TexasFM3 Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I am wondering if anyone has noticed unusual fret wear on their Les Pauls. I have issue with my 2012 Gibson Les Paul Traditional Standard. By way of comparison - My 1988 Les Paul Standard, which was heavily used until I purchased this 2012 Les Paul Traditional, has no fret indentations or identifiable flat spots and this with heavy use in the 20+ years since I got it. My 2002 Les Paul Studio - shows no such signs yet. The frets are beautiful. I noticed the problem during a string changed a few days ago. When I changed the strings I noticed that the fret wire at the 2 and 3rd frets showed serious signs of indention and had noticeable flat spots. This after only 2 years. I do play it regularly - but nowhere close to what I was back in 1988 with my Standard. Heck I was doing 8 hours a day minimum learning this instrument. That 1988 LP is still in great shape for its age and frets do not show this kind of wear I am seeing on my 2012. Heck - even my 2002 has no wear after 8 years. The only time I seen this type of wear was on a old 80's Cort LP clone. How can the fret wire be so poor and already have such issues after 2 years or a few hours of play a week? I am not hard on my instruments by any stretch of the imagination. Especially this one since I paid $2300 for it. I am hoping for some help. I know fret wear is not covered under warranty but something has to be wrong. Has anyone had or heard any such problem and if so were you able to get some help from Gibson? I was hoping to have this instrument for many years to come and now to find that after only 2 years it is already in this kind of situation is heart wrenching. FM3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Sorry to hear this from you, FM3. :( There are three 2012 Les Paul guitars in my arsenal, and none of them shows excessive fret wear. All of my guitars are fine in this respect. This makes me guess there possibly is something wrong with the particular fret wire batch or part of the batch used on your 2012 Traditional. If it's just a small part of the batch, such inconsistencies can be beyond systematic detectability by the QC. My idea would be talking to the dealer you bought her at, including explaining your experiences with the both of your older and much more played LP guitars. They may be seen as a proof for assuming the fret wear on your 2012 Traditional as an excessive one. Perhaps they already know about the problem at Gibson, perhaps not, but I would try to have clarified that in any case. Apart from possible costs, losing fret nibs can be seen as the very problem of refretting here. This will affect the value, too, but if she's a nice player and you want to keep her, I hope you won't be too bothered about that. Good luck from here, FM3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Hello! Unfortunately, I can report the same. My 2010/2011 LPs got frets worn out very quickly. (The '78 Recording still has it's original frets. My MIM Tele has no significant fret wear either.) Best wishes... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Don't know, I have seen and heard the same about USA Fenders a couple years back also. What I see is first three fret wear just starting or no fret wear which to me seems pretty consistent in the pattern year to year. Its hard to discern if its touch or just uncommon wear, how much any one guitar is used in comparison also, that said they did change the process in 2014? Perhaps they are aware a slight issue preceded the change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaygl Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I was using heavier strings and did the same to my 2011 SG . Switched back to .10's to go a little easier on the frets.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I was using heavier strings and did the same to my 2011 SG . Switched back to .10's to go a little easier on the frets.... The heaviest set I use is 11-48s. On the Tele... :D Gibsons wearing 10s... Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randmo Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I have the same thing on my 2014 J-15. 7 months old and it looks like a little nick on the 1st fret of the B string Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasFM3 Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 This guitar is a player - but is in no way used and abused. I have only used 10's which is always been my norm since the 80's. I have written to Gibson Service to see if there is anything that they can do to help me. I am hoping that they will. I will keep yall posted if I hear something. FM3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 This guitar is a player - but is in no way used and abused. I have only used 10's which is always been my norm since the 80's. I have written to Gibson Service to see if there is anything that they can do to help me. I am hoping that they will. I will keep yall posted if I hear something. FM3 I cross my fingers for you and your 2012 Traditional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 I am wondering if anyone has noticed unusual fret wear on their Les Pauls. I have issue with my 2012 Gibson Les Paul Traditional Standard. By way of comparison - My 1988 Les Paul Standard, which was heavily used until I purchased this 2012 Les Paul Traditional, has no fret indentations or identifiable flat spots and this with heavy use in the 20+ years since I got it. My 2002 Les Paul Studio - shows no such signs yet. The frets are beautiful. I noticed the problem during a string changed a few days ago. When I changed the strings I noticed that the fret wire at the 2 and 3rd frets showed serious signs of indention and had noticeable flat spots. This after only 2 years. I do play it regularly - but nowhere close to what I was back in 1988 with my Standard. Heck I was doing 8 hours a day minimum learning this instrument. That 1988 LP is still in great shape for its age and frets do not show this kind of wear I am seeing on my 2012. Heck - even my 2002 has no wear after 8 years. The only time I seen this type of wear was on a old 80's Cort LP clone. How can the fret wire be so poor and already have such issues after 2 years or a few hours of play a week? I am not hard on my instruments by any stretch of the imagination. Especially this one since I paid $2300 for it. I am hoping for some help. I know fret wear is not covered under warranty but something has to be wrong. Has anyone had or heard any such problem and if so were you able to get some help from Gibson? I was hoping to have this instrument for many years to come and now to find that after only 2 years it is already in this kind of situation is heart wrenching. FM3 Yup! Got a 2011 LP Studio with same wear pattern. I think the LP studio has nickel/steel frets. If it's any consolation my 2006 Ibanez hollowbody, which has nickel frets shows same wear. Maybe I'm crazy but it enters my mind that the last person to play the guitar that wasn't me gouged the frets! Probably not, it's just the common place for wear because a lot of chording goes on in that position ... I don't think it's the work of someone who hates you gouging the frets! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 To my experience, the worst fret killer is insufficient string action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Certainly, sometimes the metal will be softer for some frets than others. My experience is that in general (I mean major generalization here), Gibson uses frets with softer materiel than most. The advantage of softer frets is they play smoother. Also easier to work with in some ways. Besides fret materiel, there are a few other things that might cause "early wear". One is the type or quality of crown. Sometimes frets can be crowned rather flat on top, as opposed to an edge or more rounded. In fact, for a while there it seemed like Gibson was doing very little crowning on the guitars as new. On the same idea, if the frets are crowned to a very sharp or rounded point, that little contact area gets to wearing down pretty quickly. But also, when they have a sharp crown, even just a little wear can look like it is a lot more than it is because the top shows a "fat" wear spot that looks deeper than it is. How does it actually play? Gibson won't do anything- regardless of being "too soft" or a guitar that just has premature wear, it's still wear. As far as real solutions, it ain't as bad as it seems. For one, (especailly if it looks like you have wear on "sharp crowns"), you SHOULD be good for at least 2 fret-dressings fret jobs before you need to even think about replacement. Shouldn't cost that much. Also, you CAN refret at whatever point AND keep the nibs, it just is more work and cost more. (There are some that do it). And of corse, if it really is just a couple frets that give a problem, there is no reason why you have to replace all of them. (I have had that done at time- in fact, one time on a Gibby with nibs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drew365 Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 My '07 LP seems fine, but my '10 Tele needed the frets replaced after two years. I put on stainless steel and I'm very happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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