frets popping up

[len]

i was thinking of trading for a dk1 with qm top ....
it arrived today and i noticed the fret ends were pretty rough...like 22 speed bumps on both sides of the neck all my other jacksons are silky smooth
so i started looking and noticed the frets popping up on about 2/3 of the frets

question is ... how bad is this ? i have absolute zero experience in something like this

[rjohnstone]

You may be able to tap them down for now, but it looks like you're gonna need a full on fret job. Possible re-fret.

[HoWheels]

Bah, if that's brand new, I'd send it back.

-a

[quakana]

really strange, does the neck look straight? Cant be new is it??

[sully]

well, are you getting clear notes throughout the neck? in other words, are you having any high/low fret issues? if not, and the frets are truly level, there's a couple of things that you can do to fill in those gaps. you can make some binding sludge with a binding strip + MEK = a binding sludge that you can drizzle between the binding edge and the underside of the frets. it'll melt into the current binding, and after its cured overnight, you can shape it so it's pretty unnoticeable.

you can also do something similar with super glue.

is it worth it? eh, that's your call, but it's not a dealbreaker to me. those things can and do happen with all kindsa guitars. i had an LPC that was refretted by a very reputable shop, and i had this issue.

[len]

well, are you getting clear notes throughout the neck? in other words, are you having any high/low fret issues? if not, and the frets are truly level

its a '96 dk1
its a tough call becuase i have not played it that much yet...
the cup of my fret hand just sliding down side of the neck feels
like the overhangs would tear up my hand
i think its a deal breaker ... too bad cuz the top is pretty nice

[rjohnstone]

If that is the only thing wrong, I'd have a pro do a hands on inspection and get an estimate first. Someone you trust.

[Flametop]

I had a neck like that (though I don't think it was quite as bad), and I had a pro re-seat the frets with glue and dress the ends. It's still as smooth and solid as when he did it over 5 years ago. I don't know what the cost would be these days, but I paid less than or right at $100.00 if I remember right.

[Jack Napalm]

I have a mutt guitar with Kramer neck on it. The frets started popping up on it. I took it to a local guy and he reseated every fret, leveled them and did a setup on the guitar for under $100.00. It was the money well spent. The guitar plays as good as any of my guitars.

[straycat]

The frets look uneven, may be the photo angle but I would use some thin super glue and tap them back into place with a plastic headed hammer.It should be easy to fix.If they pop up again I would suspect the fret grooves may have had debris in them and the frets are not seating all the way down.

[RobRR]

Same problem on my RR7R. Alot of the fret ends popping up, and the guitar is unplayable. It seems like the frets arent properly radiused to the fretboard... Ill probably end up taking it somewhere to fix it.

[jcm800x]

Stewmac sells a fret press that looks cool.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Pressing/1/Jaws_Handheld_Fret_Press.html

[len]

Same problem on my RR7R. Alot of the fret ends popping up, and the guitar is unplayable. It seems like the frets arent properly radiused to the fretboard... Ill probably end up taking it somewhere to fix it.

i do not think anyone locally is qualified so i sent a PM to theodie over at SD forum ...he thinks a complete refret,crown and polish is in order .. very reasonable price ...i know he does allot of work for XSSive and has quite a stellar rep

that being said ...i still have the guitar that was part of the deal
it was a cash/and the DK for my Pile o' Skulls RR1 ....

all said and done i think i'm just gonna ship the dk back to alaska
and call it a day

[MountainDog]

all said and done i think i'm just gonna ship the dk back to alaska and call it a day

As I was reading this thread I was thinking the DK had the same problem as a recent Hill guitar I bought, and your comment about Alaska kinda gives creedence to my thoughts.

My Hill arrived with fret ends 'popping' out beyond the fingerboard, to the point of breaking the clearcoat on the side of the fingerboard. The frets were like 'speed bumps' as you say and I cut myself on a couple.

In speaking to the seller and showing him pics of the cracked clearcoat and such, and him saying the guitar was fine when he shipped, we finally figured out that apparently the cold weather in the East at the time the guitar was shipped caused the wood to 'retract' or 'shrink' due to the cold temp in a shipping truck for a week. The steel frets didn't 'shrink', so the net effect was the fret ends popping out beyond the edge of the fingerboard. (I also noted the trus rod needed a serious adjustment as the neck had a large forward bow). I decided to keep the guitar (he offered a partial refund) and file the fret ends and such. I was busy for about a week before I got around to it, and when I started working on the guitar, I noticed that the frets didn't stick out as far as they used to, and the area where I cut myself wasn't as sharp. Also, the neck was more straight. So it was like the wood had a chance to 'expand' when in a 70 degree environment.

Perhaps a similar 'cold' effect happened to your DK????

[len]

thanks MountainDog ..and all you guys for that matter
....could be the weather ..it was about a 10 day journey via ups ..

i'll check it when out tonight when i get home from work ...by then it will have been in room temp for about 24 hours ...