reverb.

    Cheers and Good luck!