Frets, like fruit, go bad but we usually catch them before they go rotten. ;^)
I suspect they have worn to a fairly flat surface. It's the pristine round surface that gives the best, cleanest tone and transfers the best vibratory energy to the neck (there was a nice thread about this last year). I'd suggest doing them all though your 6th, 7th and 8th might squeak by w/ a simple rotation that puts the worn spot between strings or elsewhere. If you do put on new frets, might I be so bold as to suggest not removing the old ones. Just put the new frets on the bridge side of the old ones using the same diameters as the previous ones. Of course you can take the old ones off later but it will give you a chance to see how you like doubled frets. Sean On May 24, 2006, at 5:19 PM, Wayne Cripps wrote: > > Has anyone had frets that have a bad tone? I have (maybe two) > frets that I put on my lute recently that make the > strings "thunk" rather than ring. They don't seem > to buzz as low frets would on a guitar. Any ideas? > > Wayne > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
