How common are uneven frets on guitars? Even expensive ones?

[InFlames235]

Hey all,

So I have two incredible electric guitars - one is a custom Black Water Guitar and the other is Petrucci BFR Sig guitar. The Black Water is the newer of the two guitars and when I get up to the higher frets on the High E string and bend a whole step, it starts fretting out. At first I thought this was just a neck relief issue and needed a quick adjustment but after taking it to a reputable tech over here he said it's actually an uneven fret and that the frets need to be leveled which he is now currently doing with a PLEK machine. I just started noticing that my Petrucci sig does this as well but just in a different location! If it's the 10th fret on the High E or below, bending a whole step up will cause it to fret out. I'm guessing now that this guitar ALSO has uneven frets and will need to be leveled. Both these guitars hover around the $3k range so kinda surprising that these sorts of issues would be happening. Is this seen more often than I've thought in the past or have I just had bad luck with a couple guitars that I'll need to throw in a few more hundred to get fixed on the side now?

 

[Dave L]

It´s too bad but happens. With that said, it´s super overkill to do a whole PLEK level for one uneven fret, so I hope he found more fret issues before he sold you on that whole shebang.

 

[InFlames235]

It´s too bad but happens. With that said, it´s super overkill to do a whole PLEK level for one uneven fret, so I hope he found more fret issues before he sold you on that whole shebang.

Thank you for the response! We tested a few of the frets in the higher register and when bent a whole step or more they were all fretting out so that's why I think they went the PLEK route.

 

[glip22]

Let us know how it comes out. Hopefully he does not take much off. In most cases frets can be leveled with very minimal material removal. The methods you see online are a joke. Use a marker and sand with your beam until the marker is gone. That is a fast recipe to make your jumbo frets small.
The operator must be experienced.
Be careful with that Plek Eugene

 

[InFlames235]

Let us know how it comes out. Hopefully he does not take much off. In most cases frets can be leveled with very minimal material removal. The methods you see online are a joke. Use a marker and sand with your beam until the marker is gone. That is a fast recipe to make your jumbo frets small.
The operator must be experienced.
Be careful with that Plek Eugene

This guy is super well known in the bay area. Gary Brawer:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/gary-brawer-gui ... -francisco

He has tons of experience so I do feel good about his expertise in this area. I will definitely update the thread when it comes back - hopefully his reputation is on point

 

[glip22]

Let us know how it comes out. Hopefully he does not take much off. In most cases frets can be leveled with very minimal material removal. The methods you see online are a joke. Use a marker and sand with your beam until the marker is gone. That is a fast recipe to make your jumbo frets small.
The operator must be experienced.
Be careful with that Plek Eugene

This guy is super well known in the bay area. Gary Brawer:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/gary-brawer-gui ... -francisco

He has tons of experience so I do feel good about his expertise in this area. I will definitely update the thread when it comes back - hopefully his reputation is on point

Gary should do you a mean grind

 

[Lampshade1973]

Im going through that with a MM guitar right now, sucks when you pay bucks for a guitar and it need work while some squire somewhere plays great....

 

[Metlupass2]

I had to have a Suhr Modern and one of my TA Drop Tops leveled once. It does depend on humidity levels too. Some of the frets on my TA actually started to pop up.

They were both over 5 years old.

 

[psychodave]

I find it depends on the weather. There are so many variables to consider before settling on a single fret being the culprit. Of course I'm not ruling out the high fret ;0

 

[Shask]

All of my guitars go crazy in the winter. When it goes from 90 degrees down to like 10 degrees, etc.....

Seems like the truss rods are always out of wack, you can feel the ends of the frets sticking out of the side of the neck, buzzing everywhere, etc...... usually they go back to normal when it gets warmer again.