"fretting out" setup question

[danglybanger]

I've got my Japanese Jaguar set up with very low action, nice and buzz free but if I bend strings more than a half step above the tenth fret or so they "fret out" on the 7" or so fretboard.

So my question is, if I add neck relief, will it "solve" this problem at least somewhat? I don't want to sacrifice my low action too much, I tried raising the strings, and by the time I got them to a place where bending was acceptable they were much higher than I wanted. Neck relief on the guitar is about average right now. If this won't solve my problem, what will?
thanks,
dan

 

[beandip]

Re: "fretting out" setup question

Sounds like there's some moisture down in the neck pocket, and it's made the heel swell. You can either raise the action, or remove the frets, plane the fretboard to either a flatter radius or atleast make the heel smaller, and reinstall the frets.

 

[danglybanger]

Re: "fretting out" setup question

I don't think its a structural problem with the guitar, all jags (and guitars with small radius fretboards, other early fenders etc) have the habit of fretting out when you bend in the upper frets... I'd rather not alter the guitar structurally, I was just asking if anyone knew any ways the guitar could be setup where this could be minimized.
thanks,
dan

 

[beandip]

Re: "fretting out" setup question

I was just stating what I know. It's either you raise the action, level the frets, or dont bend as much. You might be able to put a little bit more relief into the neck, and that should help some, but if the action is already too high for your liking, that wont help much.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: "fretting out" setup question

Possible solutions:

1. Re-leveling of the fretboard with a refret afterwards (Expensive)

2. Bend less and not as far

3. Accept the fact that you have a guitar with the vintage 7 1/4" Fretboard radius or similar, and set your action accordingly higher.

Or you could buy a replacement neck from Warmoth with the correct measurements AND a different radius


BTW, most people like the rounder radiuses for chording work (comfy) and flatter radiuses for bending (to avoid fretting out).. This is why compound radiuses were developed by Warmoth and Jackson (*edit* I should actually say Wayne Charvel, Grover wasn´t on the scene yet) back in the late ´70s

 

[danglybanger]

Re: "fretting out" setup question

thanks for the advice! sounds like I'm pretty much stuck though... I do like the small radius neck for chording and whatnot, a warmoth neck with a compound radius sounds tempting... but I love the nice flame on my stock neck! I guess I'll learn to live with it one way or another...
thanks,
dan

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: "fretting out" setup question

Vintage Fenders have a small fret board radius, maybe 8 1/2" I think. Gibsons have a larger fretboard radius that's part of a bigger circle so a Gibson fingerboard seems "flatter"...Hamers have an even flatter 12" fretboard radius...hardly any fret out even when the action is set low.

The flatter the fretboard the less the E string will fret out when you bend the E string towards or across the middle of the fretboard.

The solution is to:

1. Raise the action!
2. Make the fretboard flatter by grinding the frets lower down the middle of the neck...don't attempt this without a lot of prior experience.

You cannot have extremely low action on a vintage style Fender neck AND ALSO be able to bend notes without fret out.

You need to raise your action.

 

[beandip]

Re: "fretting out" setup question

Actually, now that I think about it, you can keep the stock neck, but just relevel the frets. Around the 7th or 9th fret, start leveling to a flatter radius, maybe knock it down to a 10 or so? then that'll solve your problem of fretting out, you can keep your stock neck, and you can bend to your hearts desire. Just dont relevel too much, since they're vintage frets, but you can do it good, and it'll make it good.