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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:59 pm
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Well my American deluxe strat arrived today. Same problem, except I have 2 2013 maple necks to compare with, a American Deluxe tele and a American standard strat. I see no evidence of shrinkage on this American deluxe strat, what I see are poorly finshed frets. Running your hand along the very edge, it is very sharp, like is was never filed down to meet the neck. If this was shrinkage, the fret would also rise a little above the neck, all of the frets are set properly with no movement. I am taking mine to two Fender dealers tomorrow, and get their opinion. My gut is telling me just to return this. Ed


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:50 pm
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edhdsn wrote:
Well my American deluxe strat arrived today. Same problem, except I have 2 2013 maple necks to compare with, a American Deluxe tele and a American standard strat. I see no evidence of shrinkage on this American deluxe strat, what I see are poorly finshed frets. Running your hand along the very edge, it is very sharp, like is was never filed down to meet the neck. If this was shrinkage, the fret would also rise a little above the neck, all of the frets are set properly with no movement. I am taking mine to two Fender dealers tomorrow, and get their opinion. My gut is telling me just to return this. Ed


Sorry to hear you ran into the same problem, but it reenforces my feeling that my guitar was just not finished right.

I'm calling zZounds in the morning and requesting a return. I'm also going to make sure they take a good look at the replacement before they mail it out to me. It took a week to get the first one and a week holding on to it and now at least another 10 days turn around to send one back and get another one. Meanwhile I got 0 play time...

Chris


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:48 pm
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It is definitely "fret sprout" due to neck shrinkage. The frets don't rise above the neck, only out the sides. After reading this thread, I got my fairly new Am Dlx out of the case and checked it, sure enough my frets are starting to poke out the sides of the neck a little bit, and they were not like that when new several months ago. So it seems that the newer Am Dlx necks are having some shrinkage problems, likely many were made from less than dried wood. I have had many MIM necks develop fret sprout, and I realize that the humidity is very low which is what causes it (especially low in the winter), but this is my first ever Am neck to do so. :(

Oh well, I'll deal with it the way that I always have, remove the neck, painters tape and file. I remember on at least one occasion being told that fret sprout that developed after owning the guitar for awhile wasn't covered under the warranty. :| Had it been this way when new, sure, it would have been returned. Not really a huge deal, but yeah, you would not expect this on one of Fenders better quality guitars.

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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:57 am
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If fret sprot is a problem, due to humditity drop, why in the world would they ship the guitar from the factory with 3 packets of desiccant packed along the neck. Ed


Last edited by edhdsn on Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:57 am
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I just got off the phone with ZZ. My tec wants me to approach this differently. I have an factory fender repair store in my town. I am going to take it there first, and let Fender deal with this so I am not getting involved with shipping back and forth, and may be getting another one just like it. Hope this works. I will let you know, it needs a set up anyway, and I know this dealership. Ed


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:14 am
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edhdsn wrote:
I just got off the phone with ZZ. My tec wants me to approach this differently. I have an factory fender repair store in my town. I am going to take it there first, and let Fender deal with this so I am not getting involved with shipping back and forth, and may be getting another one just like it. Hope this works. I will let you know, it needs a set up anyway, and I know this dealership. Ed


That's actually what I asked my tech. He still wants me to hold the guitar in the case for two weeks...I'm not waiting that long. I'm only about 35 miles from the Corona factory. They should just let me take it there. Guess I'll be calling zZounds this morning.

Chris


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:27 am
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Chris, I just got off the phone with Fender, call them, and they will tell you where to take it. I have a repair shop 4 miles from my house and its 100% covered. For those folks with older problems, call Fender, as I was told that they are approcing this on a case by case basics if the guitar is under 1 year old. No problems with just delivered units. Ed


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:02 pm
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I read this whole thread with great interest. I had never even heard of sharp fret edges till about 2 years ago. Man, I have owned 100s of Strats, mostly Strat Plus' from the late 80s into the 1990's. One big sale point for those was the "rolled fret edges." and I admit, that rolled feeling is really nice! So then I start hearing about these sharp fret edges and the theories as to why they happen. But I never saw a neck with this problem before and the whole shrinking wood thing just never made sense to me. Yes I have seen slightly shrunk bodies where you can see the seams in the laminations. A body is a big chunk of wood. BUT then something happened. I bought a 2000 Deluxe Strat neck off eBay and wow, run your hand up and down either side and it was like bump-bump-bump-bump-bump- and actually hurt. It interfered with playing, to say the least. So now I have encountered this problem! :shock:

But the theories bother me. :wink: OK, think about this. Why would I own 100s of 80-90s Strats and never once see this problem? Logic tells me that the wood was cured at Fender before production. I am sure they measure humidity and cure the wood before production. So a neck should be DRY before it is cut, shaped and sanded into a finished neck. Frets are added and dressed and then, at some point the neck is coated, either with a tint + finish or just a finish. Thus the dry neck is SEALED. ok..... :shock:

So if anything happens after that, the wood should swell, right? :? If it is dry and moisture somehow gets to it through the finish, then it swells. In that case the edges would even be less noticeable. If anything some frets might lift up higher. Is my logic faulty or am I missing something? :? How can cured wood shrink to the point the edges of the frets stand out like on this DX neck that I bought???? Just seems to me there was a finishing problem at Fender! :?

Again why 100s of Strats from the 80-90s and never saw this problem? Then on some necks in 2000 onward I start hearing about this—and apparently it is happening more and more, as this thread is pointing out??? Maybe we can blame this on global warming or climate change???? Help me out here! :?

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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:24 pm
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I think your logic is correct. And it leads to the conclusion that the wood must not be fully dried/cured.

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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:04 pm
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I called Fender Corporate this morning and talked to Tech Support. As soon as I told the tech what was going on he said "Your guitar has fret sprout" like he hears it all the time. This has me seriously wondering if Fender is waiting until the wood is properly cured before being used.

He said I could send it back to zZounds and hope the replacement is OK or I could take it to a local Fender Authorized shop. He gave me two Silver level shops (Sam Ash and Guitar Center) and a Gold level shop a little further away. I am still debating whether to return it or have it fixed. If I go the fix route I'm definitely taking to the Gold level tech at the smaller shop which is part of a recording studio.

This is the most expensive guitar I have purchased so far and my first Strat. I am so disappointed...

Chris


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:44 pm
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sp8ctre wrote:
I called Fender Corporate this morning and talked to Tech Support. As soon as I told the tech what was going on he said "Your guitar has fret sprout" like he hears it all the time.

I don't think there is anything in that response to indicate he hears it all the time. I think that's a pretty big leap. Many of us have already identified the problem as being fret sprout. If we recognize it by nothing more than a verbal description then you would assume a professional at Fender would also recognize it with the same description. He just knew what it was. That doesn't mean there is a problem at Fender. It doesn't rule out a problem at Fender but it also doesn't prove a problem at Fender. It only proves the guy has some knowledge and knows what he's talking about. Let's try not to get ahead of ourselves and start rumours based on supposition rather than facts.

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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:47 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
sp8ctre wrote:
I called Fender Corporate this morning and talked to Tech Support. As soon as I told the tech what was going on he said "Your guitar has fret sprout" like he hears it all the time.

I don't think there is anything in that response to indicate he hears it all the time...Let's try not to get ahead of ourselves and start rumors based on supposition rather than facts.


My post was based on the feeling I took away from the conversation. No one said to me "We have a fret sprout problem" But I've taken my guitar to a couple of knowledgeable guitarist who believe the wood was not fully dried. I do understand every brand puts out a bad product some time.

Fender is standing by there guitar and will make sure I'm satisfied and get a quality guitar. I'm not concerned about getting what I paid for. It's just the disappointment of a 1750 guitar arriving unplayable. New guitar means I want to play now...not 3 months later after all the shipping, fixing, exchanging is complete.

I really feel I should be able to drive up to Corona, hand them my guitar, that they built and inspected and QC'd. And say WWHHAATTTS UUPPP as in the old beer commercials...


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Frets
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:52 pm
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BMW-KTM, I can understand you desire not to point the finger by jumping to conclusions. I admire that. But in working with guitars a lot, as you and I have, there is a degree of logic that can be used. And if indeed there was a problem at some part of the production at Fender that has slipped through a few times, it would in no way incriminate them as being bad or purposely pawning problems off on unsuspecting buyers. All company's that mass produce are liable to have a manufacturing glitch. I mean even BMW or KTM, two companies I highly respect, have had manufacturing issues which they had to fix at the production level. It in no way lessened the reputation of these companies. In fact the admitting and fixing the problem often make them more reputable.

Anyhow laying that aside, lets get back to logic. I smile when I hear someone say, "The neck has fret sprout!" :lol: Ok, we know frets are non organic and they can't sprout! So what is really being said here is the wood shrunk. So when this fret sprouting occurs one of two things are the cause of the problem: 1) The frets were not dressed properly from the factory, or 2) the wood was not cured properly. It is possible that from time to time a chunk of, or even a batch of wood, in a mass production situation, could got through production without having been cured completely. That is the only way supposedly "dried, cured, or kilned" wood could shrink after fretted and finished. If indeed Fender has let some of this slip through, they simply need to own up to it and a tighten their quality control.

I have never seen the likes of the 2000 DX Strat neck that I recently bought. Like new but the frets were protruding in such a manner that was unnatural for a guitar to play comfortably. As narrow as a neck is to shrink that much from side to side after the finish is on the neck says something is wrong at the plant.

At this point can anyone give any better conclusions than the two options I put forth? Not trying to pick a fight with anyone, but rather trying to understand "fret sprouting". Again, I have owned 100s of Strats, and never saw this before. And now I have heard about it several times, and as this thread point out, on brand new guitars out of the box.

****sp8ctre, your above post came online right when I posted mine so I did not read it till after mine posted ******

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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Fretsp
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:18 pm
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Remember we are talking about 2 identical guitars coming from the same retailer at the same time. This does point the problem to storage by the retailer, or wet wood from the manufacturer. With the third, neck only purchase coming into play, and my fender tec's response , that, this issue, was normally a wear and tear issue not covered by Fender, however anyone with a guitar under 1 year old will be looked at on a case by case situation, tells me they know they have a manufacturing problem. Ed


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Post subject: Re: New American Deluxe Arrived Yesterday with Sharp Fretsp
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:29 pm
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edhdsn wrote:
Remember we are talking about 2 identical guitars coming from the same retailer at the same time. This does point the problem to storage by the retailer, or wet wood from the manufacturer. With the third, neck only purchase coming into play, and my fender tec's response , that, this issue, was normally a wear and tear issue not covered by Fender, however anyone with a guitar under 1 year old will be looked at on a case by case situation, tells me they know they have a manufacturing problem. Ed

Good point. Also in marketing, it is said that in every customer complaint, that person represents a % of people who did not complain or come forth and make the problem known. Which means you two happen to be on this Forum. You two order the same kind of guitars at the same time. That means that you represent a % of people not posting on here. So you two are not alone! I know how it feels to dish out a lot of money for a guitar only to find out it has issues. Has happened to me more than once, but not from Fender, more from dishonest sellers! Like on fleeBay....

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