Non ADA Gear > Guitars

Upper frets issue

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Systematic Chaos:
OK, so it's one of your Dlx Stagemasters. How are the frets on that guitar in general? Already worn a bit? As I mentioned earlier, in order to compensate for 1 or 2 high frets you have to level and dress all others as well.
Bottom line: if you like that guitar sound-, feel-,.... -wise and you can say for yourself it's a keeper, have it professionally re-fretted. If you feel like you have problems on the upper frets, go for a mix of frets.
You needn't neccessarily go Stainless Steel or EVO Gold, ask for a quote for Dunlop 6100 from frets 1 to 11 and Dunlop 6105 from 12 all the way up. Their height is the same, the 6105 are a tad bit more narrow and will give you a better feel and control on the upper frets. Intonation is no issue.
As I said earlier, if this is YOUR guitar, this professionally done refret will take it to another level.

rnolan:
Hey RG, well there's more you can do as SC says but is this guitar that important to you (it's not as though you don't have a few  >:D ).  Although I know myself that even if it's a guitar I'm not playing much I still want it to be a good as I can make it  :facepalm: .A sideways thought, is it really choking (ie buzzing out on the next fret) or maybe there's a "dead" (suck hole) area of the finger board ? Is it a rosewood FB ? IIRC it is.  Remember the tone woods post from ages ago ? Rosewood sucks tone (and the article said that's why leo fender used like a curved thickish veneer of rosewood rather than a normal thicker solid slab, but anyway, FB can have dead spots.  Pressing harder to get the note won't (shouldn't) make any difference to the strings clearance of the next fret.Ok so correct me if I'm wrong - You have an almost identical guitar that plays up there fine - so it's not your fat fingersThe neck relief will affect the action (more relief, higher action) so you have to push down a bit harder but otherwise has no effect up that end

herbyguitar:
You said the two guitars are identical. Are they absolutely identical? Are you playing them exactly the same?
Big hands, low frets, small space between frets, not fretting in the right place, not having enough room to fret in the right place 'will' cause this issue. There's a 2 part fix but you may only need to implement one of them. Remedy 1: taller, narrower frets. Remedy 2: finger placement slightly farther back towards the nut (a problem if you have big fingers). You shouldn't have to push down any harder than normal but if there's not enough room or your fretting too far forward you will have trouble.
It's highly unlikely that 'all' the upper frets are not seated tightly.

rabidgerry:

--- Quote from: herbyguitar on September 11, 2018, 05:37:10 PM ---You said the two guitars are identical. Are they absolutely identical? Are you playing them exactly the same?
Big hands, low frets, small space between frets, not fretting in the right place, not having enough room to fret in the right place 'will' cause this issue. There's a 2 part fix but you may only need to implement one of them. Remedy 1: taller, narrower frets. Remedy 2: finger placement slightly farther back towards the nut (a problem if you have big fingers). You shouldn't have to push down any harder than normal but if there's not enough room or your fretting too far forward you will have trouble.
It's highly unlikely that 'all' the upper frets are not seated tightly.

--- End quote ---


The two guitars are exactly same model, they just have different pickups just.  I'd say the guitar that plays properly has similar frets but not the exact same.  They looks different profile to me.

Your suggestion of taller narrower frets:

the frets are jumbo so height isn't an issue, in fact I may actually prefer a little lower to feel more of the finger board beneath me as I've another axe (nearly the same as this guitar only it's a bolt on neck version) and it's frets are a bit lower and it feels a lot slicker and faster to play, where as the guitar with the problem feels like rail road sleepers for frets.  The idea of narrower frets is something I have actually thought of because I don't have big hands, or sorry big/long fingers, I have short fingers and they are a bit chunky and to me it feels as though manoeuvrability is poor because the frets are too broad at the upper end, so Narrow frets at that end of the neck might be a good idea.

Although the guitar which is the exact same (bar the pickups), has these fat frets also and allows me to play the legato licks integral to my style of playing without this problem of applying silly amount of pressure.

Would narrower frets help that guitar too?  Probably, although that is something I can put up with, however it's an improvement that might be worth doing some day.

I think the narrower frets will help the problem guitar, but I have to take it back to the luthier and see what he says.  Surely he can copy the working guitar and do what he needs to do using that as a template?  It's a really bizarre issue.  The guitar hasn't been played a lot BTW, when I bought it, it was unplayed.  I've only started playing it this year myself as I hadn't got around to modding it the way I wanted.

rabidgerry:
I have a bad feeling the guy is going to say it can't be fixed!

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