Bad Frets on New Guitars

If you found this video helpful, please consider leaving me a tip at one of the links below or by subscribing to my patreon for as little as $1 a month where you will get some bonus content
/ drewsguitarshop​
To Leave Tips:
ko-fi.com/drewsguitarshop​
Paypal: [e-mail]
Zelle: [e-mail]
Venmo is @andrew-jones-1064
For consultation, or detailed questions, please contact me through one of the tips links above with a $20 consultation fee and a payment message containing a phone number where I can get a hold of you. However, please bare in mind that there are limits to help I can provide over the phone and that calls will be limited to no more than 45 minutes.
Instruments I have for sale: reverb.com/shop/drews-gear-de...
For scheduling an appointment for repair work please refer to my pricing info and contact info at: www.drewsguitarshop.com​
Drew's Guitar Shop
West Seattle Guitar
RepairUsed and Vintage Instruments
/ drewsguitarshop​
www.drewsguitarshop.com​

[@vitrioleater]

I just purchased a Harley Benton SC-550 II from Thomann. The frets are so rough that when I use vibrato on the wound strings, it makes a scraping/ scratching sound. Initially I thought this was the crappy strings, so I put Regular Ernie Ball strings on it which made zero difference.
The interesting thing was the response from Thomann customer service:
“Although our product offers great value for its price, it is important to note that due to its affordability, there may be some minor imperfections”
I totally agree, except this isn’t a “minor imperfection” at all.
I agree with Drew, don’t buy cheap guitars. (Especially set neck like the one I’m referring to).

[@jjjjjjjjjjjhjjjjjhjj]

I bought a used guitar and the frets are green like a old coin please help, how do I tell if they are worn out and need replacing ? The also have lines in some of them facing the same direction the fret goes. It’s a electric 7 string from 2001

[@buck7477]

I bought that fret rocker and found high frets on nearly all my guitars! Even on a brand new Fender Player Strat! Fender told me to take it to a authorized fender service center! And they called me after a month and said it only needed a good setup it was buzzing when pluck the notes at the 12th fret and I found high frets below the 12th fret! The guitar tech said That all guitars have uneven frets and I refuse to accept that! I’m buying some tools after I dig off in his Arss first!

[@DrewsGuitarShop]

It is pretty common that most guitars, particularly production guitars have a little rocking in one or two places. The times I don’t see this is typically on higher end production guitars with particularly high production standards. Things like Martins, Collings, etc, or on boutique stuff. usually the best fretwork I see has been done by another individually operating luthier. On cheaper and mid ranger guitars, the frets are quite often bad in enough places and in enough of a way to be a little bit of a problem when going for super low setups, which is one of the reasons those guitars tend to come out of the factory with a bit of a higher setup. In some cases rocking turns out to be not a problem if the setup is done right. In some spots on a fretboard, rocking is pretty typical or even desirable, for example like the beginning of fallaway toward the body joint. my usual procedure for figuring out if a fret is going to be a problem is to capo at the first, set the action down where I would I ideally like to see it both by neck relief and string height and then play it. If it buzzes, then its a known problem that can be addressed before investing the time in a setup that will just have to be redone after fretwork. IMO, fretwork should be one of the most immaculate things done on any guitar. You shouldn’t be finding rocking frets in an ideal world, but I think before you go and do a lot of work on your own guitars, you might want to play around with the setup thing first. its very possible that since you didn't notice an issue prior to getting the fret rocker that those high frets are in areas that are forgiving of such things.

[@toto6773]

Is there a way to press and possibly glue those lifting frets? Or do you leave them as is and level? Thanks

[@DrewsGuitarShop]

Sometimes. I have a video about glueing lifted ones.

[@chuckyz2]

Have you had issues with Mahagony necks and fret leveling, especially on Epiphone guitars. You get the frets perfect and string it it and adjust the truss only to find that it flexed in a way that your perfect leveling is no longer perfect? Especially on the first couple frets. I have. Maple necks, no issues. But I now level Mohagany necks with the strings on and tuned, truss adjusted to make the neck as straight as possible on the fingerboard with a notched straight edge. I made a full length leveler out of aluminum .130 thick 3/4" wide and a little longer than the fret board. Then I jb welded another bar that is a little thicker down the length to keep it from flexing. I pull the E string out of the nut and let it ride on the side of the neck and do that area. the middle strings i just slide over to the next nut slot. It works great. It's a pain compared to just pulling the stings and having it all with easy access and keeping the radius means you have to be careful to not spend more time on one section etc. But when you know and approach it with that mind set it isn't hard. The crowning with diamond Japanese tools that have the right fret radius smooths out any minor imperfections. OR if you can space up the nut and saddle to really high action, you can just ride under the strings. and they flex out of your way so you can get get good overlap. Making sure the tools' surface that gets the sandpaper adhered to it is perfectly flat is crucial. I have a 3' x 4' Starrett surface plate I use 3M spray adhesive And 3M big sheets of paper. A light coat on the plate and a light coat on the back of the sandpaper and it is good to go. I make my own straight edges that when held together no light passes. That is dead nuts straight. I use scotch 3/4" double side tape. Looks like christmas present wrapping tape, to attatch the paper to the leveler. 600 grit. It ruins the strings but you can get the lowest possible action with no buzz for those that like really low action. You may know this already. If not, and a job requires perfection, try it. You will be amazed.

[@DrewsGuitarShop]

I prefer that long format questions are submitted through patreon or Kofi. I'll definitely get to it there.

[@chuckyz2]

@@DrewsGuitarShop Wasn't a question brother. Just sharing experience. Maybe one yes or no question in the beginning. Buy me a beer and we will call it good. lol.

[@upload2352]

I assume that you're not a fan of doing a spot level/crown on the affected frets, rather than a full level/crown/polish? On a well used guitar with lots of fret wear in different places, I can see a full level/crown would be efficient and cost effective, but with only a few high or irregular frets on a new guitar, I'd think dealing only with those frets would solve the problem, while not prematurely taking the tops off of the many "good" frets. I'd appreciate your thoughts on that issue, as I'm facing it with a relatively new Epiphone, as well. Thanks for the informative work.

[@upload2352]

Further research confirms it's a matter of degree. When you're looking at having to spot-level, say, more than 5 or so frets, it begins to make more sense to just do a full level/crown/polish.

[@chuckyz2]

@@upload2352 A full length fret leveling tool will hit all the high frets first. It's actually faster to do a full board sanding with the fret tops painted and you can see where the problem areas are. You can get just the high frets and get it closer without taking them all down saving a little time.

[@upload2352]

@@chuckyz2 That makes sense. I'd want to spare other otherwise OK frets (and recrown/polish the fewest possible). Thanks

[@DrewsGuitarShop]

I typically will only do a spot level if its around the upper register. 12th fret and higher the frets are close enough together that you can sometimes get away with it. At the lower registers where a small block can't really hit more than 2 or 3 frets at a time, I think you stand more risk of unleveling the frets further. The rule of thumb for fret work is that if you touch 1 fret, you touch ALL the frets. There are few instances in which I would recommend anything different just based on best practices.

[@chuckyz2]

@@DrewsGuitarShop As soon as the last sharpie paint is removed. You can get away with a lot with high action though. It doesnt take long to crown them with a good diamond crowning tool. I like the Japanese one with 3 sizes.

[@buck7477]

Guitar store hate fret rockers! It’s like a cross to a vampire to a guitar tech! Why can’t we just send these guitars back to the manufacturer! Make them fix it?

[@DrewsGuitarShop]

You might well be able to in some instances.