Acoustic guitar problems

dazzer22 · December 2022

I am having a problem with my acoustic guitar i have only had it about a year, on the high E String side some of the fret ends feel sharp or rough when playing barred chords and sometimes the high E string gets in between the frets when playing open. don't recall it doing this when new, the frets look flush on the fretboard wood but i think they are gaps where the fret overlaps on to the binding. Alvarez AD60

Snags · December 2022

Can you explain what you mean about the E getting "in between the frets"?

Do you mean stuck under the end of a fret off the edge of the fretboard?

ICBM · December 2022

That sounds like lifting fret ends, which also possibly haven’t been dressed properly. If you’re not familiar with that sort of work - guessing not or you wouldn’t be asking! - then it’s not a big problem for a professional to sort out. If you take off any sharp edges and glue them firmly to the board - many builders do that from new now - it should sort it.

bertie · December 2022

dazzer22 said:

I sometimes the high E string gets in between the frets when playing open.

that's the bit that confuses me - not sure how a string can get stuck on the end of the fret if its being played open ?

BillDL · December 2022

You mean playing something like an open D chord and the high E string slips off the end of the 2nd fret and gets stuck under the lifting fret end?

dazzer22 · December 2022

BillDL said:

You mean playing something like an open D chord and the high E string slips off the end of the 2nd fret and gets stuck under the lifting fret end?

yes when strumming the high E string gets stuck on the 5 fret,

dazzer22 · December 2022

ICBM said:

That sounds like lifting fret ends, which also possibly haven’t been dressed properly. If you’re not familiar with that sort of work - guessing not or you wouldn’t be asking! - then it’s not a big problem for a professional to sort out. If you take off any sharp edges and glue them firmly to the board - many builders do that from new now - it should sort it.

would it still be worth getting work done on it for a low value guitar, i guess depending on how much it would cost because it's not a very expensive guitar, i wouldn't think twice if it was a more expensive guitar but i only got this guitar as a beat around,

BillDL · December 2022

It's a £300 guitar regardless whether you maybe got it a lot cheaper, so yes it would be worth having the frets sorted if you have the money to do so. Say you paid £100 to have the frets all fixed you would have a playable guitar. If you don't, you have a guitar that is practically unplayable going by your description. If the high E string is catching on the end of the 5th fret while strumming open chords, that fret end must be sticking up like a sore thumb. Is there any way you could take some close up photos of the fret ends on the treble side around the 5th fret and post them for us to see?

thomasross20 · December 2022

Agree, just pay to get it fixed.
As I've discovered can also apply to a brand new £2k guitar!

dazzer22 · December 2022

Took the guitar down to my local guitar shop the guys not a guitar luthier but dose setups and small bits of work, he took a look at the guitar and said the frets look good and he can't see any gaps, he did say he thinks the problem is with the binding because the fret ends go over the binding and the binding looks slightly lower than the fretboard wood, so the high E string can get stuck under the fret end and binding when just played open depending on how hard you strum, also this could be why it feels slight rough on the fret ends, but he did notice the strings where 9s and suggested trying 10s or even 11s as it's a very small gap and it might help.

bertie · December 2022

9s ?? wow that's light they must be electric strings (not sure how hed notice just by looking tho) - even 11s are light in acoustic-land - a heavy strumming action coupled with such light strings I can just about see "how" it might happen - still bewildering to me tho.

12s are "standard" acoustic strings, but if you're used to 9s then I still think 11s is the lightest you should go BUT the truss will need tightening going from such a light gauge as the strings will put more tension on the neck, causing "more" relief -
what I am surprised is the guy in the store didnt offer to do it, if you bought some new strings ?

just for my sanity - any chance you could post a pic of the "offending" fret/binding ?

dazzer22 · December 2022

bertie said:

9s ?? wow that's light they must be electric strings (not sure how hed notice just by looking tho) - even 11s are light in acoustic-land - a heavy strumming action coupled with such light strings I can just about see "how" it might happen - still bewildering to me tho.

12s are "standard" acoustic strings, but if you're used to 9s then I still think 11s is the lightest you should go BUT the truss will need tightening going from such a light gauge as the strings will put more tension on the neck, causing "more" relief -
what I am surprised is the guy in the store didnt offer to do it, if you bought some new strings ?

just for my sanity - any chance you could post a pic of the "offending" fret/binding ?

well he didn't completely notice but said the strings looked quite thin and could be 9s but i confirmed they are because i changed them to 9s Ernie ball, I am not sure what the originally strings came with i think 10s, the guy would have done a full setup there but i don't get paid until the end of next week, and he did say it might not completely solve the issue he was only advising, I would send pictures but for the life of me i am not sure how, i tried to use imgur .com but i could not get the pictures to upload on this site,

Mellish · December 2022

9s on an acoustic?

Wow that *is* light. Lightest I've ever gone is 11s.

bertie · December 2022

dazzer22 said:

I would send pictures but for the life of me i am not sure how, i tried to use imgur .com but i could not get the pictures to upload on this site,

you dont upload them, just copy the direct link from imgur, open the little "file icon" drop down and past the link in there - I usually have to press the space bar to get the pic to show, then post it

BillDL · December 2022

There's something very far wrong here.

Did you buy the guitar new or 2nd-hand?

If it was 2nd-hand, is there any evidence of somebody having monkeyed around with the edges of the fretboard, like sanding or scraping the edges of the binding to round it over in between the frets for a "worn" feel?

Is the guitar tuned to standard E tuning, or have you dropped it down by a semitone or full tone to Eb or D?

I'm trying to imagine how this happens. Assuming that the technician's observation is correct and that the top edge of the fretboard binding is sitting down below the top edge of the fretboard, leaving a small gap between the underside of the frets and the top of the binding. The top of the frets (apex) would probably be about 1mm above the surface of the fretboard. Unless the frets have somehow started to curve upwards at the ends, when you strum an acoustic guitar hard (even with 9s), the string shouldn't be able to oscillate sideways beyond the edge of the binding and fret ends and then dip downwards by about 1mm to get stuck under the frets.

What about the neck relief on the guitar? If you have a capo, put it on the 1st fret. Hold down the high E string at the fret where the neck joins the body (should be 14th fret). Look down the string between the capo and where you are fretting the string to see whether itis clearing the top of all the frets. Do the same with the other strings. The gap may be very small and hard to see, but you will know if you still have a gap by gently tapping on the string between the frets and listening for a quiet "plink" as the string touches the top of the frets. If the strings are touching the frets in between the capo'd and fretted positions, most noticeably somewhere between the 5th and 8th frets, then the truss rod is too tight and is overcompensating for the string tension by pulling it into a back bow. If it was previously strung with higher tension 10s or 11s and you changed the strings to 9s, you should have released the tension on the truss rod a bit so that when capo'd and fretted as described above, the neck would be absolutely straight or preferably with a tiny amound of up bow.

dazzer22 · December 2022

BillDL said:

There's something very far wrong here.
Did you buy the guitar new or 2nd-hand?
If it was 2nd-hand, is there any evidence of somebody having monkeyed around with the edges of the fretboard, like sanding or scraping the edges of the binding to round it over in between the frets for a "worn" feel?
Is the guitar tuned to standard E tuning, or have you dropped it down by a semitone or full tone to Eb or D?

I'm trying to imagine how this happens. Assuming that the technician's observation is correct and that the top edge of the fretboard binding is sitting down below the top edge of the fretboard, leaving a small gap between the underside of the frets and the top of the binding. The top of the frets (apex) would probably be about 1mm above the surface of the fretboard. Unless the frets have somehow started to curve upwards at the ends, when you strum an acoustic guitar hard (even with 9s), the string shouldn't be able to oscillate sideways beyond the edge of the binding and fret ends and then dip downwards by about 1mm to get stuck under the frets.

What about the neck relief on the guitar? If you have a capo, put it on the 1st fret. Hold down the high E string at the fret where the neck joins the body (should be 14th fret). Look down the string between the capo and where you are fretting the string to see whether itis clearing the top of all the frets. Do the same with the other strings. The gap may be very small and hard to see, but you will know if you still have a gap by gently tapping on the string between the frets and listening for a quiet "plink" as the string touches the top of the frets. If the strings are touching the frets in between the capo'd and fretted positions, most noticeably somewhere between the 5th and 8th frets, then the truss rod is too tight and is overcompensating for the string tension by pulling it into a back bow. If it was previously strung with higher tension 10s or 11s and you changed the strings to 9s, you should have released the tension on the truss rod a bit so that when capo'd and fretted as described above, the neck would be absolutely straight or preferably with a tiny amound of up bow.

I got a friend round he had a spare pack of 11s so i put them on and the neck had small bow which is ok, the E string doesn't get stuck with the 11s on , it doesn't look like the fret ends are bent up at the tips so i do think it is the binding low or maybe the fretboard wood is slight higher because it's the same on the bass side with gaps , the man at the shop said cheap guitar often come with small defects and can be fixed in shop but he did say it was unusual, it's hard to see with the eye he used papers to slot in the gaps to show me and that was where the string can get stuck, I wish i would have picked up on this sooner but didn't until i put the 9s on, the guitar is about a year old now i could contact the shop but not sure they would do anything. over all the guitar sounds good but slightly disappointed knowing there is gaps, and this will effect feels in the playing hand.

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Acoustic guitar problems

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