Fret wear

Phil

Attached is a photo of fret wear on my Gallato...I got the guitar new in 2003 and due to wear, had new jumbo frets put on in October 2007 ( I probably could just had them dressed), but now the frets are appearing to be quite worn again where the E and B strings contact them...especially between the 3rd and 10th fret areas.

I don't play excessively, but practice a few times a week, with a good jam on weekends and about 1-2 gigs a month

Appreciate hearing some feedback on fret life-expectancy?

cheers

Phil

Stringswinger

Phil,

I have found that playing Gypsy Jazz with a traditional technique does put a lot of wear on the frets, especially under the B string. You should expect to do a fret dress every other year with a fret replacement every 6 years or so with normal playing on one guitar. Your guitar seems right on schedule. No worries.

Stainless steel frets will last longer, but will sound different. I plan on trying them up the road. I did a gig with Paul Mehling last week and he told me that he is loving the stainless steel frets on his Dupont.

Cheers,

Marc
www.hotclubpacific.com

Bob Holo

It's your technique, Phil. You bend a ton - which is great - but it eats frets. As a person who picked up a lot of things watching you play and jamming with you - I now eat frets too... ;-) but it's a good thing, not a bad thing. There is a new fret now - about half way between the hardness of nickel & stainless... gold colored... "evo" I think is what they're called. Mike will know - I've seen them at LMII which is one of his suppliers. It might make a nice compromise between tone and wear.

But yeah, it's your technique... and keep it - because your tone & nuances are great. I'll bet Stochelo Rosenberg goes through frets like a chainsaw... and Paul Mehling too... both of those guys are "big benders" too... though I think Mr. Mehling now uses stainless as he finally got tired of the bi-annual fret job routine. His tone is still awesome, but with those hands... it's no wonder.

*edit: Haha... just read your post Mark ;-) It's cool to hear he still likes them. He was pretty pumped about them just after he got them on but I was curious how he would feel several months later... which is pretty much now. All in all, they're expensive and hard to work with and overkill for most people, but for people who go through frets quick they're a real blessing. Now if Savarez can just invent a string for people with acidic sweat. Fortunately I can play strings till they break and they still sound fairly good right up till they pop, but I have many friends who can deaden new strings in one gig which is unfortunate because they'll never know the joy of a really nice set of well seasoned strings... their strings go from boingy & jangly to flat dead in a night or two. Nickel strings last for them, but at a cost in tone.

Jazzaferri

Interesting thread .... I will have to ask Michael what my frets are made of


Bob ... I really got a laff on your comment on strings lasting.... I get a few weeks to almost a month on mine however my bandmate ...... it seems like I can watch them turning black during the evening. :shock: :shock: two hours and they are dead.

Paul Mehling

Hey guys,

My repairman Paul Hostetter has hooked me up with some supersonic GOLD fretwire that doesn't wear out. I had my Dupont MD30 refretted 2 years ago and it still needs nothing. No dressing, no re-fret no nuthing. These frets are fantastic. The material is some sort of gold composite, I've spoken with Bob Holo about this- he may know where to get the stuff. It's great to be able to play on the same frets night after night day in and day out without thinking about the $$ I would need to spend to get the instrument refretted.

cheers,
Pazzo

Phil

thanks all for the replies...Bob thanks for the suggestion about the gold frets...also to Pazzo.
I'm checking with Mike at Portland Fretworks if he can get them.
Pazzo, what did they cost you?

cheers

Phil