I was in a music store this weekend and checked out a couple Strats. I noticed that the fret edges on a couple of the MIM Strats were kinda rough compared to a Highway One Strat. I don't think its a real problem but I'm wondering if smoothing the fret edges is a relatively easy thing to do or is it something best left to an expert.... By the way, the Highway One was a sunburst finish and was priced at $747! Its a new 2008 model still priced at the 2008 price.. tempting.. I'm not a big fan of the satin finish, but I've read here that it can be polished up to a pretty good shine...

kinman pickup manufacturers extrordinaire have a bit to say about fenders fret edges having too much slant making less play area on the frets. Its in their setup guide but i think you have to log in to view it.
http://www.kinman.com/index.htm

Luckily membership is free and available to all.

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No no and no

Actually, let me clarify -- I'm talking about the fretwire ends. They just seemed a bit unfinished on a couple of the guitars I checked out...

Your talking about Fret sprouts, thats do to poor fret dressing and sometimes the weather believe it or not. Most likely though its because of the dressing work that was done bad. When dressinng you want a little bevel and the fret ends even with the board. To much bevel strings roll off because you lost to much fret. So think small amount of bevel even fret.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I've found that the quality of the fret ends on Fenders varies from shop to shop...

...Which suggests to me that the way those shops are looking after their stock is either protecting them or leading to fret sprout. Whadayaknow - it's the pile-'em-high-sell-em-cheap shops that always seem to have the guitar necks with issues.

Maintain good temperature and humidity conditions and there should be few problems. And a good shop will address fret problems when they do occur, keeping their stock in tip-top condition.

Fret dressing varies at different levels of the catalog. But scratchy frets ends - well, that's so easy to address I very much doubt many guitars are leaving the factory like that...

Cheers - C