Official Luthiers Forum!

On every guitar I've owned (I think they have all had typical nickel silver fretwire), my strings always get little indentations/wear marks on wound strings, over the frets where I play most frequently. Unless I was using strings that were harder than the fret wire, that is what I would expect. The phosphor bronze windings get worn at the frets, and the frets get worn on the high B and E (unwound, steel) strings. I change strings pretty often, when I'm inspired to play frequently.

Woody, if you have a nickel silver fretted guitar to compare, check the strings when they come off. If I change strings relatively quickly (a few days of playing), I often cannot see the worn spots on the phosphor bronze windings - until the strings come off. Then it is easy to see the spots.

I'm not surprised at Mario's conclusion that no one can hear any difference in fretwire used. I would guess that it would take something much softer than any of the commonly used fretwire alloys to make an audible difference.

Glad to know that the StewMac fret tang nipper is up to the task (of trimming SS fretwire tangs.)

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia