Suddenly painful frets, ouch.

@rgbrock1 6391 wrote:

All,

My wife was kind enough to give me a Squier Vintage Modified SSS Strat for Christmas. I’ve read reviews of the guitar and the overwhelming opinion seems to be that it is a very, very nice guitar especially for the money. (~$300). I concur with these opinions as I find the sound extremely pleasing. (Subjectively speaking of course!)
I’m actually thinking of bringing it to the local music shop and having a basic set up done on it. I don’t trust myself enough to do this and would rather pay the $$$ to have a professional do it. HOWEVER, in the interim I’ve noticed an oddity, shall we say, with the neck. When I first got the guitar the frets were very smooth and seemed well dressed.
Since then each fret, when running my hand along the sides of the neck, seem to have
become almost sharper. So much so that when playing they tend to create blisters and/or small cuts on my hands. This was not the case when I first received the guitar.
Not knowing that much about electric guitars, is it possible that the neck wood has contracted in some way? I do leave the guitar out on its stand all day and the room where it lives is extremely dry. I know that might sound bizarre but I’m trying to figure out WHY
frets which were so smooth and properly dressed at first, have become almost ragged at the edges.
I treat all my equipment with care so it’s not like a did something bad to it!
Is having the frets “dressed” something expensive to have done. I mean, I really do enjoy
playing the Squier but if having the frets redone is something cost prohibitive then I guess I’ll have to live with the raggedy fret edges!
Any ideas?

She Sells Seashells by The Slaughterhouse

Hi rgbrock1, 🙂

I’m 99% sure I know what the issue is with your guitar, and DO NOT let any tech convince you that it needs costly repair-work done!!! (LOL!) 😮

I teach out of a local-area music store, and I use to do some retail/sales work part-time. One of my mandatory (VERY IMPORTANT BTW!) duties was to clean & fill the THREE constantly-running HUMIDIFIERS! The reason for the humidifiers is that here in New England (and surely in Connecticut!) the Winters get REALLY cold & more importantly (and damaging) DRY! The lack of moisture in the outside air causes the interior air in the music stores (and houses) to become VERY DRY! I’ll bet that the music store where your wife bought your guitar was sufficiently humidified, and conversely, your house IS NOT! Believe it or not, that change in humidity can have a radical effect on the protrusion of your frets from the neck’s fret-slots! It’s unbelievable! (BTW, yes it can actually be painful – similar to running the side of your index-figer or thumb along some protruding staples in a shipping box, right?!?) 😮 :rolleyes:

So, your solution should be some sort of humidifier IN THE ROOM where your guitar stays. If it was an acoustic, they sell those “sponge-based” hanging humidifiers, but with an electric, you just have to humidify the room it’s in. If you have a standalone humidifier that you can use, get that thing cranking! If you have a humidistat handy (measuring humidity, I would think that’s what the instrument is called? It might be called a barometer, but I think that has to do with the outside pressure, NOT humidity?) I believe that you want your humidity (again, in the room where you keep your guitars) to be at least 40%, and upwards to (50% – 60%.) The higher the better (short of “sweating of course! – LOL!) My guess is that within a few days, you’ll start to notice those frets sitting back into those neck’s fret-slots the way they’re supposed to! 😉

I hope this helps bro! 😎

P.S. If it’s a REALLY severely protruding, then it MIGHT need fret-filing, but since it was fine when you got it, I think it’s humidity related, and I think that the condition is reversible with proper humidification! 😎

Best of luck! 😉

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

@rgbrock1 6395 wrote:

Thanks again for the info Bill.

Yes, the room (and our entire house for that matter) are extremely dry. We have forced air heating which doesn’t help. The usual humidity level in our home is around 15-20%.
So I can see your point. (The instrument used to measure humidity is called a hydrometer. A barometer measures air pressure!!!!)

The frets don’t seem to be protruding that much. But enough to cause me to have
acquired several nicks and scratches on my left hand.

I will be off to Wal-Mart after work today to buy a humidifier. (Gee, my guitars now require there very own humidifier. Wow!!!!!)

Thanks again for your help.

Buckethead

Bucket H. 🙂

Glad I could help to confirm your suspicions! You can probably score a pretty cheap humidifier (post-Christmas & Inventory-Clearance Sales?!?) Also, if you have budgetary constraints, then you can get one of those mini-table-top models that I believe is designed for when you might be sick? They look like those old-fashioned “vapor-therapy” units! However, you might be too young to remember what the hell I’m talking about?!? (LOL!) 😮

Anyways, good luck! 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

What Bill said 😛 hehe