high E string catching on high frets

crankyrayhanky

Well-known member
a few years ago I bought one of those inexpensive guitars on Rondo- a strat copy 1/2 or 3/4 size? It's for my young daughter. It is surprisingly not a toy and actually kind of awesome!

She was pretty young at the time, but now she is 7 and playing a lot more. Not sure how long this issue has been there, but the high string is catching on the frets. It has 21 frets and is most often catching on 21, though even if that one is fixed there may be similar issues on the other frets too.

This guitar is worth <100 new, so dumping a bunch of $ into doesn't make sense, other than she is really connected to it.

I have 1st grade level tech skills- I can change strings, but not a whole lot else lol

Are there any simple ways or resources I can learn from to help stop this issue?
If I can't, I wonder what the cost is going to be for such a repair?

Thanks in advance!
 
I have 2 children- the youngest is the one in the avatar (she's headed to Kindergarten soon!). Her guitar is the same model and has no issues.

The string is getting caught under the fret at the 21st. It makes a terrible 'plink' sound when it happens and kind of kills the lesson on strumming the E chord. It happens all the time.
 
Is it catching under the edge of the fret? If so, you might be able to file it down a bit. Just use a fine grade file and go slow. StewMac has some specialized files just for this. They're not expensive, but also might be overkill if it's just this guitar.

Another option might be to take it to a local luthier and tell them exactly what you posted here. If it was me, I'd do it for free or at least for a very minimal charge. Maybe you can find someone in your area that would do the same.
 
crankyrayhanky":32wa1n0r said:
The string is getting caught under the fret at the 21st. It makes a terrible 'plink' sound when it happens and kind of kills the lesson on strumming the E chord. It happens all the time.
I'm struggling to visualize how the high E gets caught under the 21st fret when strumming an E-chord. A pic would help.
 
Dang, that's weird. Is the 21st fret flush with the wood on the other (low E) side? I've never had to file a fret end. I'd assume you'd have to re-bevel the end. That's above my level lol. But hey it ain't rocket surgery either, give it a shot.
 
I'd go with the StewMac file. SpiderWars is right, it ain't rocket science. Just go slow... I really doubt you'll make it any worse unless you miss the fret completely.
 
I got the StewMac file
There's a few frets that are hanging a bit over, but I concentrated on the 21
Still caught once in awhile, so I took a hammer and a cloth and pounded 21 down a bit
SOLVED!

I then screwed the springs in to make it dive only (it had a bit of an upward float available stock)
Better tone, waaaay better tuning stability, she can actually use the trem bar now without that out of tune penalty that was inherent to the float setting

Seems to play great now!
Thanks!
 
That's awesome!! Nothing worse than a guitar that won't play well to stifle the desire to play. Glad it worked out for you!!
 
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