Frets eat strings

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Frets eat strings

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orsonw

Posts: 1934
Joined: Jul. 4 2009
From: London

Frets eat strings

I have a new guitar, a few months old and the frets really wear through the wound strings very fast- in a week or two.

I move the 4th string along after a few days so the frets have a fresh bit of the string to eat.

Could a luthier do anything about this, file the frets maybe?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2010 12:16:47

kovachian

Posts: 506
Joined: Jan. 30 2008
From: Americanistan

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to orsonw)

I'm no luthier, but it sounds like your frets need a good smoothing over. Any decent luthier can take care of that easily.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2010 12:22:26

Doitsujin

Posts: 5078
Joined: Apr. 10 2005

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to orsonw)

hmm...I never heard about frets that damage strings.. but strings that damage frets with time.

I had some metal-powder from the strings, too when my guitar was new but my frets were very flat from the beginning on.. It could be due to bad strings IMO. I would not file the frets.. They will get damage early enough...

Could you upload some photos of the frets in closeup as well as some broken points at the strings? I would like to see it.. Im just interested.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2010 12:52:39

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to orsonw)

You can polish the frets with 00 or 000 steelwoll.

The builder has most probably worked on the frets, but has forgotten to polish them.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 17 2010 0:16:19

Tom Blackshear

Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to orsonw)

quote:

ORIGINAL: orsonw

I have a new guitar, a few months old and the frets really wear through the wound strings very fast- in a week or two.

I move the 4th string along after a few days so the frets have a fresh bit of the string to eat.

Could a luthier do anything about this, file the frets maybe?

This may sound a little strange but I have had this happen to my guitars when I use a harder fret wire as opposed to soft style nickel silver. It's sort of a trade off, to some extent, but I like the softer fret wire due to the problem of wearing out the strings much faster. Also, the softer wire seems to give the sound a little earthier quality rather than a more metalic edge.

I'm no scientist but this seems to be very obvious with the different hardness of the frets.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 28 2010 11:53:32

estebanana

Posts: 9354
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to orsonw)

Your frets are probably not crowned and/or polished properly. You can take it to a guitarmaker to check.

You can also polish them yourself by getting a small sliver of very soft wood like spruce or soft pine. Cut a piece about 3" long and 3/8 " wide and 1/4 " thick approx. Get a little piece of jewelers rouge at a hobby store or jewelry supply place.

Slick up the polish job on the frets and it will make it easier to play and less abrasive on the strings. Rub rouge on the soft wood stick and then start with a fret up the neck like the 17th or 18th, rub the rouged stick back and forth on the fret hard enough to groove the stick and make a path for it to ride in a little channel on top of the fret.

Seat the stick on top of the fret and rub it back and forth with moderate pressure. You'll feel the fret getting slick and the surface will shine with a high gloss. Move to the next fret toward the nut and repeat until you get all the way to the first fret.

If your frets ever get tarnished you can do this to brighten them up when you change strings. Don't go overboard and be compulsive, just do it every 6 to 8 months. Shiny polished frets make playing easier.

Should you still have trouble take it to a guitarmaker so they can analize the situation. Usually when guitars are breaking strings too fast it's fret polish, roughness and crowning issues.

If the fret is not crowned well it could need a very slight adjustment and recrown that fixes it. The string could be getting pushed over a section of fret that has a tiny edge that is sharply angled, that weakens the string. Let someone with good action set up skills look at it.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 28 2010 15:08:08

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to estebanana)

quote:

ORIGINAL: estebanana

If your frets ever get tarnished you can do this to brighten them up when you change strings. Don't go overboard and be compulsive, just do it every 6 to 8 months. Shiny polished frets make playing easier.

Some people say that highly polished frets don't work as well as slightly scuffed ones. I've read opinions on both sides of the polished fret discussion and from my own experience think that frets should not be polished to the point of looking like a mirror. Better to treat them like Anders says with some fine steel wool. Of course this opinion is worth just what it cost you.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 28 2010 15:47:11

orsonw

Posts: 1934
Joined: Jul. 4 2009
From: London

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to jshelton5040)

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately the luthier that I know and trust is too busy to work on my guitar for some months. So I might just leave it.

I know the strings are fine because it's happened with a few sets, maybe they will wear the frets a little overtime and it will balance out?

It happens on any frets that see a lot of use, not just one in particular so must be a general fret finishing issue. However to my untrained senses they don't feel rough to touch and they look just as polished as on my other guitars. I'll take a photo and post it here.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 28 2010 16:40:03

estebanana

Posts: 9354
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to jshelton5040)

quote:

Some people say that highly polished frets don't work as well as slightly scuffed ones. I've read opinions on both sides of the polished fret discussion and from my own experience think that frets should not be polished to the point of looking like a mirror. Better to treat them like Anders says with some fine steel wool. Of course this opinion is worth just what it cost you.

John,

That's interesting, as you know there are lots of methods to dress frets, but I've moved towards a highly polished fret finish after using steel wool for many years. They go dull fast enough anyway so they end up being dull in several weeks if not faster. It's been my experience getting feedback from good and pro players that they like the slick frets so I keep doing it.

The thing I don't like about steel wool is that it also drags across the wood of the fingerboard against the grain.

I've come up with a series of abrasives I wrap around the slotted diamond fret file to do the final dressing after I shape the frets with a safe file. I stopped using steel wool after that. If you're curious at all it goes like this:

I use the diamond file by itself and then progress through several grits of wet and dry paper from usually 600 to 1500. I wet the paper slightly to lubricate the grinding and then wipe the fret board dry constantly with a towel. Then I finish the frets by going to 2000 or 2500 wet /dry paper and then I use the left over Buflex sheets which I save from rubbing out French polish.
I wrap the Buflex around the scrap of spruce with fret groove in it and polish with that. Usually that finishes the fret off, but I sometimes take it to a high shine with rouge on the grooved stick.

The used Buflex sheets work wonderfully and don't touch surface of the fingerboard. And for a quick detarnishing which does not really mirror up the fret I use the Buflex on the frets when I change strings for people.

If making the frets shiny is a sin, then I'm going to go to guitamaker hell. (If I believed in hell. I'll take Beatrice to a dive bar and get her drunk and leave Dante there to ponder the various levels he imagines. )

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 28 2010 17:15:09

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to estebanana)

quote:

The thing I don't like about steel wool is that it also drags across the wood of the fingerboard against the grain.

I've come up with a series of abrasives I wrap around the slotted diamond fret file to do the final dressing after I shape the frets with a safe file. I stopped using steel wool after that. If you're curious at all it goes like this:

I use the diamond file by itself and then progress through several grits of wet and dry paper from usually 600 to 1500. I wet the paper slightly to lubricate the grinding and then wipe the fret board dry constantly with a towel. Then I finish the frets by going to 2000 or 2500 wet /dry paper and then I use the left over Buflex sheets which I save from rubbing out French polish.
I wrap the Buflex around the scrap of spruce with fret groove in it and polish with that. Usually that finishes the fret off, but I sometimes take it to a high shine with rouge on the grooved stick.

Actually Stephan I dress my frets much the same way you do finishing with 2000 grit sandpaper. I don't like steel wool because of the little steel fibers it leaves in the wood grain. When I first started building I polished the frets to a high luster with a buffer and jeweler's rouge. I still like the looks of mirror shiny frets but as a player I found that I liked the feel of frets that were not so highly polished so now I end with the 2000 grit paper.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 1 2010 11:41:45

estebanana

Posts: 9354
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: Frets eat strings (in reply to orsonw)

John, I don't use and electric buffer either, all by hand, but I can't resist hand polishing them with piece of spruce or the paper on the back of the sandpaper.

steel wool ...meh..

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 1 2010 13:54:25