Fret wear

[bluegrassjack2]

I have played a D35 guitar since 1994 that I bought new. I've never had to refret it and it doesnt seem like it needs it now.
But I've owned a few mandolins and it seems like about once a year, they need refretted. I do play a lot, like couple hrs a day but I used to play the guitar that much also (until I got my mandolin in 2000). Why do the frets wear quicker on the mandolin?
Thanks

[woodwizard]

Maybe the guitar frets are thicker would be my guess.

[mandolinplucker]

I have often wondered the same thing. I have a 1968 Gibson that I have owned and played for countless hours since I got it in 1971 and it has almost no fret wear. I go through mandolin frets in 1 to 1 1/2 years. I like the standard size wire on mandolins and they are a lot smaller than guitar wire but I don't see why The wire on the guitar has lasted almost 40 years and I am hard pressed to get 2 out of the mando wire. Sort of makes you go HUMMMMM!!

[Paul Hostetter]

I refret instruments all the time and it all seems to average out. People have differing ways of playing different instruments, and in my experience, mandolins usually have smaller frets, which wear out quicker. But averaging lots of each instrument, the wear is about the same. It's not about the hardness of the alloy, it's about setup-touch, fret size and so on.

[F5G WIZ]

Refret with stainless steel next time and you will drasticly cut down on refrets.

[bluegrassjack2]

I have a buddy who plays a banjo and he had it 12 yrs before he refretted it. I played a lot with him so I know he played a lot.
I notice that a lot of mandolin Luthiers use banjo wire for their frets. I guess they are talking about banjo frets and if so, why does the banjo frets last longer than mandolin frets. You think it has something to do with the two wires at each note?

[Jerry Byers]

The higher string tension, dual courses, and higher frequency probably all contribute to more wear.

[Paul Hostetter]

There are so many different sizes of available fretwire, not to mention what has been used historically and how they various sizes and types are used these days, that the term "banjo wire" means next to nothing. It's like talking about "rosewood" - spare me the blather, I need to know what genus and species is being discussed. Rosewood, like banjo wire, is simply too vague to bother with. The equivalent of Latin terminology for fretwire is the alloy makeup, the crown height and width, and to some extent the work-hardness.

Another factor is how people's playing touch changes over time. Years ago I refretted a mandolin for a guy who had bought his mandolin new in 1955 or so. By 1985 he needed a refret real bad. I did it with fairly similar wire (medium height and width) and within six months he was getting real anxious about how the new wire was so soft and showing wear already. I explained that the wire I used was 18% nickel, the hardest available. He said it must be lead solder. He took one of his original frets and some of the new stuff I'd used and had them assayed at a lab. The original was 11% and the stuff I used actually came in at over 19%. What had changed (and anyone who has a significant clientèle for this sort of thing knows what I am talking about) was that the guy was older. Older players generally squeeze harder. Squeezing harder causes more/quicker fret wear. My main playing partner for many years was a fabulous Sicilian mandolinist who burned through two sets of frets a year. Every year. He had two identical mandolins, and he played a lot, and he managed to wear divots in every fret from 1 to 11 under all four courses so deep that milling was simply not an option. These were standard Dunlop 6280 frets: hard, 18% nickel. It's a good thing he knew me! Other players using these frets (myself included) got way more use out of them because of how they played.

I still haven't updated this chart to include a couple of more wires that Michael Lewis tipped me off about recently, but look here (http://www.lutherie.net/fret.chart.html) and you'll see what is approximately out there right now. I really believe it's time to jettison the term "banjo wire" once and for all and use more precise descriptions instead.