See, it all goes back to my original point: Oftentimes, REGARDLESS OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, production guitars' woods are not allowed to thoroughly age and dry. Consequently, post factory, it's the luck of the draw and the climatic environment(s) these guitars are ultimately subjected to.

I will say this (which I think is going to be the real firestorm): Unless one now and forever keeps their guitar(s) in a sheltered environment/climate at all times, the fact that the sprout happened once means it is inevitable that it is going to happen again and unless one wants to try circumventing the inevitable, THE SPROUT SHOULD BE FILED OFF. This way, the guitar(s) now and forever will function properly outside of clinical atmospheres and one's fretting hand will never need any bandaging due to same.

YMMV.

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You dig?

Hehehehe...I'd give it up Martian...you know you can't tell those people -anything-! LOL!

As to the whole fret sprout issue, personally I live here in Northern Ohio and I experience this with some guitars but not others. With my '96 MIM for example, I've NEVER had a problem like that...the edges of the fretboard have always had a very smooth feel (nothing projecting any time of the year)...same thing with my Seagull acoustic but I have noticed with the '85 Squier I picked up recently, that I do have a couple of "sharp ends" now that winter has really set in...wasn't there in November when I bought it and it's not bad by any means but it is noticeable (and it's on the "to do" list). Now my old Kay P-bass clone used to do that all the time during the winter..she was really bad for some reason so when I put the new frets on (the old one's were just worn to sh*t anyways), yea...I did snip the ends back just a a tich...never had a problem since. I never bothered to fill the slots so yea...there is a very very tiny little gap there in a couple of places but when it comes to cosmetics vs. playability, I'll take playability any day.

Now I will say that any problems I've had this year have been more noticeable and I got to thinking about this...in recent years my wife and I have used our wood burner stove in the basement -a lot- to heat the house in the winter and as such, we always keep a coffee can full of water on top of it for the humidity (the wood burner -really- dries out the house!). As the wood burner is down in the basement where my studio is...and where most of my guitars tend to reside, this usually keeps the studio reasonably humid (and yes, we do have to use a dehumidifier during the summer). This past year however we found out that we have a problem with our chimney so we haven't been using the wood burner and as such, don't have the steam can going either...so yea...a couple of my guitars are certainly experiencing a small degree of fret sprout. To Detroitblues...it is most certainly a seasonal/humidity thing and Ceri and Martian hit it right on the nose. Consider yourself lucky that you've never had to deal with it.

I would also add...and this is just my purely speculative opinion here but...I think this is something that some people are more sensitive too than others. As I said, yea...I do get this with a couple of my guitars but personally it doesn't really bother me that much when I'm playing. In most cases it's usually like "oh...I have a sharp end...need to file that a bit next time I change strings" but it's not like I've -ever- cut myself on a sharp fret or really ever worried about it or anything. That said, I know there are people out there who run screaming to their nearest guitar tech because they "poked themselves"....almost as though their guitar is defective or something. Personally I'm just more concerned with a proper setup, good action and decent sound than I am about the occasional sharp fret end...it really just doesn't bother me all that much.

Either way, Martian's absolutely right here...it's not like this is an issue that's only applicable to inexpensive guitars. Any time you have something that's "mass produced" on an assembly line, inevitably there are little detail issues such as this that are bound to get missed occasionally...even on an American made Strat.

Anyways, just my $.02 worth.
Jim

It's the wood. Wood is wood and frets will sprout when the wood dries and shrinks no matter where it came from, or how well it's been conditioned. The only solution is to ensure the proper moisture content of the air in your home. Has this been gone over enough yet? It is not a difference between MIA or MIM. Rolled fretboard edges and carefull fret detailing aside, you can do that to any guitar, MIM, MIA, Korea, China, Pluto. Make sense?

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

I have a Master Built Strat that has fret sprout and a 300.00 MIM that doesn't. One difference I noted. The Master built has an matte finish (like tung oil) and the MIM has a painted finish. I asked Dennis Galuszka (Fender Master Builder) when he was at my local shop doing an in store demo, and he said that it is fairly common for this to happen and it doesn't matter how expensive your guitar is if the environment in your house is always changing. I do suspect that Ceri is correct though and it must have something to do with the timber used.

I rest my case.

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You dig?

That is specifically the price you pay to play a raw finish, not the fault of the wood or the origin of build as you stated.

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

If it's down to how long the wood has or hasnt cured for then it's entirely the fault of the timber supplier.

You cant tell by looking, how long some maple has cured for. So really it proves nothing. Also add to that that I've only seen fret sprout 3 times in my life. Why, I live in perfect guitar climate. I'd offer that fretsprout has more to do with owner location than anything else.

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No no and no

You are completely correct sir! Gas heat is dry heat and tends to remove moisture content from household air. It's that arid environment that leads to fret sprout more than any other cause. Gibson stores their own wood in kilns to confirm that it's properly dried prior to making cuts; I wonder if Fender does the same?

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

Weird, ugly-nasty fret sprout happened here in Chicago, too.

Ugly fret sprout on 2009-purchased Am Std/VG and Am Deluxe, NOT to MIM or Gibson or Line 6 or Ibanez stuff. Same room, same hanging-wall, house humidity in winter about 53 to 58%.

Thought comes to mind of repetitive advertising for, "Detailed fret ends..."

Yeah, sure.

I noticed the other day some very bad fret sprout on my high-end Martin acoustic. I didn't know what it was then. My 2006 Hwy One is perfectly smooth. I thought that Martin had dropped the ball on thier quality control. I'm glad to hear it's a normal phenomenon and easily fixable. By the way, I never noticed it during the summer, and I do have gas-heat here. I live in TN. I gets unbearably humid here in the summer, and sometimes gets bone dry in the winter. My knuckles on my left hand cracked open the other day! Thanks for the informative thread!

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2010 American Deluxe Strat Sunset Metallic - Lindy Fralin Blues Specials in the neck and middle, Dimarzio AT-1 humbucker in the bridge.
PRS Custom 22 with solid rosewood neck
Mesa/Boogie Electra Dyne 1x12 combo
DRRI

Martian now I am thinking that you are just Mike Eldred plain and simple. It gets a bit boring down in your forum room so this is how you hang on your own time.lol

Nah, I'm not Mike but I play him on TV.LOL

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The wood shrinks due to drying out. As it gets smaller, the fret ends stick out from the edge of the fretboard because the metal cannot contract with the wood.

The easy fix is to humidify--this is a full-time job. Keep the guitar in its case, with a humidifier, during the dry season.

A quick fix is to leave the guitar in the bathroom over several days. Steam from using the shower will add humidity to the wood. After the neck moisturizes, into the case with the humidifier.

Since I like instant gratification, I take a smooth file to the fret ends and the problem is taken care of for good. My preference for this job is the Sears Craftsman ignition file. It's a 6" long, 5/16" wide single-cut smooth file that's perfect for the job. It leaves a polished surface that requires little to no final polishing necessary.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Pic's please Mike, I love looking at files. No joke.

Incidently thats my chosen fix for the issue too. Wait till its at its worst then file the ends smooth and flat and never worry about it again.

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No no and no

Well, how about that for great minds, etc? I use the exact same file for finishing before polishing!

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