Yes, some of them are slightly flattened - mostly the upper (lower?) frets 1 -5. Rookie mistake - I didn't look closely at the frets when I bought the guitar at GC. For all know, they could have been that way when I bought it. I see what you're saying about the two contact points. I imagine that's a bad thing since a string would hit a properly crowned fret at pretty much the same point regardless of fretting in front of, or behind it.

FWIW - I have string height set to Fender specs. Not sure if that's considered a high action or low, but I figure I'll just stick with Fender's guidelines for now.


I really appreciate the information, NN. I haven't done too much with barre chords yet, other than practice the full F chord. Haven't used it as part of a song - just practicing the shape. (strangely, that "full" F barre chord is much easier for me than the "small" F where you're barring just the high E and B strings - I understand it's the opposite for most beginners) But yeah, I'll make it a point to be aware of finger pressure when fretting. However, I am pretty good at rude finger gestures ... hopefully I can get it tamed!

I didn't realize you can fret a note sharp with too much pressure - good to know!

So, have you used that kit? I imagine a polish would take care of most of it. There's a blurb at that link suggesting there's some "controversy" over the kit - do you know what that's about? I don't think I'd want to try a fret leveling job with the kit with it's short'ish abrasion surface but polishing seems doable.

BTW - I've watched this entire series on fret replacement and dressing (I know I don't need anything nearly this drastic - it just interests me), but it suggests a long abrasion surface is the way to when leveling frets, which makes sense to me. Leveling begins at about the 5 min mark. Love this guy's attention to detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fus__nO6 ... re=related

Anyway, I had my teacher and the guitar shop owner (didn't buy from him), take a look and both of them said the frets are fine. The owner does complete setups and such - even fret work but I don't know if he's an actual qualified luthier or not. This is a small town and his is only shop in the area.

Something else I've come to realize it that It's quite possible that I've made the dimple look worse than it actually is. While I'm new to guitars, I'm highly experienced at lighting. As a pro photographer, I've photographed many products over the years, and a big part of that is bringing out the texture of an item through lighting. I can make a glossy surface look dull and a dull surface look shiny - simply with lighting. So, in my attempt to show the problem as well as possible, I may have over-emphasized it rather than giving a true representation. Running my fingernail over the area doesn't feel nearly as bad as the photo suggests.

(Guys, when you're thinking about buying something based on photos alone, remember this - all photographs LIE! (even before the days of Photoshop), there's no such thing as an "accurate" photograph.)

Anyhoo ... thanks again for all the advice. Much appreciated!

-phil

_________________
Then again, what do I know ... I've only been playin' for 6 months ... !

So where's the OP in all of this? They haven't replied to this thread or even posted since 12/30/09.

Apparently, he made his point and we made our's.

_________________
You dig?