Squier Bullet Telecaster updates

A few updates on this particular guitar I own.

Yes, I still own my surf green 2017 Squier FSR Bullet Telecaster. It's a dandy of a guitar...

...however it needed some minor fret repair. I bought the Buzz-Off Fret Leveling Kit and leveled out 2 frets that were buzzing. They don't buzz anymore. But that doesn't mean I leveled all my frets.

Squier electrics along with the vast majority of other electric guitars use a nickel/silver fret wire material. And because I play as much as I do, I'm already seeing dents along the first 5 frets.

Dented frets happen and that's just the way it is - but as a rule I don't level the first 5 because while they do dent, they don't buzz (at least not on my guitars.) The frets I leveled on my Tele were 8 and 10. Fret 20 also buzzes a little, but that's way up high on the neck and I don't play there that often, so I can level that one at another time.

As I've mentioned before, the way to keep frets from denting is to not use nickel/silver but stainless steel fret wire instead. Ordinarily, this is a material only found on expensive electrics because it costs more to use it.

I've personally never refretted a guitar, but at some point I might because I really, really like the neck on my Bullet Telecaster. It has a great shape and feel to it. If I ever decide to do that, yes I would use stainless steel fret wire. Using that material doesn't prevent fret denting and wear, but it takes longer for it to happen.

And while true stainless steel frets can't be shined up as good as nickel/silver can, that's not something I really care about. I'd greatly prefer a slightly-dulled stainless fret that lasts longer over a nickel/silver that looks nice but wears out quicker.

Published 2018 May 12