Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

Sun King

New member
So yesterday I stopped in my local GC, hoping to check out a few different guitars with an eye toward a new purchase. Undecided on any particular brand, I picked up several different models ranging in price from $350 up to $900. I was really looking for something around the $1000 range, but since those models weren't in stock, I grabbed a few that might have representative neck dimensions, to help make my decision.
Shortly afterward, I was talking to a GC employee about some brand particulars, when I looked down at my fingers,,, "What the hell?" :O The GC guy was totally unfazed, and said something like, "Hm, looks like that one has a couple of unfinished frets." Yea, understatement of the year!
20180212_155620.jpg

So there were more than a few guitars in that condition there. Even a nice, $900 Ibanez had the same situation, that plus its ebony fretboard was starting to crack. I honestly don't know how the hell they sell ANY guitars in that store Hey, at least the local luthiers might make some extra business dressing frets!
It doesn't seem that long ago that a $600 guitar had some decent quality, ya know? I've had quite a few different Schecters, LTDs, Ibanez and Jacksons, all in that price range and none of them were in that condition. So is this "the new norm", or is that store just an outlier? :eek13:
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

That's an odd way to get fret-burn. I've had it from playing cheap guitars, but it's limited to the side of the first knuckle of my index finger typically.

I've only really experienced very bad frets on extremely cheap, sub- $200 guitars, that said.
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

That's the saddest story I've ever heard. Especially because you can order a $100 guitar online and reasonably expect to have it come with a decent setup. Except for a bad case of fret sprout, there is no reason for guitars in the price range you described to cause that much damage to your fingers.
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

A while back I noticed that at the local GC
On Ibanez as well
On one $400 model the neck binding stuck straight off the side if the neck
Like a razor

Even a gorgeous 25th anniversary red one with a maple neck
The dude playing it was bleeding all over it

The sales dude was like oh well and didn't even wipe.it off before hanging it back up

Tornado got the store since then
It hasn't come back
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

The worst offender of the bunch was a Schecter Banshee Extreme, which I think was priced around $600 bucks. But like i said, there were others!
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

Recent Epi's seem to have pretty decent fret work. That looks like you were trying to play an in-sink-erator.
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

I play sub $ 600 axes almost exclusively (:lmao:) & my fingers are as smooth as a baby's backside..

Yeah, I will say that cheapo's peaked a few (4-5) years ago. The'ere were some killer deals to be bought cheap back then....the Raven West stuff, Ibby's with ZR's etc..now it's back to ****ty bridges & bad QC..especially with Ibanez. They're going all out to push their "premium" line & those djenty "ironside" or w/e they're called models instead..
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

Yea, "Premium", and "Iron Label", (sounds more fitting for a motorcycle built in Milwaukee!). Getting tired of "black = metal". What's sad is that the guy working there didn't even give a rat's ass. 😒
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

Maybe it's just not much of a CA problem. My dad moved to the desert and brought a cheap Squier and a cheap Mitchell though; both the necks did backflips and sprouted frets within weeks.
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

Are there any companies that round their fret ends? I don't know of any. Without rounded fret ends and a tang nibbed off, any guitar can have frets protrude in the cold and hack you up.
 
Re: Hey check it out- I'm a shredder!

A LOT of the lower end Ibanez guitars badly need fret end dressing. I don't mean just the GIO line, but the 400 dollar RG450's etc.
 
Back
Top