Racetruck -
It looks like (to my tired eyes anyway) that the wall of the fret has....
Like the finish or plating is chipping or flaking off of it.
Can you see that????
Maybe I'm just seeing things.
I looked at my frets for anything similar to that, and saw no such comparison.
It may be nothing, though I was thinking that it was a result of the impact.
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
It definitely looks like a drop and it may have bent the string. The thing is, I have noticed these before on the string or strings, while changing them, I can't remember where and just thought it came from playing too hard. I do play HARD! From the wood dent and the string being crushed maybe I did drop it. I have no recollection of it though. The strings are relatively new, I got a 12 pack recently. That is what made me notice it, I just changed them. :)
What "finish scratches?" I'm going to change that string, and yes my nail does get caught on that fret when I run it across.
Thanks so much for the help!
It definitely looks like a drop and it may have bent the string. The thing is, I have noticed these before on the string or strings, while changing them, I can't remember where and just thought it came from playing too hard. I do play HARD! From the wood dent and the string being crushed maybe I did drop it. I have no recollection of it though. The strings are relatively new, I got a 12 pack recently. That is what made me notice it, I just changed them. :)
Hi,
I don't think that there's much doubt that what we can see there has been caused by an impact. Guitar strings aren't that soft and they're made to stand up to hard playing. I think it would be difficult to deliberately recreate that amount of distortion without hitting a string with something a fair bit more solid than a finger or plectrum. From the picture, it certainly looks like the string had been hit hard from above, rather than worn in some way from below. That can happen in all sorts of ways, and you might not have even been there when it fell, or whatever.
I know that my own recollection of previous events is always a bit unreliable when it comes to the fine detail (we're all like that - just ask any doctor, detective, engineer or repair person how accurate their customers' descriptions of prior events are.. :P :wink: ). So why not start afresh and monitor them closely from now on. If you see any new examples that look similar take another picture and post again. Maybe somebody will have some more ideas. It may be that you are getting other things happening that look somewhat similar in some way, but are caused in other ways. (unless you have a sneaky brother, friend, cat, dog, etc who keeps knocking your axe over... :shock: ). Or maybe you really are just an ultra tough player who somehow mangles their strings. :shock: It would be interesting to follow the mystery and see what you discover. Just because I can't do that to my strings doesn't mean you can't... scary thought though... :P
Good luck with it anyway. :)
Cheers,
Chris
I actually think you might be right. I am thinking the other "rips" were wear and tear, but I will monitor it and look for the buzz and sticking that racetruck talked about. Thanks :D
If the fret is tight against the fretboard and the fret is not bent or kinked then you can try to polish it out with some VERY fine sand paper or a fine tooth file and then rub with some fine steel wool. BUT be very careful and do only the fret and only remove the smallest amount. Don't try to remove the groove or dent but just smooth it out.
If the fret is kinked, it is a lost cause. You must replace it. I have yet to be able to straighten a kinked fret. Easier to replace it!
I don't recommend pulling or replacing frets on a Fender style maple neck if you have never done fretwork. It is very easy to pull chips up off the fretboard and ruin the slots if you don't watch out and do it the right way!
Sometimes you can superglue a popped up fret back down in place but this also takes some experience!
Doing fretwork is very tedious and painstaking work but a lot of times it can really transform a good playing guitar into something great! It takes a certain touch and you have to start with a really good setup.
Most shops will charge about $20.00 USD for a single fret replacement, this includes pulling the fret, repairing lifted chips, resetting the new fret, leveling and then profiling and recrowning. A bargain!
This is one reason to get a good stand or put the guitar away in its case.
Frets are pretty hard, I don't think that anyone can play or push down hard enough to damage them, unless your fingertips are like a ball-pien hammer! :lol: Most of the time you see wear when you do a lot of bending or after years of steady playing.
When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming......
like the passengers in his car.
I didn't mean to imply I was damaging the fret, I thought I was damaging the string. The fret is cool, just that nick on top. I am going to take it to my mom and pop guitar store. I would eventually like to learn to fix guitars, but I am not about to start on my strat. :P
