Thinking on purchasing a PRS SC 594.

Martin V

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Apr 28, 2022
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Hi everyone, so I've been thinking on buying a PRS SC594, but one thing holds me back, my experience with PRS fret wires, i had 3 PRS back in the early 2000's and after about 15 to 20 months all my guitars had very noticeable fret wear, so i sold all of them, i heard the company change the quality of the wires on 2010 or so, have any of you had any fret issues with your guitars since? Thanks.
 
I've been playing PRS guitars pretty much since the beginning of the company and I've never had unusual fret wear on any of them. That doesn't mean the fret wire hasn't changed over the years but I've always found it to be quite durable.
 
It seems some people can be harder on frets than others. I don't have any issues with fretwear on any of my PRSi except one: the SE Angelus acoustic that I gigged & practiced very regularly, playing it probably three times a week for three hours each time. That seems to get some fretwear, but not enough to alarm me.

I wonder, now that I think about it, whether string gauge plays into this: putting 10s on instead of 9s makes it harder to press the strings into the frets. Maybe with 9s many stronger-handed players were just digging it too much because the lighter string is easier to clamp down on. And PRS switched from 9s being the stock strings to 10s sometime in the 00s, if I recall correctly?

OP, do you remember what strings you would have had on those guitars?
 
I’m another one that hasn’t had issues with PRS frets of any vintage. I gigged a set of 513s from 2007 for years, still have them both, and neither is in need of a refret. There is some wear, but nothing unusual for the amount of use they’ve seen. I play them regularly to this day.

It’s in your setup or playing style if you’re having excessive wear, which isn’t a bad thing, but is something to consider in buying a guitar. If I was a heavy wearer, and liked the PRS offering, I’d plan on a refret with stainless frets when the originals wear down. PRS frets don’t wear any faster than Gibson or Fender frets, so my guess is that if you’re getting long life from another guitar, it probably has stainless frets to begin with. The PRS Joe Walsh SC594 has stainless frets, if you can find one! I don’t know of another PRS equipped with them.

Good luck in your search!
 
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