Brian May Red Special Guitars Zero Fret Wear Reasons and Replacement

In this video, I discuss the various factors which cause and exacerbate this issue and remove and replace the zero fret with Jescar FW57110 stainless steel fret wire. The crown is 2.8 mm wide and 1.45 mm high which is a good match to the jumbo 3 mm size fitted to this Burns Special. For further details, please check out the following sections of my website: https://dsgb.net/faqs/zerofretwear/ https://dsgb.net/projects/burns/ Time Index of Chapters 00:00 - Introduction. 00:12 - Review of the comments on my original 2021 YouTube short on string pinging. 00:37 - 2020 project: Burns Brian May Special BHM 4787 upgrade. 01:00 - Montage of some of my YouTube video thumbnails. 01:22 - Illustration of the string pinging phenomenon. 01:38 - Factors which cause zero fret wear (1): tremolo sawing action. 01:48 - Factors which cause zero fret wear (2): string bending and finger vibrato. 02:01 - Factors which cause zero fret wear (3): string tension. 02:16 - Factors which cause zero fret wear (4): budget fret wire alloy composition. 02:32 - Factors which cause zero fret wear (5): use of harder (e.g. stainless steel) strings. 02:47 - What can be done to alleviate zero fret wear? 03:02 - StewMac (Stewart-MacDonald) fret work content (Fret Work Step-By-Step) book. 03:26 - Will fitting roller bridge saddles help reduce zero fret wear? 03:36 - Will fitting a roller nut help help reduce zero fret wear? 03:49 - Why is the issue worse on commercial (Burns, BMG) Brian May Red Special guitars? 04:22 - Zero fret replacement: Measuring the fret wire. 04:43 - Tools for removing existing fret wire. 05:26 - StewMac fret arbor press cork lined neck support caul. 05:36 - Inspection of the fretboard bass side at the zero fret. 06:11 - Heating the existing zero fret with a soldering iron chisel tip to soften the glue. 06:30 - Pulling out the existing zero fret with small pliers. 06:35 - Inspection of the zero fret slot after removing the zero fret. 07:16 - Inspection of the removed zero fret for blind fret tangs. 07:30 - Radiusing the new fret wire with the StewMac fret bender tool. 07:44 - Cutting the new fret wire approximately to size with StewMac cutters. 08:02 - Off-neck fret wire preparation with a custom oak fret preparation jig. 08:22 - Use of a diamond coated cutting disc with a rotary multitool to prepare the fret tang. 08:40 - Use of a diamond file to manually de-burr and square off the fret tang. 08:50 - Checking fit against the guitar. 09:03 - Discussion of the disadvantages of bevelled fret ends. Guyton RS Transporter fret ends. 09:31 - Bevelling the ends of the new stainless steel fret wire. 09:49 - Checking fit against the guitar. 10:02 - Applying cyanoacrylate superglue into the fret slot. 10:32 - Carefully positioning the new zero fret onto the slot. 10:40 - Options to insert the new fret (1): Squeezing with a radiusing block. 10:57 - Options insert the new fret (2): StewMac fret arbor press. 11:20 - Reviewing the completed work. 11:56 - Outro 1. 12:05 - Outro 2. #BrianMay #RedSpecial #dsgb #DougShortGuitarBlog