When to get a fret dress?

AdamBrad · Apr 24, 2012

Bought this RG second-hand a while back, the frets were always worn, but it didn't (and still doesn't) affect the playability. It's just starting to worry me that it might be affecting intonation. On the other hand, I'm a student and apparently a fret-dress of all 24 will not be cheap at all. So what I want to know is, how far gone do frets have to be to make dressing them a necessity?

pic of mine:

(man it's hard to focus on the frets themselves...)

Edgecrusher · Apr 24, 2012

Re: When to get a fret dress?

Check the intonation and see if its effecting it... if its not then and its still playing fine then dont worry about it

AdamBrad · Apr 24, 2012

Re: When to get a fret dress?

Thing is this was tuned to Baritone anyway, so getting intonation perfect is pretty difficult....

Might just ignore it

Edgecrusher · Apr 24, 2012

Re: When to get a fret dress?

What you posted in the pic doesnt look that bad unless it doesnt show. When you start getting divots and its starts to give dead spots thats when i look to have it redone

ItsaBass · Apr 24, 2012

Re: When to get a fret dress?

The frets don't look bad in the pic. But what tends to happen is that even if the frets you play on most are not necessarily unevenly worn in comparison to each other, they can be worn unevenly in comparison with the frets you play on less. The higher frets, especially the higher frets on the lower strings, remain in like-new condition while the lower frets wear. That can make setups a bit difficult, and the higher frets need to be brought down to match the lower ones. My '05 MIM Strat is getting to the point where it needs it's first leveling, and that is the reason. My '83 LP definitely needs to be leveled. The highest frets underneath the low strings are practically untouched, while the rest of the frets have nearly 30 years of play on them. None of these guitars have deep divots in the frets, but they all still need to be leveled.