Some thing wrong with my fingering ?

[vanessa]

I bought a brand-new Epiphone SG-400 Custom ( from an original , unopened box) about 2 weeks ago and played sparingly daily ( i.e. about an hour/day ) . This morning, I looked at the fret under the B string and noticed obvious signs of worn-out already !!

 

 

 

 

 

I did have the same problem with my 3 years old Epiphone LP standard ( Please see : http://forums.epiphone.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=16721

 

 

I suspect something not right in my findering the frets ? ( I played rhythm & mostly open chords on soft rock musics and rarely bend the strings !) .

 

Could it be anything else that causes this type of premature fret worn-out ? (i.e. string hardness ? finger pressure ? ...??? ) Please comment & advise .

 

Thanks .

[Hungrycat]

There were a batch of Epi Thunderbrid basses that had substandard fret-wire a while back...

[Ryaan]

could it be something to do with the set up?

[animalfarm]

This is an odd one. Over time I would expect to see evidence

of fret wear as the metal strings ARE harder than the Nickel frets.

After 2 WEEKS???

I guess the obvious question - was the git purchased "locally" so you

can take it back to the seller and say - "Hi, Folks. I believe I have a problem..."?

 

A quick internet search regarding causes of premature fret wear indicated

nothing but the "usual suspects" - Strings are harder than frets, fret wear is

caused by playing, high action and a harder grip , and that the most common

strings for this are the B and E strings.

Are you pressing down unusually hard? The fact that the wear is by the Nut is also

puzzling - I'd expect it higher up if you did lots of string bends. Looking at the pic in

your other post, I see the same wear in the same place, and also notice a bit of

side-to-side scuffing on your G string area on the first fret.

Are you doing lots of vibrato and/or string bends on the LOW end of your gits,

AND pressing down HARD? That's the major cause that stands out in my mind,

but again I say - After only 2 WEEKS????

 

Last nite I did a string change on my Studio, and went ahead and polished the

frets since it had been a year since the last time. I had signs of surface "oxidation",

sooooo, polish and lemon-oil the fretboard.

This removed the oxidation, but I have no noticeable signs of fretwear like yours.

 

Before Polish:

 

 

 

After Fret Polish and Lemon Oil - you can now see the lower strings reflecting

off the frets:

 

[jonnyg]

There were a batch of Epi Thunderbrid basses that had substandard fret-wire a while back...

Yes there were. You might want to do a search for a post by sawdelight in the bass section...

This is an odd one. Over time I would expect to see evidence

of fret wear as the metal strings ARE harder than the Nickel frets.

After 2 WEEKS???

I guess the obvious question - was the git purchased "locally" so you

can take it back to the seller and say - "Hi' date=' Folks. I believe I have a problem..."?[/quote']

...and when sawdelight returned his bass to the dealer to get a report from their Gibson authorised warranty guy he was told it was just normal wear. Now I can't speak for the basses as I don't own an Epi bass but I do own three Epiphone guitars from 1983 (used professionally for over ten years), 1990 (aaprox), and 2009. Each one of them is played regularly and none has the level of fret wear that yours shows. So, if mine have "normal" wear and tear you can tell them that yours can't be normal. Good luck with that.

[vanessa]

Thanks : Hungrycat, Ryaan, animalfarm, jonnyg for your kind comments !

 

As I said before , I rarely bend the strings with my rhythm play . However, I do admit that I used to press hard on the strings due to past experience with

classical acoustic guitar playing . After my post about worn-out frets on my LP standard, I have been very careful not to exert exessive pressure on the frets on the new SG-400 ! Apparently, habits still die hard in my case ?

 

Currently, I use D'Addario : E (.010) & B (0.013) . I wonder if using soft strings would help ? ... Please recommend some good brands .

[Ryaan]

i used to use them string vanessa and i had no problems at all, i used them on a les paul, i mean on my sg at the minute i have ernie ball hybrid slinkies and they are find but can bend a fair amount.

[Hungrycat]

I have to think there is something wrong with the frets, not you. They shouldn't wear like that in only 2 weeks. 2 YEARS maybe, but not 2 weeks.

[Ryaan]

take the guitar back to the shop and complain.

[RobinTheHood]

As a bass player, I tend to exert a lot more force than needed when I play guitar...talk about old habits. I have a 1986 Epiphone S-500, a 1994 G-310, and a few early to mid-90's Epiphone basses. As my oldest bass does show signs of wear after almost twenty years, they are nowhere near as bad as Sawdelight's 3 month old T-Bird. The guitars I have show very minimal to typical fret wear as well. More specifically, the 1986 S-500 has almost no fret wear and the 1994 G-310 has what I would consider "typical" fret wear. The G-310 and S-500 get the most playtime out of all my guitars. I'm often heavy handed and do lots of bending.

 

We've had debates over Epiphone fret wire here in the past. I'm of the belief that the wire quality has been decreasing slowly over the years in a continuing effort to cut costs - either by Epiphone or their manufacturers. I see this all the time in my line of work with papers and adhesives. The manufacturers claim it to be the same product or just as good as the original product, but it is not. And the proof is in the pudding when we use the "new" materials and the results are very different than in the past.

[vanessa]

 

Thanks for your in-depth comment ! Sometimes, I wonder why Guitar manufacturers bother cut corners on low cost materials ? ( i.e. good fret wire costs only about 5 US dollar / 2 ft ! ) . It has to be the Chinese connection that screws up everything ! :-(

[vanessa]

That's exactly what I would do.

 

 

Hm..Hm..For good measure, I might bring along also my 3 years old LP standard to ruin Epiphone reputation ! :- )

[vanessa]

I brought the SG-400 custom back to the store and complained about the premature fret wear under the B string . The on-site luthier took it to the backroom and did some set-up for about 15 minutes . The final answer : he did not find anything wrong with the guitar !! He thought this guitar might have come from a lot with inferior fret wires . Nothing could done except the store would inform Epiphone about this issue !!

[Whitmore Willy]

Vanessa,

Let's get this straight.

The blind luthier who could not see the dent in the fret said there was nothing wrong.

Why are they notifying epiphone if there is nothing wrong? And, if they are notifying epiphone about

something, then there is something wrong. Why are they not doing something about it for you?

 

Am I missing something here?

 

Maybe you should be notifying Gibson about them.

 

Willy

[vanessa]

 

Thanks Willy & Peter for your comments .

Willy:

 

You are not missing anything . That's what the luthier said . I'll email Gibson about this issue and seek their comments.

 

P.S.: _How's your downloading stuffs on guitar repairs ? This guy Erlewine is quite amazing , indeed. I watched most of his videos and thoroughly enjoy his experty ! :-)