[Howie Dewin]

Thanks for a great answer. I am a retired sonar engineer, so your explanation makes perfect sense to me. I figured it had to be almost an endemic problem with acoustic guitars.

Next question: Can you recommend a ‘how to’ video with the best procedure for pulling frets to minimize damage to the fret slots?

Also, are there any rules of thumb regarding when to pull frets vs. file some down?

For example, my oldest acoustic is a Tama dreadnought that I have owned since the 1980s. The lowest 5-6 frets have deep scalloping under the two unwound strings. Another professional luthier recommended filing all the other frets down to the lowest scallop. Do you concur?

[Howie Dewin]

Reply from Dave Staudte (rhymms with “Howdy”) NB Guitar Repair (New Braunfels, TX):

It happens in almost every acoustic guitar. We have a thin flexible neck running into a very strong mass with the heel, heel block and entire body assembly. The back of the neck stretches and the top of the neck (fretboard with frets) compresses and bulges up. The best way to get rid of it is to pull the frets and plane the fingerboard. Sometimes you have enough fret height to grind it out of the frets as well. I don’t think it could be preemptively avoided in a build, other than putting carbon fiber or suitable stiffeners inside the neck. That has been done at Taylor with steel, and it works, adds weight though…they abandoned it for many years, it’s back now.