You know when you been playing a bit when

57Deluxe

...an otherwise beautifully setup guitar suddenly is all shit. I had my Tele 'just so' but suddenly has gone all clanky and clattery and can see that fret wear is uneven so will have to dress the frets and setup all over again... Will it ever be the same...?

Alnico

No, you've ruined it.

Seriously though now it'll be whatever you set it up for, it's your choice. You probably won't lose enough height from the frets to ever feel it under your fingers and if you do a good job, there's no reason why it can't be set up as good if not better than before.

I bet you make it better than it ever was !

Good luck with it.

57Deluxe

  

ICBM

Fret wear is almost always less bad than it looks. Unless it really is halfway to the wood - in which case it would be unplayable now, really - you'll probably be surprised how little difference it makes to the feel once it's dressed.

I've had quite a large number of customers almost refuse to believe the guitar hasn't been refretted - if the previous fret job was a bit on the 'flat' side, crowning them properly can actually make them look and feel *taller*.

Sassafras

I've seen guitars where the fret wear looks horrendous but they still play perfectly well.
As @ICBM says, it always looks worse than it is.

Henrytwang

ICBM said:

Fret wear is almost always less bad than it looks. Unless it really is halfway to the wood - in which case it would be unplayable now, really - you'll probably be surprised how little difference it makes to the feel once it's dressed.

I've had quite a large number of customers almost refuse to believe the guitar hasn't been refretted - if the previous fret job was a bit on the 'flat' side, crowning them properly can actually make them look and feel *taller*.

Interesting, I’ve got a 1974 Tele with worn frets. I was thinking that a refret was inevitable but maybe not.