Vintage profile frets and roundwounds, how much wear?

[shoulderpet]

Hi

I have a Fender Vintera P bass that has skinny vintage profile frets  at the moment I am using flatwounds on it and I actually momentarily switched to rounds but pretty much overnight realised that I preferred the flats however if I get a gig (or gigs) that needs that roundwound tone I may switch to rounds.

 

Was just looking to find out from others who have experience of these type of frets how much fretwear I can expect to see if I did switch to rounds, part of me thinks they may wear faster than jumbo frets but part of me is thinking that ime to see any appreciable wear on jumbo frets usually takes years anyway to maybe these are the same, thanks

Edited February 9, 2022 by shoulderpet

[Misdee]

I have owned a bass for the last ten years that  has got vintage frets on and I haven't noticed any appreciable difference in fret wear, and it has always had roundwounds on it, albeit nickel rounds.

 

I think the issue is that the smaller vintage frets with enable fewer fret dressings when they eventually do start to become worn.

[shoulderpet]

10 minutes ago, Misdee said:

I have owned a bass for the last ten years that  has got vintage frets on and I haven't noticed any appreciable difference in fret wear, and it has always had roundwounds on it, albeit nickel rounds.

 

I think the issue is that the smaller vintage frets with enable fewer fret dressings when they eventually do start to become worn.

Thanks, I think I have only had one bass have a fret dressing due to fret wear in all my years of playing so this is reassuring to hear

[three]

I wouldn't be too concerned about rapid wear with roundwounds, though avoidance of some brands/types of roundwounds may help.  I was told by a very high-profile tech many years ago that Rotosound swing bass (steel) rounds can be hard on frets - I then experienced this phenomenon myself.  I've used nickel or nickel plated rounds for a very long time without any appreciable problems. 

[BigRedX]

Depends entirely on the strings and the material the frets are made out of. It also depends how/what you play.

 

I had a guitar where I wore away the fret at just one position on one string because the band I was in at the time had a song where I would hammer on the string with my plucking hand and then "bow" it against the fret to produce a sustained note for 4 bars of a very slow song. Practicing/playing this song every day for 2 years eventually wore down the fret at just this position. BTW this was a plain guitar G-string, so it's not just the windings of round wound bass strings that can cause the wear.

Edited February 9, 2022 by BigRedX

[4000]

Well both my 1972 Rickenbacker 4001 basses have still got the original frets on them. They both had roundwounds on when I got them and the one I’ve had longest - since 1993 - has had Rotosounds on for most of that time. Admittedly there’s not much left of the frets now as it’s had a few dressings in that time and I do both fret and pick very lightly, but even so, I wouldn’t be worrying too much if I were you. 

[Twincam]

Well thinner or lower profile frets will wear quicker.

But for more occasional roundwound use I wouldn't worry to much.

 

Even with very small thin frets and steel rounds your looking at years before they need replacing.

 

Any fretwork, other than light polishing, reduces the time span till fret(s) need replacing, so thats best done only when it's really needed, especially with the smaller frets. 

 

If your still worried when using rounds then maybe switching to stainless frets is a good idea for you.  

[40hz]

I know people will inevitably counter this with an opposite experience, but for me, the only time I ever experienced fret wear, was using Rotosounds.