Fretwear on one-year-old SE Angelus Custom (curious, not alarmed)

shinksma

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Recently I've had a very mild fret buzz on the G-string when fretting at the second fret on my PRS SE Angelus Custom. I figured it was time for a string change (and it was).

But, while I had the e, B, and G strings off I noticed that I had fairly obvious fret wear, mostly on the second and third frets under those three strings. Now, I'm not alarmed per se, but I've been playing for over 30 years, and none of my other guitars have exhibited fretwear so quickly. (See below.)

I've played this guitar probably 4 hours a week, on average - one gig/week @ 3 hrs played half the time, plus a few one hour sessions learning or writing songs. I usually practice with the band using the P24. And recently I've been playing mostly mandolin at practice and gigs.

Some gigs in the last year have been outdoors in warm temps, say 80 to 84 deg F, in the shade (yay Florida!). But usually we play indoors, 76-78 deg F. Not sure if frets are truly more easily worn down in warmer conditions - in theory one would say yes, but maybe 70 deg vs 80 deg is irrelevant to issue at hand.

Anyway, just wondering if this is typical, or am I just playing with too firm a grip? Guitar is set up with .012s. Is it a function of heavier strings begetting faster fretwear (gotta press harder, can't afford as light a touch as .009s for example)?

For comparison: My one-year-old P24 which has been played about as much has a some very mild fretwear, less than the Angelus, my 1979 Les Paul has perhaps equivalent to the Angelus (it was a case queen for 20 years, so I will admit probably all of that came from me over the course of 6 years prior to getting the PRS bug).
 
I have a 2011 Experience PRS Custom 24 with fret wear already. I don't think you are wrong to be alarmed because any fretwear on guitars after a year is unacceptable. Escpecially from PRS. I'm not an expert in metals and coudn't tell you how fast one metal wears compared to the other but...... for an instrument that cost $6000 I shouldn't have indents in the frets either. Having said that I have owned 4 PRS guitars. A 1996 Custom24, a 2001 Singlecut, 2005 SE Custom 24 and my most recent 2011 Custom 24. Everyone of them had fretwear before I parted ways with it. In fact, it was 2006 when I started college and before school started that August I had to sell my 2001 Singlecut. One of the selling points in my Item Description on Ebay was the new fret leveling I had done by a local luthier. I don't believe you are pressing too hard.

It's the frets. And in my experience it's typical. I watched the video you referred to in which Paul talks of how hard the fret wire is and the "guitar shouldn't ever need a refret" statement and that's not true. As much as I hate to say it, PRS frets wear too fast. I've been objective as a guitarist can be! I couldln't imagine my frets going past five years since starting to notice them on my 2011 Custom 24.
 
Let me add that I obviously still believe PRS are still awesome. I just wish their frets lasted ME longer as they seem to do for some other people. o_O
 
Thanks, I do appreciate the response! I must admit I play guitar far more now than I did a few years ago, and maybe that has accelerated the fretwear more than I am used to - I used to play my older acoustic maybe an hour a week, maybe an hour a month :eek:, because I'd bang around on the electrics mostly (and even then, only a couple hours a week if I was lucky).
 
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