"Played to it's death" guitar?

[abraxas]

I was reading something about Steve Morse, having his "number one" signature EBMM guitar re-fretted about 7 or 8 times (!!!) in 20 years. And that's only because he is using a different one for practice.

I was wondering how many of you have had one or (preferably) more refrets done to your favorite axe. In other words, do you have a guitar "played to it's death"?

 

[Ro3b]

My Guild has had four refrets in the 20-odd years I've had it, and it's due for a fifth. It should have had more, but I'm cheap and I tend to try to make do until it's impossible.

 

[abraxas]

My Guild has had four refrets in the 20-odd years I've had it, and it's due for a fifth. It should have had more, but I'm cheap and I tend to try to make do until it's impossible.

Is it an acoustic? Small frets?

 

[SuperSwede]

My Schecter would really benefit from a fretjob.. I dont like medium jumbo frets so I wouldnt mind if a luthier took em down.

Worked up uranium should work better as a fret material. More durable and it even glows in the dark

 

[abraxas]

It might seem almost impossible but I have never done a refret on any of my guitars!

I play for almost 25 years now (admittedly, with a few years off, in between). My most used guitar is my American-made '86 Kramer, which has been fret leveled only once. But it had huge frets to begin with...

There are two reasons why I avoided refrets for that long: first, during the years, I used to have a number of guitars, which I played for a year or so and then sell. Even during my professional playing years, I used to play a number of borrowed instruments (mainly electro-acoustics) which subtracted playing time (and wear) from my main guitar.

Second, I have noticed that players which sweat a lot and tend to wear off strings, destroy frets more easily. I never had this "problem".

Nowadays, I have seven electric guitars, so playing time is divided between them... Only my Kramer is really overdue for a refret, I estimate all the others have some time to go before their "final" fret leveling (before a refret is absolutely necessary).

 

[Ro3b]

Is it an acoustic? Small frets?

Acoustic, yes. Medium frets.

 

[evenkeel]

My old Guild, mid 70's D 35 NT I have owned since the mid 80's. I have had it refretted twice. For a long time it sat unplayed. When I started to get back into guitar about 7-8 years ago it was the only acoustic I had and that prompted the two refrets. Now that I have a few other toys in the collection I suspect it will be a while before another re-fret is needed.

 

[KrisH]

Refretted my EB-3 only once, but had the newer frets re-dressed a few years ago.

 

[markb]

I had to replace the first five frets on a Sigma D28 copy I had. Old time string bands are really hard on the bottom end of the board. Like Abraxas I don't have the kind of sweat that rots strings and frets. I have friends whose fingers eat strings in a couple of hours playing time.

 

[Algonquin]

My 1983 Squier JV 62' reissue is now officially 25 years old and is in need of some attention to the frets. I'm thinking she deserves this treatment before I go and spend any more money on new guitars. I think a dressing will likely do the trick, but we'll have to see.

There's a shop in TO that I picked up my last two guitars from that does excellent work. I'll probably take it in sometime this summer.

When I factor in the cost of the guitar and the mods done to it, it's cost me a wopping $3 a month to own! Not too shabby when you look at it that way.

 

[abraxas]

I had to replace the first five frets on a Sigma D28 copy I had. Old time string bands are really hard on the bottom end of the board.

Yeah, with most acoustic playing (in a band context) the first 5-6 frets are usually blown away real fast... Fortunately a partial re-fret + fret dress doesn't cost that much...

Needless to say, the problem with too many refrets is that a considerable amount of wood also gets removed...

To get back to Steve Morse, his newest signature Musicman, in which the condition of his 20 year old neck is faithfully reproduced, feels quite different from his "original".

 

[Spudman]

My old main Strat that toured with me had one refret. It really needed it because I was playing it 7 nights a week for a long time. This was way before I had a guitar collection. Now I spread duties around among other guitars and maybe there might be one guitar that will need frets in about 10 years.