Lots of fretware in Cowboy chord town - no buzzing at all

[abelville]

Hi Forum Fam,

I've got this awesome Gibby wm45 I just love. The Volume, action, tone, bottom end tone, clarity and buzz free playing is to die for.

In the past, before I got to this kind of fretware, I sold the guitar figuring, I better unload it before it's even close to needing fret job.

I'm not opposed to paying for a refret,or dressing/crowning, I love this guitar and it's a normal maintenance up keep.

However, I'm on the fence if I should do anything as it plays and sounds like a sweet dream. The only thing about it that bothers me is when I change strings and see the wear. Each fret gradually has less wear up the neck until about fret 11, so the previous owner didn't just play cowboy cords.

Appreciate your advice.

Al

[UncleJesse]

Why not just do a partial refret? It shouldn't be that expensive unless you have a bound neck.

[stormin1155]

The correct term is fret wear, not fretware. As you said yourself, having frets leveled/recrowned is part of normal maintenance of a guitar, so selling a guitar to avoid that would be kind of like selling a car to avoid replacing tires.

Fret wear occurs slowly, so most people don't notice the slow degradation of tone and playability, and are usually quite surprised at how much better the guitar sounds and plays after a good fret job. But that doesn't mean that a guitar needs a level/recrown at the first sign of wear. So if it still plays and sounds like a dream, keep on playing and enjoying it.

[abelville]

Well, actually the guitars I sold only cost around $300 to $500. You are right though, when you have a keeper (car or guitar) get new tires/frets.

[abelville]

I brought that up to my Luthier, and he said it would be almost as much as the entire fret job. I think its sometimes their way of getting a more substantial job commitment.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by abelville

I brought that up to my Luthier, and he said it would be almost as much as the entire fret job. I think its sometimes their way of getting a more substantial job commitment.

In that case, have them use EVO fretwire and you'll probably never need another refret again.

[abelville]

Not familiar with EVO. Is it a type of stainless - equivalent in wear?

[abelville]

Originally Posted by stormin1155

The correct term is fret wear, not fretware. As you said yourself, having frets leveled/recrowned is part of normal maintenance of a guitar, so selling a guitar to avoid that would be kind of like selling a car to avoid replacing tires.

Fret wear occurs slowly, so most people don't notice the slow degradation of tone and playability, and are usually quite surprised at how much better the guitar sounds and plays after a good fret job. But that doesn't mean that a guitar needs a level/recrown at the first sign of wear. So if it still plays and sounds like a dream, keep on playing and enjoying it.

"Fretware" haha! sounds like I'm mixing dishes with guitars....

[stephenT]

Originally Posted by abelville

Not familiar with EVO. Is it a type of stainless - equivalent in wear?

no, completely different compound. Jescar EVO Gold, check it out.

[abelville]

Thanks! Will do.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by abelville

"Fretware" haha! sounds like I'm mixing dishes with guitars....

It lasts a long time but has a gold hue to it. Martin uses it on their Modern Deluxe series.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by abelville

Hi Forum Fam,

I've got this awesome Gibby wm45 I just love. The Volume, action, tone, bottom end tone, clarity and buzz free playing is to die for.

In the past, before I got to this kind of fretware, I sold the guitar figuring, I better unload it before it's even close to needing fret job.

I'm not opposed to paying for a refret,or dressing/crowning, I love this guitar and it's a normal maintenance up keep.

However, I'm on the fence if I should do anything as it plays and sounds like a sweet dream. The only thing about it that bothers me is when I change strings and see the wear. Each fret gradually has less wear up the neck until about fret 11, so the previous owner didn't just play cowboy cords.

Appreciate your advice.

Al

Hi Al
I have a wonderful luthier who does all the tech work on my guitars, and when the dents actually start to cause buzzing, he levels the frets, and recrowns & polishes them. And they work for a few more years!

I was amazed how 'deep' the big dents looked to my eye that he was able to keep in service…that did mean he didn't always remove the dents totally (which would cause him to pull off too much from the other frets).

The first 5-6 fret wires on my Olson have been replaced in the past 28 years 3 times. My current tech has done the last 2 of those. The rest are all original. He told me he thinks he could do at least 2 more partial re-fret jobs before it would need a full-refret.

When I was playing frequently (2-4 times a week, teaching a dozen lessons a week, practice etc) those fret wires only needed replacing every 4-5 years. Now that I've retired, I doubt they need replacing again.

I've seen some heavy handed techs who really take a lot of material off the frets when leveling them, and after only a couple partial re-frets they are into full-refret jobs.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by abelville

I've got this awesome Gibby wm45 I just love. The Volume, action, tone, bottom end tone, clarity and buzz free playing is to die for.
Al

Then leave it alone for now. When a refret is needed then go with EVO gold or stainless steel frets.