Hi everybody,
I have a new American Standard Strat (2008) and went through the setup process as soon as I got it home. I adjusted the tremelo (was too high in the back), adjusted saddle height, and intonation. I did not adjust the neck truss rod or the micro tilt. It is very playable now except for the 15th fret. While bending the 1st and 2nd string it frets out. There is also a slight buzz while playing those notes normally.

The strings are not set unusually low. They are set to what Fender recommends, 5/64 on the bass side and 4/64 for the high E side. Does this sound like a fret issue or could adjusting the neck do some good?

Thanks,
-kb

Welcome to the Forum.

Sounds like you need to adjust the truss rod.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Hi gldfshkpr: welcome to the Forum.

Only on the 15th fret, or 15th and above?

Cheers - C

Only on the 15th. The rest of the frets play, but seem extrememly close to the strings. The neck already seems to have a decent bow to it. I haven't measured, but it seems a bit too concave if anything.

Your 16th fret, yes, 16th fret is high.

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You dig?

Welcome.

Even some new guitars have a fret or two which is not level. Personal thought is take it to a hot tech and tell them what you told us. Might be a combo platter of a high fret, neck tweak and bridge height/inotnation adjustment / need or don't need a spring. Too much variability for many of us mortals, this one especially.

Check fret level

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'Zactly. That's the place to start. Break out that steel ruler...

Cheers - C

I had this exact problem with a brand new 07 american strat. Turned out there was a hump in the fingerboard up around the 15th-18th frets! A luither tried to lower the upper frets with a hammer i guess, but didn't solve the problem. I ended up needing an entire fret dress. I must say it plays great now, just wish i didn't have to spend over 100 bucks for it on a practically new guitar. Also, a truss rod adjustment isn't going to do much of anything for the action of a strat past the 14th fret or so. You don't want to use the truss rod to adjust action anyway, but even if the neck is a little out of adjustment, correcting it probably wouldn't do anything for the problem at hand. The other guys provided great advice, just thought i'd share my experience from when I had the situation.

Good luck!

WHAT???

I don't know where to start with this scenario!

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You dig?

You don't need a steel ruler because you already have 6 perfectly straight lines (for practical purposes) on your guitar. Make sure your guitar is tuned so all strings are at normal playing tension. put a capo on the first fret. Press the 6th string down at the last fret ( 21 ). With a good magnifying glass, look closely at the area between the bottom of the 6th string & the top of the 8th fret. That will tell you if your truss rod needs adjustment. Fender recommends .010 of an inch.

You can do something similar (without the capo on the 1st fret) to see how bad your 16th fret is. This will at least show you what the problem is, even if you need a tech to fix the fret. When you fret at the 15th, you'll see right away if the string is touching the 16th fret.

Don't use a hammer, you will alter the shape of the fret because it is made of soft metal. You will need a luthier to file & crown the fret properly.
If the 16th ends up being to low, you will fret out on the 17th fret when you play the 16th fret. Ther's not much room for error.

I know dude it was crazy. Oh well like I said it plays great now, and not all fender fret jobs from the factory are perfect, as shown here.

Speaking of frets...
Has anyone here replaced their frets with stainless steel ones? I know they are more expensive, but they should certainly last longer. When I play the heck out of my strat, I can see some frets flattening out & changing shape.
Does the guitar sound a bit brighter ? or ??
I'd welcome hearing everyon'e experience with this.

Many good replies here. Thanks everybody. I'm going through the setup process again just now. I did straighten out the neck a bit. I don't have a .010 measuring device, but I know neck concaves well enough to get it close. This did not do much for the fretting out. I also went through the string height adjust again. I did it quickly the first day (three days ago) cause I wanted to practice with my band that night.

Playing better now, but still fretting out. If I look with my magnifiers it really looks like the 15th fret is tallerr than the rest of them. Rather than give my new guitar to a stranger ( I haven't a know luthier around me) I'll buy the tools and file and recrown the fret myself.

I have to admit. I'm a bit disappointed in Fender let this by the QC, then again, it's probably why this Seirra Burst Ash body sat in the store for so long. My guess is at least 6 months. It's a real beauty with it's one piece body.

Play on everybody!

-kb

Oh well, another guitar rescued! I'm lovin' it. Hmm... those '69 custom shop pickups keep coming to mind. Make it better! Make it better. My motto I suppose. Ha Ha.

If there was a hump on your brand new guitar, shouldn't that have been covered under the 5 year warranty? If took the guitar to an authorized Fender service center, you may have gotten a new neck replacement or even a whole new guitar.

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