Rebuild vs new ring for upgrade?

[mangomargarita]

Hello. New here, and found this forum while googling.

My husband and I got engaged/married very young. I showed him pictures of the style of ring I wanted, which was princess with a halo. Knowing our situation, I was not picky about size, but I didn't know such a thing as a quad/invisible/illusion set existed otherwise I would have told him to avoid it and that I would rather a single stone even if the overall size was smaller. But anyway, that's how I ended up with this ring/wedding set.
Stock photo of ring

So even though the style was exactly what I wanted, I have never been thrilled about having 4 smaller center stones. For a while I figured I would eventually just take out the four stones and get one single stone that was approximately the same size. Until I learned from speaking to someone at the store, and confirmed with my own research online (which led me here), that this is basically impossible.

As I am reaching the point where I am ready for the upgrade (married for 13 years but had a 2 year engagement) I am trying to figure out if there is another way to still keep the ring or if I should just be buying a completely new ring. I was wondering if, since replacing the 4 stones is not an option, if I can remove the 4 stones AND the halo, and then use the same basket to put in a single princess diamond that is the size of the whole basket? The 4 stones are .75 combined, I estimate that a diamond as large as the whole halo area would be about 2 carats, so sizeable upgrade. However I have no idea what the cost would be and am wondering, aside from sentimentality, is this worth it at all? Would a new ring be about the same cost? I was figuring I could rework the four stones into a new wedding/anniversary band, but if I were to get a new ring, what do I do with the micropave stones on the halo and shank? Lastly, would I save anything by having the new setting custom made, using my micropave stones on the new shank?

Obviously the original ring is not high quality but I feel a little bad about replacing it completely both because I don't want to offend my partner (although I'm pretty sure he's fine with it, he is on board with upgrading) and feel bad "wasting" some of the extra stones, as well as if my wedding bands would work with a new ring or if I need to replace those too. It seemed more palatable when I thought I could just take the 4 stones out and replace, because it would ultimately be the same ring. I'm typically pretty basic when it comes to jewelry so I really have no idea what I'm doing lol, and would appreciate advice from someone more knowledgeable before I take it to a jeweler and make a fool of myself if I am asking for something that doesn't make sense.

 

[realhauswife]

In my experience, (and having just gone through a nightmare reset with a local jeweler who oversold their capabilities!) I would suggest starting over with a new setting. I doubt they would be able to reuse the basket.

I would save the sentimental stones for a pendant or another project later on and focus on a new setting for your new stone.

 

[bludiva]

if the existing stones are small as in the example photo i'd start over... a lot of the money is in the labor and melee sized stones aren't expensive or unique typically. the reason to reincorporate them would be 100% sentimental imho -- not a bad reason at all, i'd just say consider you're not really being wasteful if you start over.

 

[lovedogs]

In my experience, (and having just gone through a nightmare reset with a local jeweler who oversold their capabilities!) I would suggest starting over with a new setting. I doubt they would be able to reuse the basket.

I would save the sentimental stones for a pendant or another project later on and focus on a new setting for your new stone.

Came here to say this. I highly doubt you'll be able to reuse the setting, so I would start over. But you could certainly use the 4 middle stones of the ring for a pendant if you want to keep tkem for sentimentality

 

[MillieLou]

Start over. IME Frankensteining rings ends up wasting money, and not getting what you want.

Keep the original for sentimental value, or have the "head" made into a pendant, either in the same orientation or maybe "kite set".

 

[tyty333]

I'm with the others...the cost and the possible chance of not-a-good outcome is not worth it.
Just wanted to show you a successful reset of a princess cut. This turned out really beautiful!

#JOTW - My reset is complete and I’m beyond happy

I recently upgraded my wedding set after 15 years and I’m beyond thrilled on how it came out. Be prepared for picture overload.

www.pricescope.com

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

Start over. IME Frankensteining rings ends up wasting money, and not getting what you want.

Keep the original for sentimental value, or have the "head" made into a pendant, either in the same orientation or maybe "kite set".

Using Frankenstein as a verb is awesome. I say MacGuyver.

Two of my diamonds are in a MacGuyver setting. I’m happy with them. But there was very little cost savings. Two carats will cost and you may as well get a custom setting created for your new special stone. Consider MacGuyvering your current ring into a four stone band at a later date.

 

[MRBXXXFVVS1]

I would keep your original ring as a RHR and start with a brand new setting!

 

[headlight]

Start over and create the ring of your dreams!