Yeah, this would put me off buying a Martin. Not that I was anyway, but string are a lot easier and cheaper to replace than frets. Makes no sense to me.
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WRT fret wear, my almost 2 year old GPC X2 frets look similar to your picture. Probably been played about an hour a day since I bought it new.
Although there is some color change on the crown of the frets, I canât feel any difference when I run my fingernail over them, so I donât think it is having any effect on playabilityâŚnot yet, at least!
However, I was surprised to see any signs of wear at all on a (relatively) new guitar.
Maybe other can chime in, but I have 2 steel acoustics, one from 2014 and the other 2016. Both played a reasonable amount by me and I have no reason to think they were case queens prior to my ownership.
Neither has any sign of fret wear. I just polished the frets of the 2016 and they a fine.
What have others found? I am sure there is a lot of variables at play, but under several years in a non-professional use seems unreasonable to me.
That doesnât look good at all for 3 months old. Take it back to the shop where you bought it and let them sort this, there must be some warranty on it. Although they will say itâs normal wear marks which is not covered by warranty, I guess. But if you donât try, you you wonât know.
Or pressure them a bit to give you a good price to trade it in. Cause I think you and this Guitar arenât going to bond anymore.
Good luck
Martin doesnât honor it warranty out side North America. They leave it up to the distributor so Tom might have a hard time with warranty work in Korea.
Iâve got an inexpensive (for Matrin) DJR10 that Iâve played daily for a year for my beginner practice. It shows no sign of wear, even when I put my glasses on. I like the sound. There surely must be more backstory to iguitaryouâs guitar than he or we know about.
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Well a few points
- After examining again I see there is some exaggeration on the picture I sent probably due to resolution but there are fret wears and all over I can see some fret wears
- Actually I am left -handed but I play the guitar like right handed person so my left hand is strong and yes I have a heavy hand and as I come from classical guitar I play heavier than many probably
- I can see I have been playing for about 5 months on this guitar and have played on average 1 hour a day chromatic practice and rhyme and I used capo a little too.
In spite of that, it seems too much to have fret wear now in a short time that is my honest feeling.
The guitar works fine for now probably I use it for a few months more and think about stainless steel refretting
If you do not like the sound of the guitar (as you stated in the title of this thread), why would you want to spend money on a re-fretting? The guitar will still sound the same. Unless you think re-fretting the guitar will add more resale value than it costs to perform?
This is all very confusing 
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Because I do not have a choice. Selling it I will lose a lot of money. in Korea they want to buy it very cheap when it comes to second hand so I will try to use it.
And I might be able to get better sound with different strings, right now I am trying silk and steel string it has a lot of buzzing I might get other gauges.
The sound with silk and steel is better to my ears. Please note nothing against Martin sound
It is my opinion only.
So you changed to new strings and theres not so much fret damage so it was all an overblown drama.
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I donât think it is overblown. I think that it is a legitimate and frustrating concern. There is more wear than expected and strings help, but he is still frustrated with the guitar and is a bit stuck because he canât return it or easily fix it. I would be pretty ticked off if that was happening to me. Letâs be supportive rather than condemn.
@iguitaryou, have you adjusted the truss rod after putting in the silk and steel? Maybe they need a little more relief if lower tension.
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Yes, Smart guy, 
I changed the string and the fret wear just disappeared and it is all overblown drama like all others here
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I want to ask this too.
I had to LOOSEN the truss rod on my even-cheaper-Martin (already mentioned upthread), because it was sounding very much like @iguitaryouâs recording.
Itâs a 5 minute experiment to perform, but itâs not at all clear to me whether he has actually tried it.
Thanks, Yes I increased the action and I got rid of 90% of buzz for Silk and steel string and could raise it, even more, to make it clean but I decided to instead go for Medium string.
These are not important . What is more important right now is to stop more fret wear by changing my playing style so I started a new project
I will be playing BUZZ SCALE every day to control the pressure of my fingers on fingerboard.
BUZZ SCALE seems to be excellent for this problem .
AND I like the sound of silk and steel string , Less volume but much better
What is âBuzz Scaleâ? I might need a little of that!
You can practice your scales this way or practice entire passages/pieces this way. After you become comfortable buzzing consistently, you apply the slightest bit more pressure in order to get a clear tone. The goal is to get your fingers used to applying the least amount of pressure necessary to get a clear tone.
Listen to this as example
I will be doing this every day 30 min or so for the next 2, 3 months
I can definitely understand your concerns as I have a couple of similar experiences over the past few years.
First, when I started playing, I got a brand new American made Fender Stratocaster. The second time that I changed my strings, I noticed fretwear similar to what you are seeing on your Martin. I tried to play with a lighter touch and have not noticed any additional wear in the past two years. I can relate to your disappointment in what you experienced but you should know that itâs not necessarily limited to less expensive guitars. Also you should be encouraged that wear can be reduced with a lighter touch and it sounds like that Buzz exercise will help a lot.
Second, I got a new Martin OOO28 this summer. I quickly realized that it was so much more sensitive than my electric guitar and that it amplified every touch and movement that I made. I realized that i had to start almost from scratch in learning how to play it and get pleasant sounds out of it. As my playing has improved- especially my touch - the sound of my Martin has improved as well. I also have found that some days it sounds like magic and other times it feels like work to make it sound good. I know that this is partly related to humidity but that itâs also related to the difference in my playing and even in my hearing from day to day. As a positive side effect, it has improved my ability to play my Strat as well as I have improved strength and touch.
I hope that all of your efforts pay off and that youâre able to bond with your guitar. I also really appreciate that you shared this experience with everyone here as i would bet that many other people have had similar.
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Thank you. Excellent advice. 
Just read through this thread and am glad to hear you are finding some remedies to make your instrument more positive and hopefully enjoyable to play.
I donât âcollectâ guitars but bought a few over the years. I lean toward brand names for more assurance of quality and potential re-sale but this does not always work out.
Several years ago I wanted a good acoustic and heard good things about Taylor as well as Martin so I went to a local shop that carried several models so that I could try them all. This was really the first time I had actually taken this comparative approach and I was rewarded for it. I tried 5 or 6 different models over several hours in a good sound room in the store and was astounded at the differences in sound of the guitars, at least two were the same model but varied greatly in sound. I did try a Martin D28 at this time and was amazed at how little I liked the sound. This took me by surprise as I had heard such great things about them over the years. In the end my ears told me what was good.
I picked the one that had the sweetest sound for me and have been absolutely loving this guitar from day one. Iâve had a few not-so-good outcomes in the past with quick purchases that did not work out so well over time. Intonation problems mainly - they are the worst to my ear.
This is why I would never consider buying an acoustic instrument without playing it or at least hearing it first. Actually I recently bought a Gibson âcirca 1929 Mandolin that I love the sound of. Warm sound with a round hole, not the shrill f-hole sound and yes, I play exclusively finger style - even on Mandolin⌠This was bought from Tennessee but I heard it being played and examined on a video post that the store does. This instrument sang to me from far away and it worked out well for me because of this.
I hope you can find some peace with your Martin without having to take a big loss - the real loss it seems though is the disappointment of the experience.
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Thanks.
Well still I am struggling with this guitar , The set up was not good, The action was high , There were fret sharp edges that were painful. I have changed strings again and again. Today I got a Martin light string, For now I gave up on sound and I am happy as long as I can sort out buzzing issues and fret wear. The action is right now 2.5 on E string and still buzzing.
Yamaha has customer service everywhere in many cities but for Martin I have to drive 2 hours to the seller. I called today and he asked me to bring the guitar. Two hours to Seoul and two hours back. I should have thought about all these. I did try some guitars in the shop but there were not many varieties. Well I will try to go to seller and see if he can fix it or recommend somebody. Fix the buzz for now and keep playing until the time comes I go for refretting the whole guitar.
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