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I've been asked to redress the frets, or refret, a Martin OM-21, 10 years old, quite well used, for the owner to resell.
Worst wear is under the plain strings on frets 3-7, and looks to be at a glance in the worst place the string falls into the groove for maybe about half the width of the B string, say .008/0.009" maximum (I am not near to my tools for several days)
It's never been redressed before, fret height is original at around 0.040" so the frets would be just over 0.030" high if redressed.
How low can the frets be taken on a redress and still be acceptable
Or is this definitely a refret job?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

If you're not sure, it's probably better to refret. .030" is too low in my book, and you may need to go lower than that to get things level. Most new guitars have serious action issues, and would be greatly improved by a refret, new nut and saddle. With substantial play wear, the guitar would certainly benefit from a refret.

Another option is to quote a price, and let the buyer decide.

It's always a good idea to give the client the choice if there is a choice to be had. As I see it here are the choices that I would offer:

1) Fret dress - .030 is low but we've gone much lower when the budget is not there, the client does not mind low frets, etc. I'll add that as an acoustic guitar, steel string starts to experience upper bout deformation (beginnings of need for a reset) and when most of the fret wear is in the first frets dressing favoring the first frets can change the neck angle slightly belaying that need for a neck reset a while longer.

2) Partial refret - replace the worn frets and leave the rest. Benefit is lower cost, less time to complete, less invasive where there may be no wear at all such as over the body.

3) Full refret - Highest cost but the fret plane will be like new, better in fact since the board can be properly leveled in the state the the instrument has morphed into over the years. Any body hump can be eliminated, fall-away induced, etc.

I agree with Hesh re-dress will work fine, plenty of life left for the next owner. Partial replacement of few frets on cowboy chord guitars is also a good choice and could look like a fresh finger board. Unless there are other playability problems I'd put off the full replacement for down the road.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Fret height within reason(and .030 OK) is mainly a matter of player comfort. Some folks don't like low frets(some don't like too high)but if player is happy that is the main criteria in my mind.
T o m
h l a
e d n

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!