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Post subject: Fret wear
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 5:36 pm
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I have severe fret wear - fret 1-7 - on my 2015 American Start HSS. Bought it new and play occasionaly - approx 4 hours a week. I use Elixer Optiweb lights 10s. Is this normal for my use.

Thanks in advance.


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Post subject: Re: Fret wear
Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:59 am
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Location: Denver, CO, USA
If you squeeze really hard when fretting, and do a lot of bends, it's possible to get noticeable fret wear in a few years.

"Severe fret wear" may be open to interpretation.

I've seen guitars with such severe fret wear that if you fretted at the third fret, the string would touch the 4th fret and sound a half-step higher than intended.

Are you getting a lot of fret buzz? Does raising the action a hair reduce the buzz, or do you have to raise the action uncomfortably high?

Are notes audibly a little sharp or flat on the worn frets?

Visible flattening and a few divots can look much worse than they actually are.


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Post subject: Re: Fret wear
Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 9:10 pm
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Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:21 pm
Posts: 393
Location: Oklahoma
strayedstrater wrote:
If you squeeze really hard when fretting, and do a lot of bends, it's possible to get noticeable fret wear in a few years.

"Severe fret wear" may be open to interpretation.

I've seen guitars with such severe fret wear that if you fretted at the third fret, the string would touch the 4th fret and sound a half-step higher than intended.

Are you getting a lot of fret buzz? Does raising the action a hair reduce the buzz, or do you have to raise the action uncomfortably high?

Are notes audibly a little sharp or flat on the worn frets?

Visible flattening and a few divots can look much worse than they actually are.
I have a 2014 MIA Strat bought new in late 2014. Like the OP, I don't play that much. I'm just a bedroom picker, but noticing wear on the same frets. In answering your scenarios, I would have to say I'm not experiencing anything negative. If anything, it seems to play better than when it was brand new. I'm not going to worry about it unless I start noticing the problems you mentioned.


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Post subject: Re: Fret wear
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 1:18 am
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Location: UK
Are you talking of a flattening off of the crown or significant "V" shaped divots under the strings.

Fender frets do wear. I have retired my 20+ year old Strat as it does now need a re fret but I don't really want it re fretted..... but that is after 20 years. Granted there were periods in that time when I didn't play much.

I bend a lot and noodle for around an hour a day, on and off, and my main guitar certainly has some softening of the crowns and, if you look hard, some wear around the 5th and 7th fret below the D string most notably (I like Am Blues) This is after perhaps a year. These are jumbo frets though, so I would expect more wear as you don't really get any contact with the board.

So fret wear after 4 years - I'd be surprised if there wasn't.

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