Dents on frets?

ncsurfer
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Sat Oct 15, 2011 6:33 pm

Thanks for all your input on this. I had been using the capo quite a bit and once left the capo on overnight without realizing it. Lots of practice on songs with D-chords too..... I play every day, sometimes a little, sometimes alot, so I'm sure the fret wear is mostly my doing and not Taylor's. Live and learn.

I guess I should just treat this as required maintenance, I like my guitar too much to let premature fret wear ruin my day. I'll play until the buzzing gets unbearable before I bring it in. Although, if more John Prine lesson are on the way I will get it done sooner!

I appreciate all the information y'all responded with, have a great weekend!


wrench
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Mon Oct 17, 2011 11:45 am

ncsurfer wrote:
Whenever changing my strings I have noticed that the first four frets have dents/impressions where the B and high E strings are, with the deepest dents at the first fret and diminishing down (or is it up?) the neck. The other strings don't seem to be affected.
I imagine this must affect playability at those positions and am wondering why does this happen? Is this normal? Should I be concerned? Perhaps I'm holding the chords too hard? It's a Taylor 114ce and I've had it less than two years. Any ideas or wisdom out there about this?
Too bad you are ncsurfer and not ctsurfer. I could have your Taylor singing sweet and clear in a couple of hours.

Your frets are a victim of two things: basic metallurgy and yes, you are pressing D chords too hard. Depending on how deep the dents are, they are likely quite repairable, and if dressed exceptionally well, they will help you learn to fret with much less force. Most likely nearly no one here has ever seen a fret dent under the 4 wound strings, which are much softer than the 18% nickel and brass alloy of standard frets. The plain steel strings, however, are ASTM A-228 hardened high carbon steel, and will eat frets alive. This doesn't mean you need to give in to a fret job every year. Get your frets dressed REALLY well, and fret only hard as necessary, and they should last at least 5 years, and probably longer. I have been working on fret dressing processes in the last year, and developed a unique dressing process that yields a very accurate profile, and I am pleasantly surprised at how it improves the playability of the instrument. I never would have believed a guitar can play this easily. This increased playability quickly leads to less aggressive fretting.

A standard fret will never have a better profile than it does right off the coil. The quality of the dressing is paramount. Which brings me to stainless frets. They they are usually an alloy called 18-8, and will certainly last longer than standard fret wire. Despite the similarity in the name, 18-8 stainless is one of the most difficult metals I have ever machined, and I frankly don't see how anyone can do a good job dressing them. It will eat crowning files alive, and it will pack vitreous stones immediately, so they only way I can think of to do them is with diamond, and it's still difficult. The unique tooling I use to dress frets would be destroyed immediately on stainless. I discourage the use of stainless frets because of the difficulty in achieving a good dressing job. They may be worth it for electric players bending a lot on steel strings, but I discourage them on acoustics.

Get your Taylor fixed, you won't regret it unless you get a bad dressing job. Unfortunately I don't know how to tell you how to avoid that. Good luck.


AndyT
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Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:42 am

Hydro,

I'm actually at that point now. About half of the neck needs to be done and the other half I don't get around to much. LOL
I'm just putting it off till I can afford to be without it for a couple of weeks. And that means I need to get another guitar to use while Gracie's in the shop. The wife has already Ok'ed the purchase.... As long as I can make payments on it. LOL Anyone know where I can get a nice Martin Performer on Lay-away?


dennisg
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Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:10 am

Andy,

I know that Taylor has a program out right now (in the U.S.) through GE Capital that lets you buy a guitar, then pay it off interest-free over a year. Maybe Martin is doing the same thing. Here's some info about Taylor's program: http://www.taylorguitars.com/news/NewsD ... spx?id=211


suziko
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Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:42 am

What a great thread for me! I was having a terrible time with the C chord and looked for dents. Yep, there he was.

Mine were not so bad; they can file them out. Only two or three under the 1,2, and 3 strings.

It will cost $65. I asked the cost of replacing fret wires and it is $10 per wire and then $65 to dress them.

When I pick it up, I am going to ask if you have to replace all wires if you replace one, or can you just replace one and dress it to match those undamaged?

Anyone know?

Sam

EDIT: What's with the blue "match" in my post advertising singles in OKC? I see this all the time now on the forum. Is this the latest form of Spam?

EDIT: Did it again!

TEST: m-atch s-ingles


wrench
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Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:39 am

TwoCatSam wrote:
What a great thread for me! I was having a terrible time with the C chord and looked for dents. Yep, there he was.

Mine were not so bad; they can file them out. Only two or three under the 1,2, and 3 strings.

It will cost $65. I asked the cost of replacing fret wires and it is $10 per wire and then $65 to dress them.

When I pick it up, I am going to ask if you have to replace all wires if you replace one, or can you just replace one and dress it to match those undamaged?

Anyone know?

Sam
Sam, you can replace individual frets successfully IF the luthier uses the right size wire. A replacement fret of a different width or radius will play OK, but it will always look and feel slightly different. That dented fret under the third string is a clue that you are pressing too hard, unless you are using a plain steel third string.


willem
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Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:20 am

wrench

Thanks for that. I think I am pressing too hard because I am touching the string to far from the fret wire. I try to kill the buzz by pressing harder instead of having the fingertip in the right place.

Another bad habit to eliminate........

Sam


Chasplaya
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Sat Nov 12, 2011 11:22 pm

Kinda digressing but wouldn't Dentson Frets be a cool stage name :laugh:


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