Dear Jim, Generally it is easy to see when a gut fret is worn out. It gets frayed and "hairy" looking. The pressure of the strings also tend to form visible grooves in the fret. The second, fourth and fifth frets tend to wear fastest because they are used for the most common notes. Sometimes you can get away with just replacing a few frets rather then all of them. But the real telltale sign of a worn fret is a buzzing note. What happens is that a commonly used fret position, like the fifth fret on the first string, will become worn, and the string will buzz against the higher, less-used sixth fret. So your ears will tell you when you're really having a problem. This may require more careful listening than one might think. It's easy to play along and half-listen and imagine an idealized version of what you're playing. It's harder to step outside yourself and listen as if you're an observer. So you would want to just play individual notes rather than a piece of music to really guage whether you have a buzzing problem. I hope this helps. Cheers, Jim Stimson
From: jandaparker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 2007/09/03 Mon PM 06:33:11 CDT To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] beginner's question Please forgive me if I am asking the same question that has been asked many times before, but I haven't been able to find the answer by looking on my own. The question is: how do you know when to change fret gut? Is there a certain length of time that it should last, or are there visible or audible signs of wear that indicate a change is needed? Thanks for the help. Jim Parker -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
