I get a kick out of how virtually all their tutorials are presented in a manner where ultimately, one has to buy a handful of their 'special' tools per task in order to ever successfully accomplish the subject task.

_________________
You dig?

I've got very mixed views on Stew-Mac.

On the one hand they put their brand on items you can often find identical at the hardware store for a lower price - sometimes literally a fraction of the cost. Just for example, their fret arbour:

http://www.stewmac.com/?PCR=1%3A100%3A1 ... rencyid=17

They sell that for £71.07 / $110.89 without the caul. My local tool supplier offers that IDENTICAL item for £25.40 / $39.64 and free shipping. Man, that's a markup they are charging for the honor of having them write their name on it!

On the other hand, other items are very reasonably priced - and then there is that whole world of tools and other things they offer which nobody else on the planet supplies. Their fret end cutters for example - they're quite expensive and I've searched hard for something comparable elsewhere, but Stew-Mac's appear to be unique and massively and vitally better than anything else available. A magnificent tool. So, swings and roundabouts.

Also, their service is absolutely excellent. So happens I just ordered a couple of items last Monday evening. They arrived Wednesday morning - which for me includes trans-Atlantic shipping. Few people can match that and absolutely nobody can beat it.

And I have never once known them to be out of stock on an item - someone is doing a very fine job indeed running that operation.

Anyhow. Some of their gizmos are a bit silly to my mind - but others are superb solutions to niggly problems. Divining the difference between the two means that the Stew-Mac catalog is often my bedtime reading...

Cheers - C

Ceri,

You might want to look into this outfit:

http://www.lmii.com/

I've been dealing with them for years and they are outstanding.

_________________
You dig?

Hi Martian - yes, I've had my eye on their fret tang removal jig for a while. Pricey for what it is, but neat too.

I sometimes spend a bored hour or so comparing prices between Stew-Mac and LMI - I think Luthiers Mercantile wins most of the time. But then I only use either of these outfits for things I can't source locally, because international shipping does add such lot to the unit cost.

I'm tempted to get into making acoustics just so as to justify buying one of LMI's side bending machines - though I suppose I could make that one for myself (and so could most of the people who have a use for it, I'd have thought...)

Thanks - C

Placing my order first Ceri!! Seriously!! Naw, I know you are a busy man!!

Hi Hop: there's a guy somewhere out there in internet land who's offering a "build your own Renaissance lute" DVD course. Strongly tempted by that one - only after that does a fella get to call himself a "luthier" for real!

- C

Okay, I took both guitars to my lesson, and learned two things:
1.) It is partly me - my teacher can do the D chord and such with his fingers lower on the frets than I can as of yet.
2.) But as he played it more, he discovered that the string does fret out if you go too far away, at just about any fret, which makes things tougher as one goes up (higher pitch) on the neck. He showed that to another teacher, who went off and got his US strat (2 humbucker, not that that matters), and his guitar fretted out, too.

So the upshot, at this point, is that the more expensive guitars do seem to be more sensitive/particular to play.

I don't have fancy guitar calipers, but I'll try and find a fine ruler and see if I can measure the relative fret heights. And I'll work on my technique.

Can you tell I'm an engineer, by the way?

RJim

Based on your findings and where you appear to be as a player, please focus on your cheaper guitar. Your comfortable with it and thats what matters. It took me years to progress to expensive instruments (20 odd). When I finaly did get unleashed I found them no harder to play, yet a little more responsive.
I suggest you focus on your comfort and put the mean machine on the back burner for awhile. Maybe focus your excersizes on your comfy strat and get the beast out for testing yourself.

It's always worth having a outsider take a look at the guitar too. Take it to someone advertising for setup work that neither you or your teacher know. Get them to give you an opinion on the problem your having.

_________________
No no and no

Hi again rjim: an engineer? Then you'll be able to think the issue through in detail and see that, as has been said several times on this thread, this has much less to do with fret height than two other things:

1. Technique

2. String height

As Nick says, concentrate on the guitar that works best for you with your technique at present. Regardless of which guitar cost more.

But also: get the Am Strat's setup addressed. If the strings are too high that will be emphasising this problem.

Honestly, don't get diverted by the fret height issue - it is too tiny to be significant here. I just picked up my vintage spec reissue Strat which really does have lower frets on it than my Am Std. I get no such problems with it because a) my technique is OK, and b) the string height (action) is set properly.

That's what you need to concentrate on.

Good luck - C

Update from the OP: Got the guitar looked at by a recommended guitar tech, and he did find some relief and fret height (actually, polyurethane depth) issues. I still need to work on my fretting, but it doesn't fret out as much as it was!

The American Standard is now easier to play than my Squier, and I have two guitars to enjoy equally!

Off to practice now....