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Fretwork issues?

SnoogansSnoogans Posts: 1,711
in General Guitar Discussion
A work colleague dropped off a Squier strat at mine yesterday.
I was wondering if any of you guys could help me figure out why it has tuning problems.




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  • Dinosaur David BDinosaur David B Posts: 18,283
    Describe the tuning problems. What are they specifically? And where on the fingerboard are you perceiving them ?

    It's hard to tell from these photos, but from a glance it looks to me like the nut slots may be cut too wide and deep for all the strings except maybe low E. That wouldn't necessarily affect the tuning, but I suppose there are ways it might.

    Also, it's a Squire. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but their economic build quality choices may manifest themselves as tuning issues.  Generally the problem with really crap guitars (not saying Squire is crap) is that they won't play or stay in tune. 
    I threw me guitar out. Why bother? Why bother? Use it as a coffee table. Because I can't play it like that. 
    -- David St. Hubbins.
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  • Seven MoonsSeven Moons Posts: 8,936
    Looks like someone wanted to experiment with fanned frets but didn't get the concept quite right  :lol: :lol: 
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  • Dinosaur David BDinosaur David B Posts: 18,283
    Seven Moons said:
    Looks like someone wanted to experiment with fanned frets but didn't get the concept quite right  :lol: :lol: 
    I assumed the picture was taken slightly off angle and that was creating the fret slanting effect. If not, ignore my earlier post :#
    I threw me guitar out. Why bother? Why bother? Use it as a coffee table. Because I can't play it like that. 
    -- David St. Hubbins.
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  • SnoogansSnoogans Posts: 1,711
    Joking aside, like most of us here I've been around guitars for a very long time. I've never seen fretwork this bad before!
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  • cvansicklecvansickle Posts: 6,293
    Rickenbacker actually tried to market this concept in the 70s.



    https://www.myrareguitars.com/vintage-1973-rickenbacker-481-electric-guitar

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  • Dinosaur David BDinosaur David B Posts: 18,283
    It's weird. Over the years, people have tried various wonky ways to compensate (usually on Gibson scale guitars) for what shouldn't be that hard.  The thing that comes to mind first is those guitars Janne Stark has with the squiggly frets. 

    I defer to Stanley on this, because he's done more research and actual work on the subject than anyone I've ever heard of in the 40 years I've been a musician. AFAIK, he's the ONLY one who's ever talked about it.  You don't need squiggly frets (that must be very hard to do) or fanned frets.  It's simple:
    1. Get the fucking math right. Put the nut in the right spot (Buzz Feiten), and cut the slots precisely. Keep your tolerances to +/- 0.005" or under. (Stanley does +/- 0.002" by hand). These things eliminate randomized errors.

    2. Pick ONE, consistent, unified fret scale for the instrument. Gibson (and anyone copying their fret scales) are the ONLY folks putting multiple fret scales on each guitars. And it causes well-documented problems. 
    It's really NOT more complicated than that.

    I threw me guitar out. Why bother? Why bother? Use it as a coffee table. Because I can't play it like that. 
    -- David St. Hubbins.
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  • inmyhandsinmyhands Posts: 11,704
    I was terrible at math but could've still done a better job than this current example of fret work. This is either a Snoogans setup or his plea for backup before responding to his colleague's hoped for answer. There is no answer ..... although winters coming on. Firewood is entering it's premium season.
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  • SnoogansSnoogans Posts: 1,711
    I'm kinda hoping that it'll get left with me. Unusually for a cheap Squier, it has a full-sized strat body, that will be just right for my EVH-inspired hotrod plan.
    The neck I'll keep as a conversation piece...
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  • inmyhandsinmyhands Posts: 11,704
    I'd hang the neck on the wall at a slight angle so the frets are level with the floor. Kind off a "Still angling to perfection" vibe.
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  • SnoogansSnoogans Posts: 1,711
    Update -

    The neck has been replaced with a rather more conventionally-fretted one. The body cleaned up really nice, so I figured that it would be a shame to "relic" it. I also found a way to make the cheap single-coils sound a lot more ballsy...
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  • Seven MoonsSeven Moons Posts: 8,936
    edited December 2020
    Hey it looks like a cool guitar now!  Wasn't it too difficult to find a suitable replacement neck? Judging from the lousy (understatement) fretwork, the neck pocket could have been way off too... 
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  • SnoogansSnoogans Posts: 1,711
    Luckily, most of the butchering was at the heel of the neck - it looked like it had been fitted by a gorilla -, so the neck pocket was pretty clean, if a bit wide. The new neck is a cheapo 30 quid job from the intertubes, and is quite chunky, which helped. There's a bit of a gap each side of the heel, but it went on straight, with the help of shims, clamping, and some creative swearing... :#
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