Fret ends

[11top]

My old band had a female drummer and female bass player.
I wanted to call us the Chicksie Dicks.
For some reason I couldn't sell that name.

 

[dmatthews]

Pu$$y Partially Galore?

 

[John Beef]

Maybe I'm just aging, but I'm curious why that band wasn't "3/4 cocked"?

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Maybe I'm just aging, but I'm curious why that band wasn't "3/4 cocked"?

We’re in a “non-binary” age now!

 

[Casi1]

(I felt like I was attempting to hijack 62Strat's Paul Allender mods thread so I've begun this instead.)

I really like to play on maple fretboards.
I like to play on a bright maple colored fretboard as opposed to a dark rosewood.
All of my pricier guitars have maple fretboards with exposed fret ends that are catchy at times.
All of my less pricey guitars are rosewood fretboards, bound and never catchy at the fret ends, though I can see some small cracking marks on the plastic binding at the fret locations.

Do I need to embrace the dark woods to get that smooth bound feel?
Are any maple necks bound?
Does all binding eventually crack and if so how long should it last?
I'm certain there are options that I don't know of.

Here's some info I had posted on Strat62's thread:

"I've got a Paul Allender, blood red. It was my first electric and I put mine in a coffin case as well. I just thought it was hilarious to be walking out of the guitar store with a guitar themed so distant from anything I will ever play or spend much time listening to. (Is Buddy Guy into goth?) Upgraded the nut, the jack, pots, some wiring and I presently have the trem blocked. I've owned some guitars that I've sold for various reasons, but I still have the Paul Allender. I also have a G&L ASAT Special Deluxe and an Elite Strat. I am shopping for a 594.

I am truly surprised at how nice this PRS plays. Surprised at how great this guitar feels as compared to guitars at several times the price point. The play-ability is so quick and easy. The neck is just dreamy to move my palm over, it is bound and finished the same as the body. The fretting is so smooth, there is no sharpness catching at the ends of the frets, even if I wanted it to, it's like warm butter at the fret ends. The G&L is Pleked and the while quite a dreamy feel as well (although much beefier, rounder neck), the frets ends are sharp and catchy at different times of the year, and I have had them redressed (polished.) The Strat neck (not as beefy and has the compound radius frets) act very similar to the ASAT neck, catchy at times, redressed (polished.) I live up in the mountains at about 6500 ft. in a rather dry Northern California - so weather variations are significant.

The Paul Allender has binding on the finished maple neck, rosewood fretboard.
The ASAT and the Strat are both one piece (?) maple neck/fretboards, unfinished though coated."

So... I'm a new(ish) guy here. Been reading for a while.
I'd love to get a conversation going about frets and learn what I can!
Thanks in advance for any advice.

I feel your pain. Before I started using humidifiers, I noticed that ALL of my Teles and Strats would become ‘catchy’ on the fretboard ends in winter but my Rosewood PRS and Gibsn guitars would be fine. I did have one maple boarded PRS (a 25th Ann SAS) that needed two dressings in order to act right in winter but after the 2nd trip to the tech, it never had another problem. The tech diagnosed the maple boarded instruments with fret sprout.

Nowadays, I try to keep my guitar room humidified but when I get lazy, my back up plan involves those lil 50% humidity pouches in the guitar cases. I have put the pouches in gig bags for short periods of time and nothing bad happened. Now that humidity is under control, none of my guitars (not even the maple strats) have had fret sprout in the past two years. They even survived our dry @ss polar vortex last year. However I will say that all of my maple necked guitars are sealed (but not roasted or anything). I’m currently having a roasted maple neck made and I’m hoping that will help with its stability.

So I don’t think you necessarily need a bound neck to avoid a nasty case of fret sprout. You just need to keep the wood happy.