Neck vs. humidity...Problem???

[Axe Chemist]

Hey Guys,

About 3 weeks ago my MIJ Charvel Pro-mod arrived and it was as sweet as could be. The neck felt smooth as silk, the frets dressed perfectly, and the neck edges rolled like I've never seen. When running my hand up and down the neck you couldn't even feel the fret edges, it was perfect. After sitting out in the open room on my floor stand for about a week I noticed that all of a sudden the fret edges felt like as cheaply dressed as a Fender Bullet. I mean, it's bad...like bad enough to scratch your hands if you were to really dig in. I'm wondering if the humidity plays that big of a role in this or if it's possibly something else? The guitar was shipped from the east coast (NJ or NY) and I live in Indiana...so my first guess is that's its related to humidity changes. If that's the case, how long would you expect it to stay like this before returning to "normal" or did I get a dud? As a reference, none of my other axes sitting beside it on the floor stand are affected this way, at least to my knowledge.

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

[shreddermon]

That absolutely sounds like a humidity issue. It's not the guitar's fault. Some are really susceptible, others not so much. Every piece of wood is different. About 1 in 5 guitars or so that I've owned have eventually developed this issue - there's no firm rhyme or reason which ones do and which don't. And almost all of mine are custom shop guitars, so it has nothing to do with custom shop vs USA production, or USA vs import. It's just plain old dry air vs. wood. I find that ebony fretboards are especially prone to developing "fangs", though. It's all just a fact of life living in a cold nothern climate, especially with forced hot air furnaces.

My advice would be to find a good luthier who can shave down those now-protruding fret ends, and who can re-set up your guitars for the drier humidity. Give the guitar a few months for the wood to "settle", then have this work done. Also buy a humidifer to help keep the air from being too dry. If you have a forced hot air furnace, consider having an all-house humidifer installed right on the furnace.

Your guitar will eventually be playing and feeling just as good as before.

[Hellbat]

Maybe one of the dealers or authorized service people could chime in on this.... I wonder if that touch up work could be billed as warranty work by an authorized repair center?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Go to Target or WalMart and get a little hygrometer (humidity gauge) and see what the humidity is in your house... I'm running my humidifier 24/7 for the last two or three weeks trying to keep it up to 60% humidity.

This issue has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacturing quality of the guitar whatsoever, and everything do do with it being winter and your heater drying the air out in your house.

[Axe Chemist]

These suggestions are great. I appreciate the info and will try adding humidity to the room. Thanks!

[Inazone]

I have the opposite problem for 7-8 months of the year, in that it gets TOO humid here. I run a dehumidifier from mid-spring to early fall. Prior to doing that, every one of my guitars needed the truss rod adjusted twice a year, plus some would have issues with the frets. The local Jackson/Charvel-authorized tech (also a high-end custom luthier) told me that 40% humidity is ideal, but generally speaking, just getting *consistent* humidity will help a lot.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Yeah, it's plenty humid here in the summer even with the A/C on... Then winter comes and it's dry as hell.

[slowhand66]

Have same problems in New York. Winters are dry, summers are humid. In the winter the wood dries and shrinks, which causes the fret ends to pertrude. Try adding the humidifier in the winter, it may help (if nothing other than to keep the neck stable).

[Axe Chemist]

Just a follow up note. I called a local music store that performs set-up and minor repair work (keep in mind I'm new to the area so I'm just calling blindly). I asked about bringing it in to have the fret ends filed down and the guy said they basically just tape up the side of the neck and take a Dremel tool to the exposed fret ends. This scares me. Is that what anyone would expect? I'd feel more comfortable buying a specific fret-end file and doing it myself. At least there would be less risk in having a power tool get away from your hands and scarring the neck if it slips.

Thoughts???

[Oneguitar]

Stew Mac sells a fret end dressing file just for this sort of thing. Living in KC I have this issue occasionally....

[DonP]

Thoughts???

Stick with hand tools.

Also, have you checked the humidity at your place? My house is around 30% throughout the day, and yours should be similar to mine. My home is only 5 years old, and I'm thinking of getting one of those whole house humidifiers at home depot. Of course it's the wrong time of the year to be looking. Anyone try installing the do-it-yourself kits they have for about $200?