fret levelling - good or bad?

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by nkshirsagar

The luthier who services my guitars always levels the frets when he notices the frets aren't exactly the same height. I always think this takes away a little playability, somehow. Somehow after fret levelling, the guitar touch seems gone, it seems more difficult to play. Bar chords that used to be effortless now need hard pressing of the index (bar) finger.

Am I imagining this, or does fret levelling actually cause some harm to the action?

would appreciate thoughts on this.

A good guitar tech is always going to level your frets when he does a set up. It doesn't hurt the action; it enhances it by eliminating any chance of buzzing, choking, or losing sustain due to one fret being higher than the other. So yes, your worries about fret leveling are in your imagination.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by jim1960

A good guitar tech is always going to level your frets when he does a set up. It doesn't hurt the action; it enhances it by eliminating any chance of buzzing, choking, or losing sustain due to one fret being higher than the other. So yes, your worries about fret leveling are in your imagination.

Depends on how low a height the frets are leveled to. From what the OP said that may be the issue he has come across in the past (or possibly the nut slots were not lowered enough after the fretwork was done).

[Br1ck]

Fret leveling is one of the most productive procedures to achieve great action. Like all good things, it comes at a cost, removal of fret material. There are a few factors in play. As someone said, lowering frets will need nut work too. An IMHO a flat neck with minimal relief is part of the equation.

This week I bit the bullet on my mandolin. I bought it with fifteen years of fret wear. It finally hit the something has to be done point. I thought it was borderline on fret height. The job came out ok, but the feel changed a lot. After a couple of days I'm getting used to it, but will probably do a refret anyway. Likely will need a new nut. Anyone thinking you won't need work at some point is kidding themselves, which is why I started collecting tools twenty years ago. I still pay to get work done, depending on the instrument. I did the mandolin because it was likely to need a re fret anyway. Nothing really to lose. I may do that too. After all, I did build another mandolin, so I've done it before.

But I really don't like the action on the plecked new guitars. Not the pleck, but the ability to set the action too low. It is to me a tone suck to have the low action. But I get it, it sells guitars. Geeze. I'd have to get a new saddle right off.

[nkshirsagar]

the weird thing is, a new taylor 314ce was given to the luthier for a setup and he ended up levelling the frets. i found it difficult to believe that a new taylor would require fret levelling. is it just for reducing action that this was done. somehow the playability does feel "not as good" as the original non levelled frets, but again, that may just be me imagining things.

also, the taylor 314ce itself seems like a difficult guitar to play, with the wide neck and somehow i just can't get the higher fret bars to ring clear. the action is pretty good actually.. so hence i assumed its due to that particular fret being levelled a bit too much..