Members poderoso Posted May 2, 2011 Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 hey guys, so im starting to see some fret wear on my EBMM axis. yeah yeah i know its normal.. it just got me thinking about refretting and recrowning. I dont really understand how recrowning works. what if i just play the crap out of my frets and ignore all the wear. does recrowning only work to a certain point of fret wear? or if the fret wear gets really bad is it necessary to refret? appreciate the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 2, 2011 Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 If you get alot of wear the frets will have to be leveled before recrowning. Usually a board can take quite a few levels before a refret is necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted May 2, 2011 Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 Level and crown. Should beable to do three easy before a refret unless you really let it go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted May 2, 2011 Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 Your intonation on chords goes to {censored} when your frets flatten out forcing you to get a crown job. Your frets have to be pretty low before an actual refret is needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted May 2, 2011 Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 Another common problem is the first few frets get grooves worn in them which can lead to fret buzz. Unfortunately you have to take all frets down to the lowest wear spot or you can have all kinds of issues the others mentioned. Some do like flat frets. Its an option to crowning. They all have to be equally flat and string wear is less with a larger surface. You do have more friction bending strings with flat frets and if they are tall, you can have string bending issues at the frets where the string leaves the frets unevenly and buzzes and looses sustain. Leveling and crowning isnt super heard to learn. The key is having a flat fretboard before you begin. Using a notched straight edge is important for that. This way you arent taking more off leveling than you should by leveling a bowed neck. The rest is just close up eye work. The magic marker trick helps too putting marker on the frets so you take the surrounding frets down to worn ones. If you eventually have to refret, using stainless steel frets is a good option. They truely do resist wear and are worth the extra hard work they require to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted May 2, 2011 Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 ^^ you can also just get the first few frets replaced if you have a localized problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poderoso Posted May 2, 2011 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 hmm... from what i understand(i dont trust myself), recrowning would be to make the frets even by sanding them down right? but would that affect the action if the lower frets(1-5) are lower than the higher frets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 2, 2011 Members Share Posted May 2, 2011 ^^ you can also just get the first few frets replaced if you have a localized problem. I've done that with a couple of acoustics where 90% of the wear was below the fifth fret. Works great. Then you don't lose as much material over the entire board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted May 3, 2011 Members Share Posted May 3, 2011 I've done that with a couple of acoustics where 90% of the wear was below the fifth fret. . Hows this for a white trash fix.... gently stole the three highest frets (no real playing access to them anyways) and cut them down to use in the first three frets. It actually worked great and was totally free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BIGD Posted May 3, 2011 Members Share Posted May 3, 2011 hmm... from what i understand(i dont trust myself), recrowning would be to make the frets even by sanding them down right? but would that affect the action if the lower frets(1-5) are lower than the higher frets? Crowning is when you give the frets a rounded profile after they've all been flattened to the same height. What you are talking about is fret leveling, which requires sanding down all the frets until they reach the lowest common denominator. Google fret leveling and youtube it, many videos and articles on this process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BIGD Posted May 3, 2011 Members Share Posted May 3, 2011 Hows this for a white trash fix....gently stole the three highest frets (no real playing access to them anyways) and cut them down to use in the first three frets. It actually worked great and was totally free. Not a bad idea if you are hardly ever that far up the neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted May 3, 2011 Members Share Posted May 3, 2011 Not a bad idea if you are hardly ever that far up the neck. Should of mentioned it was an acoustic lol....really bad access up that high: I would never do that on an electric because I play the upper frets alot; however I would add an extra 3 in a heartbeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldMattB Posted May 3, 2011 Members Share Posted May 3, 2011 Hows this for a white trash fix....gently stole the three highest frets (no real playing access to them anyways) and cut them down to use in the first three frets. It actually worked great and was totally free. genius!!! I am a pretty resourceful guy, and I never thought of that. One could even take some old frets, grind them almost flat, and put them in the empty slots. thank you! oldMattB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted May 3, 2011 Members Share Posted May 3, 2011 ^^ I prefer "resourceful" to "parsimonious", which is how my guitar tech politely referred to me when hearing this little trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members straycat113 Posted May 4, 2011 Members Share Posted May 4, 2011 As long as the guitar is still holding tune, has good intonation and is not fretting out on bends you can go on a while longer, but you are goint to need a fret dressing soon. I usually go to two max as then it feels like you are playing a fretless guitar and bending is a bitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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