brass fret ware and tare?

H

H8ER 321

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hello guys, i was looking at my frets today as i changed my strings and cleaned the frets / fretboard and i noticed that the frets have worn alot more than i expected maybe its just the fact that the brass has tarnished a little but, has anyone else noticed this? is the brass weaker than normal frets?


/i also have another problem; my finger grease (eww) is very high in acid and its starting to take that shine away from my ebony fretboard. I have cleaned it with lemon oil but it still has these dull spots where my fingers hit the ebony, is there any way to buff the shine back into the wood?


thanks, Brian.
 
My bellbrass frets seem to be pretty strong and the sound is incredible. About your fingerboard, what I do on my basses to keep their fingerboards shiny is to use a dremel drill with a buffing head, I will post pictures tomorrow so can see what I'm talking about. This normally brings that shiny look back to them.
 
odominguez said:
My bellbrass frets seem to be pretty strong and the sound is incredible. About your fingerboard, what I do on my basses to keep their fingerboards shiny is to use a dremel drill with a buffing head, I will post pictures tomorrow so can see what I'm talking about. This normally brings that shiny look back to them.
Click to expand...


cool thanks i would really appreciate that!!
 
Here's a pic of the dremel toolkit I use for buffing my frets. Rob Busch also recommended once to use Steel Wool, but if you do this make sure to cover your pickups, as some particles of the steel wool might attach to the magnets of your pickups.
 
H8ER 321,

What kind of strings are you using? Since about 1979, I used nothing but Rotosound Swing Bass roundwounds on various Fender Precisons, Jazzers and the occasional Rickenbacker 4001 that fell into my hands, and these sounded great but took their toll on frets. I still use the Rotosounds on my Thumb NT5, as I love the sound and this bass doesn't get used as much as my Thumb BO4, which is in onstage with me every Friday and Saturday night. The BO4 wears nothing but DR Marcus Miller Fat Beams, which I've been using since I bought the bass in 2002. They sound good on this bass and are not as coarse as the Rotos, and after all this time, the frets look just great.
 
Oil Can said:
H8ER 321,

What kind of strings are you using? Since about 1979, I used nothing but Rotosound Swing Bass roundwounds on various Fender Precisons, Jazzers and the occasional Rickenbacker 4001 that fell into my hands, and these sounded great but took their toll on frets. I still use the Rotosounds on my Thumb NT5, as I love the sound and this bass doesn't get used as much as my Thumb BO4, which is in onstage with me every Friday and Saturday night. The BO4 wears nothing but DR Marcus Miller Fat Beams, which I've been using since I bought the bass in 2002. They sound good on this bass and are not as coarse as the Rotos, and after all this time, the frets look just great.
Click to expand...

i have always been using Marcus Miller fat beams. i bought this bass brand-new in the box and everything. one of the thing that i did notice is when i cleaned the frets they didnt look as bad, i took some fine steel wool and gave them a light scrub and they didnt look as bad, but its still more than i expected. maybe i am just being a little to anal I dunno.


here is a pic of the ware & tare. lol, macro zoom makes your fingers look massive :shock:

you can click on the image to get its full size *WARNING* its not 56k safe.


https://img126.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0218zg4.jpg


but, is this kind of ware and tare normal? i have owned this bass for about 2 months. i have giged many many times with it already. and i play on it about 2 to 3 hours every 2 days or so besides the 1 1/2 hour gigs every thursday and friday.


im also a slap-a-holic.


thanks, Brian..
 
Thanks, Ollie.
I didn't have my glasses on when I checked out the image, but it looks like he's in good shape.
 
Hi,

Warwick frets are supposed to be 4 time harder than standard frets.
In my opinion, they are the best.
My oldest Thumb bass is 9 years old, has been played (and slapped) a lot with the black label strings (stainless steel is not the softer material...) There's some fret wear but this bass is still a dream to play... not fret buzz and intonation is ok.

I think you shouldn't worry until you feel or hear something weird.

Play and enjoy.
 
okay, thanks alot!

i just wanted to make sure it was normal for my usage..

and Oliver. whcih dremel head do you use to polish your fretboard? if you could post a pic of that it would be great..



thanks alot guys.

brian
 
I've often wondered about how much fret care is needed...

....I've been beating the crap out of the same Streamer Pro-M almost every night since 1997, and I've never had the frets dressed, buffed, treated, or even kissed nicely and put to bed. I've cleaned them; that's about it. I've never had any problems whatsoever, and I really do abuse them.

Bell brass frets RULE. :D
 
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