Sharp Fret Ends On New Guitar - Am I Crazy?

[brandass]

 

That's cool. Do what's right for you. I used to be wary of buying guitars sight unseen. But interestingly, in 25 online guitar purchases (most from Rondo, BTW), I have only sent back 1. And I got the shipping back for that one. It may not work for everybody, but it works for me. What makes a guitar good is part materials and design... but also part setup and maintenance. A guitar made from wood (I have one that is not), is going to need adjustment over its lifetime. Maybe even as soon as you get it. It's not a big deal to me. Yes, I buy value guitars. Sometimes when, the seasons change I have to tweak the truss rod, so what? Normal adjustment. If the neck shrinks and I have to smooth fret ends, sobeit. At some point in time I will likely have to dres the frets from wear, nothing abnormal about that either. There are many ideas about what you should be getting for your money. At the prices I pay, all I'm expecting is that the parts work, and can be adjusted. Sure I could pay more and get a guitar that came to me set up by the seller, but it would still need adjustment in the future. That's why I am learning how to do as much to my guitars as possible. I save money. I'm not at the whim of some shop, and I actually enjoy it, more than I do working on my car. I'm not knocking anybody or their opinion, just offering another perspective.

 

 

What (s)he said.

[slodge]

You paid $110 for a toy guitar and you expect smooth fret ends? You're lucky if you get that on $1000 guitar.QUOTE]

 

If I bought it at Toys R Us and it had a picture of Hannah Montana on it, it would be a toy. The fact that I paid $110 for it is somewhat irrelevant, it's a new guitar that originally retailed for about 3 or 4 times that, and I don't think it's absurd that I expect it to be playable.

 

And as far as I'm concerned, anybody who would accept a new $1000 guitar with sharp fret ends is a world class sucker. (no offense;))

 

The truth is, the fret ends weren't horrific, but I'm willing to go through a few of them before I'll settle.

 

(I'm also someone who will return a Tshirt after laundering if it shrinks too much. Like I said, I work hard for my money and I expect what I pay for.)

 

The sharp fret thing is a huge pet peeve of mine too, it seems like about 4 out of 5 Squiers and MIMs have this problem recently.

 

What I don't understand is that some responses seem annoyed at me. Look, if we all demanded that our new guitars be reasonably set up and have playable frets, this problem would dissappear. Face it, they'll give us the minimum that we'll accept.

[Geeter]

Most budget guitars that I have bought have had some small issues.

I just take care of that stuff myself.

I take exception to calling a Daisy Rock a toy. I don't know how many some of you have experience with, but I now have three and they are all very good players.

[theManfromAlabam]

Is this the file mentioned that stewmac has for fret ends? anyone here try it? how did you mask the neck?

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Files/1/Fret_End_Dressing_File/Pictures.html#details

[mymindsok]

slodge,

 

If you don't like the guitar, quit complaining. Just return it and get your money back. As so many others have said, cheap (Budget, value (?)) guitars usually have GC issues that the end user has to deal with. You can accept that fact or not.

 

I recently bought an SX that I wasnt happy with. I sent it back because I simply wasnt into performing the work necessary to bringing the axe up to my standards. Other guys around here consider them to be great bargains. Different strokes for different folks.

 

I just finished oiling the fret board of my new Fender 51 and I'll be filing/dressing the fret ends and finishing the set-up later tonight. Big deal. It's a $150 guitar for Gods sake!

 

Prehaps it would be more satisfactory for you to save up "your hard earned money" and buy a better guitar next time. I gurantee you... If you buy an $1800.00 EJ Strat, you won't be filing any fret ends! Loll!!!

[slodge]

If we ever outlaw complaining, the HC forums will shut down completely!

 

And if I ever walked into the house with an $1800 guitar, I would be too busy ducking thrown objects and packing up the rest of my $50-$350 guitars to file fret ends! LOL!

 

At this point, to a certain degree, I'm just sparring here. I returned the guitar, I'll return the next one if it has the same problem, I'll kick up a little fuss, and if I wind up with a good one, good for me! If not, then I'll make the decision whether or not to make the investment to fix one up. If more consumers did this there would be less shoddy products out there.

[Mind Riot]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Wood is a wonderful material to work with, but it has less consistency than man made materials and no two pieces are ever going to be the same.

 

When a guitar is made, even if it's made of properly dried wood (which even most cheap ones are these days) the wood will react to climatic and moisture changes. Get a dry winter and the wood can shrink across the grain, and with fretboards made with the grain running lengthwise, that means they'll shrink perpendicular to the frets. Which means the frets will stick out. If the wood wasn't as well dried as some others, they might stick out more. If the wood happens to have a different internal structure than the next piece it'll behave differently. How much or how little the wood reacts depends on the individual piece of wood, not the price tag of the guitar it's glued to.

 

It happens to expensive guitars too. A forum member on here bought himself a custom Carvin seven string a couple years back for over a grand and when winter came he complained that the frets were sticking out so far he could cut himself. That was a custom, US made guitar with a lot of detailed fret work done to it before it was shipped out. It was perfect when it arrived, but then months later when winter came the wood did what wood does.

 

For the hundredth time, it's not about cheap versus expensive. It's an inherent property of wood.

[mymindsok]

And if I ever walked into the house with an $1800 guitar, I would be too busy ducking thrown objects and packing up the rest of my $50-$350 guitars to file fret ends! LOL!

 

Man-o-man... Sounds like you need a new Significant other there buddy! Loll!! Thank the Gods that I have a GF who actually likes my obsession with guitars. As long as the bills get paid and I give her attention, she dosn't care how many giutars and amps I buy. In fact, she has some of her own. Her first husband was a musician, so shes used to the house being fulla guitars, amps, cords and musical noise.

 

I think she also likes the fact that I spend a lot of my time sitting around doing something creative, rather than hanging in a bar or smoking reefer and yakking about what I'm gonna do someday.

 

Youre probably right... If Rondo's customers began returning the really sub-par instruments (Instead of fixing em.) Rondo'd probably twist the strings a little tighter on thier supplier (Or maybe they'd raise the prices.) but at this point they're selling everything they import. Its hard to argue with success.

 

I don't care either way, I won't be ordering another one. I simply don't like the necks.

[slodge]

In fairness to the Missus, $1800 for what is essentially a hobby, albeit one I am passionate about, would be fiscally irresponsible at this point in our lives.

 

She didn't bat an eye when I saved my pennies, (pretty much literally,) came into a little cash, and splurged on a $1400 Martin.

 

By the way, bonus points for the 'significant other' mention. I laughed when I looked back and realized I didn't specify, and it's nice to know that in a thread where everyone seems to think I'm a tightwad who wants the world for nothing someone is trying to be considerate! LOL

[Highway_61]

 

Meh. The retro-H was "new old stock" being cleared out for just over a hundred bucks. If that's your only issue with it, be happy. File the fret edges down yourself and move on with life. I've done it for several cheap guitars and it's not hard.

 

 

Really.

 

The Retro H's I had did not have sharp fret ends, but the Daisy Rock Tom Boys I once owned came with the sharpest fret ends I have ever experienced. Filing them, though, was the easiest tech work I have ever done.

 

I do think that people expect too much. These guitars are so inexpensive that one shouldn't expect quality that one isn't even guaranteed to get when paying thousands of dollars for guitars.

 

And let this--from Godin's site--soothe you (from Godin Guitars' FAQ):

 

The fret edges are sticking out of the side of the neck. Why? And what should I do?

This is not nearly as big a problem as some people make it out to be. Once again the culprit here is humidity. In the case of the protruding fret edges this is because the fingerboard has dried out slightly and shrunk. The frets are metal (nickel/silver) and do not shrink from a change in humidity. The problem is easily fixed by a good guitar tech with a file.

[cratz2]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but buying a $110 guitar and expecting it to not have any issues is like buying the absolutely VERY cheapest brand new car you can find and complaining that there are rattles from the plastic panels.

 

As has been said, humidity changes ARE part of the problem, but I will say that of all the guitars I've ever played that had a full proper setup including fret dressing, I've NEVER seen one that was super smooth one year, then felt like it had razor blades the next year, but I have seen them go from being buttery smooth on the edges, to slightly poking out.

 

Money is money, and we each have to decide how to spend our money, but when buying a $110 guitar, sight unseen and neck unplayed, over the internet, and it has some issues that might require a half an hour with a file or careful use of sand paper... I just don't think that's too outlandish. I've played $700 Fenders that I would dress the frets on.

 

I guess it's just time to wake up and realize that manufacturers of $110 guitars aren't all about 100% QC.

 

[outtahear]

$110 where? How??

[Geeter]

 

$110 where? How??

 

 

I don't know about $110 but these are $129

 

Ice Blue Retro-H

[outtahear]

 

I don't know about $110 but these are $129 Ice Blue Retro-H

 

 

Shipped! Va-Fanculo!

[SP216]

What is with the attitude that because the guitar was inexpensive, a buyer should have to deal with it not being very playable if at all. A consumer has the right to not want a guitar with really sharp frets regardless of the price. I guess if a knob was missing or it was chipped, he/she should suck it up since it was a cheap guitar.....

[dcindc]

All the imported guitars are made in Asia.

 

It's HUMID in Asia. It's a sure bet that it is not as humid, anywhere else that the guitar travelled thru and arrived at, during it's trip. Some of these guitars have been sitting around for well over a year.

 

OP, you're being a pain in the ass. Returning a T Shirt cause it shrunk too much was the clue.

 

I expect quality too. When I buy it at Nordstroms.

[80zclubkid]

Your not crazy...Just go to any music store & run your fingers down da sides of guitar necks (binding or no binding) of expensive & cheap guitars hanging on the walls....The ends feel sharp & not smooth...OT: - I went to a pawn shop & paid $70 USD for a used BC-Rich Warlock Metal Master guitar with all 24 fret ends on rosewood fingerboard as smooth as the neck on my '57 vintage Fender Strat!!! cheers:

[walfordr]

 

All the imported guitars are made in Asia. It's HUMID in Asia. It's a sure bet that it is not as humid, anywhere else that the guitar travelled thru and arrived at, during it's trip. ... ...

 

 

I wouldn't place that bet.

 

Not ALL imported guitars are made in Asia.

Asia is very large and includes pretty much every climate zone. Depending on the season, much of Asia will be less humid than parts of the US.

The route from a factory in Northern China to the US is likely to involve sitting on a boat close to the equator in very humid conditions.

[slodge]

What is with the attitude that because the guitar was inexpensive, a buyer should have to deal with it not being very playable if at all. A consumer has the right to not want a guitar with really sharp frets regardless of the price. I guess if a knob was missing or it was chipped, he/she should suck it up since it was a cheap guitar.....

 

Where were you for the first two pages?

[slodge]

 

$110 where? How??

 

 

Music123, gearup code, free shipping. They've been very nice about the exchange (so far) except for their surprise that I was expecting a playabe instrument and not a torture device;)

 

Folks, I was in a manufacturing shop with an attached retail store for almost 20 years, and worked both ends of it. I'm not asking for anything here that that my own customers didn't have the right to expect.

[Highway_61]

Well, then, I say send back the 100.00 Daisy Rock and go to GC and buy the guitar you want. Or, better yet, find a small music store that sets up every guitar, and buy one of the twenty guitars you'll be able to choose from---and if you can limit your choice toa guitar that's made in the good ol' USA (that will take your number of choices at the small store that sets up every guitar to about three guitars), and feel good that the 500 to 900 extra dollars you have spent has helped the economy.

 

My, my, oh how happy you will be.

 

Until you realize that there is a dead spot on the fourteenth fret.

[RaVenCAD]

You bought a cheap piece of junk like a Daisy Rock and expect a quality instrument with a decent set up? Your mistake.

 

+ a bunch...

[outtahear]

If you live your life according to the way things should be, rather than the way they are, it's gonna be a drag. You're just gonna see problems, instead of solutions(and god forbid, opportunities).

 

Guitar retailers stopped doing rudimentary setups (for lack of a better word) years ago. Just did-didn't want to pay a tech, I guess???

 

You should look into getting a pro set-up done on any guitar you purchase, regardless of price (I did 3 VOS Les Pauls this year-$3,800 guitars...tweaked relief+nut, new pots, caps, intonation).

 

Can make a day-and-night difference on lower price guitars that are solidly made of decent wood. And the math does add up-a 100 guitar w/$80 worth of set-up is a guitar for

 

Or you could roll up to Guitar Sent-her, pull something off the wall for $500.

 

That needs a set-up.

[slodge]

So I returned the retro-H for replacement, and a week later, the new one arrived.

 

The fret ends are much, much better, and it's by far a more playable guitar, so I'm happy.

 

In the immortal words of Sally Brown, "All I want is what's coming to me, all I want is my fair share."

 

Don't settle, folks!!

 

gonna go play now.

[Highway_61]

You're happier now, so congratulations, but a Retro H for a bit more than a 100.00 was much more than your fair share already.