Fret wear affect sustain?

[bobojem]

Hello, the frets on my FP, which I play a lot have worn down considertably and the guitar seems to sustainless that others I've played. Of course, i can't tell for sure because the fret wear happened slowly and I wouldn't've noticed. Anyway, from your experiences, does fret wear affect sustain directly? or should I look else where for the cause? I have my action pretty high so it's definitly not buzzing.

I'm considering stainless steel frets as replacement but I've heard some concerns about having it installed on regular wooden fretboards (unlike parker's material). Any advice from people with first hand experience will be appreciated.

Anyhow, here are a few pics of the worn frets, just for reference. I appologize about the fuzzyness. My stupid digital camera can't take pictures of things up close.

http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/41c02...LTgQCBREYng1uN

http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/41c02...LTgQCB2cOqMTSU

http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/41c02...KTgQCBnHYnWsU4

http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/41c02...KTgQCBH.KUbSSE

http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/41c02...KTgQCBW4Y.vZdF

sorry, i tried posting those picture but i couldn't get the stupid URL to work

[TheToneZone]

off-hand i would say yes. i am going through this very same thing at the moment on a guitar with two specific areas on the neck that i can visibly varify are worn. on the notes in question i've been noticing an odd decay. overall, notes decay sharp and lack sustain on the frets that are worn. my guess is that the string is striking the next fret (which is taller) up the neck and getting a funky harmonic that goes sharp of what it should be. very unpleasant.

mike

[frankfalbo]

The string can also be making contact with the back of the fret and zinging against the surface and front of the same fret. Sometimes a level and crown will alleviate this problem, even though you don't actually get all the frets level. Even if you leave some grooves behind (say, if you can't afford a refret for example) putting a sharper, more even crown on the frets will make the guitar vastly more playable.

[bobojem]

Thanks for the reply guys. Do any of you have any inputs on stainless steel frets though? I mean, if i get those, the fret wear problem will be gone perminently, right?

[MicJustMic]

No, they still wear but much more slowly.

I think the main concern would be tone though . . . there's a reason nickle is used in frets even though it's a fairly soft metal . . . tone.

The few guitars I've heard with SS frets were very brittle sounding, a lot of highs and not so great in the lows . . . amped or not.

I wouldn't want them for my guitar(s), but the best advice I can give you is find a guitar with them installed and see what you think of them.

Mic

[Tom Gilroy]

I got a refret on my strat about a year ago that gave me much more sustain than when they were worn