Oh dear.

Just noticed on my 2 'main' guitars that I'm getting the beginings of fret 
wear in the 'usual suspect' positions :( I can't feel any notches in the 
frets, but I can see that the little dents are about to appear.

Fair enough, I expect a bit of fret wear (my 30 year old acoustic has 
plenty!), but these guitars are fairly new (a few years old) and only get a 
few hours use per week.

Is this down to poor quality (guitars are Variax and Squier Tele Custom 
II), or poor technique I wonder. My 15 year old Epi LP shows no wear - But 
there's a difference with that guitar ...

I find I like a high action on the Variax (sounds better) and the Squier 
(feels better), but the Epi seems to suit a low action well. I can't abide 
any sort of fret buzz, no matter how faint or inaubile through an amp, so 
tend to wind the action up until I'm happy. I tend to set the truss rods to 
get plenty of relief - Right at the top of the sensible limit at about 20 
thou, leave the nut cut at medium-high, and wind the saddles up to give 
buzz free playing; And I play hard ;-)

I wondering if I'm overcompensating for the harder action by pressing too 
hard? I don't get any cramps or pain, but then I don't play for long 
periods.

Perhaps it's just normal wear ...

Al.

On 26 May 2008 09:54:18 GMT, Al  wrote:

>Oh dear.
>
>Just noticed on my 2 'main' guitars that I'm getting the beginings of fret 
>wear in the 'usual suspect' positions :( I can't feel any notches in the 
>frets, but I can see that the little dents are about to appear.
>
>Fair enough, I expect a bit of fret wear (my 30 year old acoustic has 
>plenty!), but these guitars are fairly new (a few years old) and only get a 
>few hours use per week.
>
My take on this is to ignore any signs of wear until you can actually
hear it.

It's amazing how worn fres can look and still remain buzz-fcrene.

My main guitar - a US Standard Tele (2000) is showing some seriously
worn frets but as yet there's no buzz and until there is, they'll stay
on.

As for reasonable wear, I'm sure that there are some variations in
quality of metal used that will cause some frets to wear faster than
those on another guitar - but see my first paragraph above. Wear
doesn't necessarily mean buzz

That Tele has been used for virtually all gigs and related rehearsals
since 2000 and still sounds fine - until my ears indicate otherwise
it's keeping those frets. Even when they do start to show evident
audible wear it'll only be a partial refret anyway.

Steve.

SteveShark wrote:
> On 26 May 2008 09:54:18 GMT, Al  wrote:
> 
>> Oh dear.
>>
>> Just noticed on my 2 'main' guitars that I'm getting the beginings of fret 
>> wear in the 'usual suspect' positions :( I can't feel any notches in the 
>> frets, but I can see that the little dents are about to appear.
>>
>> Fair enough, I expect a bit of fret wear (my 30 year old acoustic has 
>> plenty!), but these guitars are fairly new (a few years old) and only get a 
>> few hours use per week.
>>
> My take on this is to ignore any signs of wear until you can actually
> hear it.
> 
> It's amazing how worn fres can look and still remain buzz-fcrene.

A friend bought a s/h Gibson 330 in 1968. The frets were showing signs 
of wear when he got it - much more so now (it was his only guitar). But 
30 years later (the last time I saw it), it still played well with a 
reasonably low action and was almost buzz-free (with 13-56 strings, natch).

> My main guitar - a US Standard Tele (2000) is showing some seriously
> worn frets but as yet there's no buzz and until there is, they'll stay
> on.

> As for reasonable wear, I'm sure that there are some variations in
> quality of metal used that will cause some frets to wear faster than
> those on another guitar - but see my first paragraph above. Wear
> doesn't necessarily mean buzz

> That Tele has been used for virtually all gigs and related rehearsals
> since 2000 and still sounds fine - until my ears indicate otherwise
> it's keeping those frets. Even when they do start to show evident
> audible wear it'll only be a partial refret anyway.

Where's the wear on yours, Steve?

I can't see you being a first-three-frets merchant.

"JNugent"  wrote in message 
news:m8SdnUn4-N4nrKHVnZ2dnUVZ8rGdnZ2d@pipex.net...
> SteveShark wrote:
>> On 26 May 2008 09:54:18 GMT, Al  wrote:
>>
>>> Oh dear.
>>>
>>> Just noticed on my 2 'main' guitars that I'm getting the beginings of 
>>> fret wear in the 'usual suspect' positions :( I can't feel any notches 
>>> in the frets, but I can see that the little dents are about to appear.
>>>
>>> Fair enough, I expect a bit of fret wear (my 30 year old acoustic has 
>>> plenty!), but these guitars are fairly new (a few years old) and only 
>>> get a few hours use per week.
>>>
>> My take on this is to ignore any signs of wear until you can actually
>> hear it.
>>
>> It's amazing how worn fres can look and still remain buzz-fcrene.
>
> A friend bought a s/h Gibson 330 in 1968. The frets were showing signs of 
> wear when he got it - much more so now (it was his only guitar). But 30 
> years later (the last time I saw it), it still played well with a 
> reasonably low action and was almost buzz-free (with 13-56 strings, 
> natch).
>
>> My main guitar - a US Standard Tele (2000) is showing some seriously
>> worn frets but as yet there's no buzz and until there is, they'll stay
>> on.
>
>> As for reasonable wear, I'm sure that there are some variations in
>> quality of metal used that will cause some frets to wear faster than
>> those on another guitar - but see my first paragraph above. Wear
>> doesn't necessarily mean buzz
>
>> That Tele has been used for virtually all gigs and related rehearsals
>> since 2000 and still sounds fine - until my ears indicate otherwise
>> it's keeping those frets. Even when they do start to show evident
>> audible wear it'll only be a partial refret anyway.
>
> Where's the wear on yours, Steve?
>
> I can't see you being a first-three-frets merchant.

You got me wondering there, Jim, so I just checked my guitars out of 
interest.
Wear (indentations under strings) is apparent on both my Fender American 
Standards (Strat and Tele) as follows:
Strat: 1 to 7 inclusive and 9
Tele 1 to 12 inclusive.
My Gordon-Smiths (Graduate and Gypsy) show no visible wear at all.
No buzzing apparent to me from any of them.

George

On Tue, 27 May 2008 17:07:23 +0100, JNugent  wrote:

>
>Where's the wear on yours, Steve?
>
>I can't see you being a first-three-frets merchant.

Oh, you'll be surprised.

As it's had way more use with Cock & Bull than with any other project
- and to suit the pipes we play almost exclusively in D and G - it's
got most wear on fret 2 and varying degrees up to fret 9 or so.

I also play a lot of bass-like lines which obviously sound better as
low as you can go, so that may explain some of the wear on the lower
frets too.

Most of the solo work occurs in certain areas - again, due to the keys
used - mainly around frets 5 to 7 in D and Dm and up by the twelfth in
G and Gm.

I can't say that the wear is that bad anywhere, really, considering
that it's been very well used in the past 8 years - almost to the day.

Certainly I can detect no sign of buzz and the thing has been 100%
reliable. I strung it with D'Addario 10s as soon as I got it and since
I set it up initially I can't recall ever having to tweak the
intonation or the rod in 8 years, although I check it on every
restring and it's had one of those before almost every gig.

I have a horror of breaking a string mid-gig... 

I'm not really attached to any guitar - it's really just a tool to me
- but I think I struck lucky with this one and so wouldn't want to
lose it.

My Mexican Nashville Tele is also heavily used - I teach with it
exclusively for about 20 hours a week and it's *just* about beginning
to show signs of fret wear. That's about 6 years old. 

Steve.

"SteveShark" <steveATguitarsDOTpowernetDOTcoDOTuk> wrote in message 
news:t3ho3495ca2cu4lo3teo5v9ncd2t5f8s14@4ax.com...

<snip>

> I have a horror of breaking a string mid-gig...

Me too. I always take a spare guitar, having seen the guitarist in our 
keyboardist's "other" band do just that, during gigs, on two separate 
occasions, with embarrassing gaps while he changed strings or carried on 
playing with only 5 strings.
I tend to use my Gordon-Smith Graduate for most gigs, as it has coil-tapping 
and is therefore suitable for the majority of - if not all - the numbers we 
do.
F'rinstance, last Saturday, my "spare" - the Tele - sat on its stand 
throughout the gig "just in case". I could see people in the audience 
looking at it and probably wondering when it was going to be played. It 
wasn't!

George

Its always bloody fret 2 at  3rd string.... 'A', goes first.
I've an Ibanez Artcore for about 6 months ....
it gets maybe average 10 hours general playing a week  & ALREADY its 
starting to show
just very slight wear on those first few frets.
My Fender USA Strat had a fret leveling around 6 months back & gets the same 
amount
of use. I can't see any signs of fresh wear (yet).

Every guitar I've had & stopped using across 35 years has gone out of use 
because of fret wear.
I don't play very hard ! & bend & move them around quite lot.
Gentle playing tends to put the strings on the same exact spots more than 
bashing the thing perhaps.??
The thing to have is Stainless Steel Frets.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")  mouse(y can't u just weld some hot metal stuff in the worn bits ?)

On Tue, 27 May 2008 20:07:59 +0100, George Weston wrote:

> "SteveShark" <steveATguitarsDOTpowernetDOTcoDOTuk> wrote in message 
> news:t3ho3495ca2cu4lo3teo5v9ncd2t5f8s14@4ax.com...
> 
> <snip>
> 
>> I have a horror of breaking a string mid-gig...
> 
> Me too. I always take a spare guitar, having seen the guitarist in our 
> keyboardist's "other" band do just that, during gigs, on two separate 
> occasions, with embarrassing gaps while he changed strings or carried on 
> playing with only 5 strings. -------------------8><

It's surprisingly common for some of the leading Manouche players to do a
whole tour with just a single instrument. There's a - possibly apochryphal
- story about one luminary losing his guitar in a card game mid-tour and
having to borrow an instrument to complete contractual obligations.

In a different genre, we saw Wilko Johnson (the man curly leads were
invented for) in Blackpool a couple of weeks ago and he did a very
leisurely string replacement halfway through a number while Norman Watt-Roy
grooved on.

-- 
Guitarists play jazz at the Beaufort -
www.beaufortjazz.com

On Tue, 27 May 2008 20:07:59 +0100, "George Weston"
 wrote:

>
>"SteveShark" <steveATguitarsDOTpowernetDOTcoDOTuk> wrote in message 
>news:t3ho3495ca2cu4lo3teo5v9ncd2t5f8s14@4ax.com...
>
><snip>
>
>> I have a horror of breaking a string mid-gig...
>
>Me too. I always take a spare guitar, having seen the guitarist in our 
>keyboardist's "other" band do just that, during gigs, on two separate 
>occasions, with embarrassing gaps while he changed strings or carried on 
>playing with only 5 strings.
>I tend to use my Gordon-Smith Graduate for most gigs, as it has coil-tapping 
>and is therefore suitable for the majority of - if not all - the numbers we 
>do.
>F'rinstance, last Saturday, my "spare" - the Tele - sat on its stand 
>throughout the gig "just in case". I could see people in the audience 
>looking at it and probably wondering when it was going to be played. It 
>wasn't!

I wish I could pack a reserve guitar...

As gigging is a money-making exercise, we try to keep expenses down so
we always endeavour to take just the one vehicle - a Xintra with the
rear row of seats out - and manage to pack all the PA, backline and
instruments *and* 4 or 5 people in that.

There's just no room spare for me to take a second guitar.

FWIW I've never ever broken a string on my blue Tele.

I bet I fucking do at the next gig now I've said that ;)

Steve.

In article <483c6f88$1_3@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>,
 "Trimble Bracegirdle"  wrote:

> The thing to have is Stainless Steel Frets.

Oh yes, stainless steel frets are great. I've got huge ones (embedded 
expertly in a Warmoth neck) on my Strat, and I love the way they feel. 
Of course, if you're using tougher frets to counteract the string 
damage, something else will presumably suffer... and that means the 
strings! Having said that, I haven't noticed unusual levels of string 
breakage on my Strat.


adrian

-- 
http://www.spaghetti-factory.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/adrianclarkmusic

"George Weston"  wrote in message 
news:6a34ghF34f1cuU1@mid.individual.net...

>> I have a horror of breaking a string mid-gig...
>
> Me too. I always take a spare guitar, having seen the guitarist in our 
> keyboardist's "other" band do just that, during gigs, on two separate 
> occasions, with embarrassing gaps while he changed strings or carried on 
> playing with only 5 strings.

I used to take a spare guitar and for years was wary of gigging a trem 
equipped guitar. At least with a fixed bridge you can usually carry on til 
the song ends.

Recenty I did have a string break on a trem guitar in the middle of a solo 
and it stayed nearly in tune with one string a halftone flat. Once I'd 
realised the new tuning I was able to compensate, at least for the rest of 
the solo. The rest of the band hadn't noticed, which could be a good or bad 
thing.

icarusi
--

remove 00 to reply

On 26 May, 10:54, Al  wrote:
> Oh dear.
>
> Just noticed on my 2 'main' guitars that I'm getting the beginings of fret
> wear in the 'usual suspect' positions :( I can't feel any notches in the
> frets, but I can see that the little dents are about to appear.
>
> Fair enough, I expect a bit of fret wear (my 30 year old acoustic has
> plenty!), but these guitars are fairly new (a few years old) and only get a
> few hours use per week.
>
> Is this down to poor quality (guitars are Variax and Squier Tele Custom
> II), or poor technique I wonder. My 15 year old Epi LP shows no wear - But
> there's a difference with that guitar ...
>
> I find I like a high action on the Variax (sounds better) and the Squier
> (feels better), but the Epi seems to suit a low action well. I can't abide
> any sort of fret buzz, no matter how faint or inaubile through an amp, so
> tend to wind the action up until I'm happy. I tend to set the truss rods to
> get plenty of relief - Right at the top of the sensible limit at about 20
> thou, leave the nut cut at medium-high, and wind the saddles up to give
> buzz free playing; And I play hard ;-)
>
> I wondering if I'm overcompensating for the harder action by pressing too
> hard? I don't get any cramps or pain, but then I don't play for long
> periods.
>
> Perhaps it's just normal wear ...
>
> Al.

My 97 Strat plus really suffered from this problem . At one time i
thought my frets were made outa lead .Funny thing is my friends 75 Les
Paul is still as good as new ? . How can that be , we both played the
same amount of time . I just put it down to thin wire versus thick
wire .

Worst affected areas were on the first three frets . I probably played
too much Zepp and AC/DC .Blackmore was ok . He
had me all over the board .

On Wed, 28 May 2008 15:19:14 -0700 (PDT), Bluesplayer
 wrote:


>My 97 Strat plus really suffered from this problem . At one time i
>thought my frets were made outa lead .Funny thing is my friends 75 Les
>Paul is still as good as new ? . How can that be , we both played the
>same amount of time . I just put it down to thin wire versus thick
>wire .
>
I'd be more inclined to put it down to a differing ratio of metals in
the alloy used.

In fact, it would be very surprising if it was the same. 

Steve.