Mispositioned frets? (PICTURES!!!)

[SustainerPlayer]

A guitar builder/luthier who cuts the fret slots wrong and don't see it instantly?

I could use other words - but I will be kind and say I would consider him not really worthy of being called a luthier/guitar builder. I wouldn't buy anything from him.

YMMV and I am an old grumpy guy. 

 

[Cederick]

I just got pics of the finished guitar... ITS SO TEMPTING!!!! I don't know what to do!!! If he really fixed the bad fret... I wanna try get a discount for it. Because this is really the guitar of my dreams

 

[Cagey]

It is a very attractive guitar. However, it doesn't look to me like the fret got repositioned. If it did, it got moved to the wrong place, or another one is off. I'd question the integrity of that entire fretboard at this point. Guy must be either cross-eyed, have no sense of proportion. or be surprisingly incompetent in that one area and convinced you'd be too stupid to notice. Judging by the rest of it, I don't want say he's incompetent, but...

What's up with that tiny switch? Is that supposed to be a three position part for choosing pickups? That ain't gonna last long under that duty, and you're going to have trouble using it under pressure.

 

[Cederick]

Yeah I know all that... I definitely wanna try it out before paying another penny for it. However, just like "normal" fretboards a guitar cannot intonate perfectly, but I will take more care in trying this one out.

Thing is I think the mini switch "looks cool", and I rarely use neck pickups (my main idea was a bridge pup only but I decided to give it some diversity) since I play a lot of metal and therefor I play the bridge pickup 95% of the time. So I don't think it will be a problem. If it would actually be I could simply get a standard LP switch and drill a slightly bigger hole for it. Even tho I wouldn't like the appearance too much...

 

[Cagey]

The mini-switch does "look" cool, it's just impractical. I suppose if you're rarely going to use it, then chances are you won't have a problem.

Still...

It sounds like you're trying to talk yourself into keeping the thing, perhaps out of fear of going without entirely, but that's all the more reason to get something that's done right. With that fret, we're not talking about a finish flaw or some scratched hardware - this is a fundamental working defect. The thing won't play in tune, and is essentially unrepairable. It needs a new fretboard.

 

[Cederick]

That's why I wanna try it out as soon as possible  :toothy11:

 

[croquet hoop]

What Cagey said.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Frets still look wrong. Any reason the neck pickup was installed back to front?

 

[Cederick]

Hmmm, I cannot really see if the frets are wrong or right anymore, I guess I really have to try it out.
Haha I never looked at the pickups but you're right there. Would it really affect the sound?

(side-question; why does the poles on single coil pickups have "random" height?? Even tho all single coils have the same "randomness" or something like that...)

 

[Jumble Jumble]

It affects the sound a little bit depending on how mismatched the coils are. But it's weird he would put it in backwards; if you didn't agree it's him that he would do it, and it's just a mistake,then it's more evidence that he doesn't really know what he's doing.

The stagger on single coils is a holdover from vintage times, when fretboards were much more curved and people used a wound G string. It's to compensate for the relative volume levels of the strings and their varying distances from the pickup.

 

[riverbluff]

The last couple frets look to be out of place to me.  The guitar looks great, but there is no working around mis-positioned frets.  It's not just a simple matter of intonation...  If the frets are not right it will not allow the proper note.

 

[swarfrat]

The thing that baffles me about this thread... is how many chances the guy had to just throw out the bad board before going on to invest even MORE time and money into the thing.

 

[Cederick]

After taking a serious look at the frets they actually DO look a bit off.
However, I think he actually did fix a fret, because it doesn't look as off as it did before. But it's quickly leaning towards a refund now...

The thing that baffles me about this thread... is how many chances the guy had to just throw out the bad board before going on to invest even MORE time and money into the thing.

You're quite right there.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Also... Isn't a neck through guitar a bit too heavy to hang in a single tuner hole? :icon_scratch:

What's the concern, the headstock will rip apart?  When strung up, a single string has more tension than what the guitar weighs. If you can put a tuner in it and string it up, you can hang it from one.

 

[alterbridgefan]

After taking a serious look at the frets they actually DO look a bit off.
However, I think he actually did fix a fret, because it doesn't look as off as it did before. But it's quickly leaning towards a refund now...

The thing that baffles me about this thread... is how many chances the guy had to just throw out the bad board before going on to invest even MORE time and money into the thing.

You're quite right there.

One thing - When you go to test it out, DO NOT think about it too much. Chances are if you expect it to sound wrong, it will sound wrong. Just like seeing it. My guess is that at this point it is possible that it's not even off, but that you guys are seeing things funny.

 

[Cagey]

Or, we could be seeing things funny because they are funny.

One of the better features of this forum is a membership that has often progressed beyond just owning or playing guitars - they're actually building them. They've seen hundreds or maybe even thousands of guitars up close and personal, and when an anomaly shows up it stands out pretty plainly.

Everybody understands that photographs can be deceiving. Lighting, reflections, shadows, hardware/software discrepancies or adjustments that misrepresent colors, the list is long. Maybe that'll turn out to be the case here, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

The biggest issue with the neck pup being turned around is putting the magnets out of phase when used together. Although is some cases it can produce cool sounds,which was a trick used by Gary Moore and many others.

 

[stubhead]

I just don't see it, just, not... of course the first time through, I thought that photo-funnies might be affecting the picture also.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria

Unfortunately, we do share with other boards the Joy of the Internet Pile-On*, for want of a better term. It can be especially terroristic when applied to a brand-newbie who asks the kind of question that can be expected from a... brand-newbie, i.e."ignorant" - because he doesn't KNOW anything yet. You ever see a kitten take on a roll of toilet paper? Yeesh!

I blew that picture up as far as I could, to a pre-pixellated ennui. Then I just held ye trusty old calipers to the computer screen. I can state that by that picture, each pair of frets get closer to each other, all the way up the neck - exactly as it should be. This doesn't mean it's perfect yet, though. I would print out a fret calculator, I like this one because he goes from both nut-to-bridge and vice=versa:

http://windworld.com/features/tools-resources/exmis-fret-placement-calculator/#fretcalculator

I don't know what you're measuring tools are, but the answer lies there. I don't like the idea of playing it to see if it "sounds funny" - too many variables. The thing I find weirdest, besides the idea that anyone could cuts slots crooked, is his answer:

I fixed it with epoxy

I have no idea what that means - unless there's a crooked slot poking out from underneath, filled in with epoxy?

*(JOTIPO...)

 

[Cederick]

I tried looking at "my guitar" and comparing to others on this site and I never see anything "funny" about the frets on these guitars. So I'm pretty convinced now. Of course I was blinded by it's sudden beauty and just wanted it right off but after a few hours of sleep and a pair of fresh eyes it still doesn't look right.

 

[Cederick]

Here's a close up of the thing