Ultimate Rhoads

I've been teaching my son some KISS songs and came across something frustrating while teaching him Shock Me. When playing the D to Dsus part, it's a little out of tune on my guitar. On his it sounds perfect... so I re-tuned and it still sounded out. So I checked the intonation... fine. It seems that I grip the chord tightly and the frets are tall enough that I pull the notes slightly sharp just by pressing down on them

I checked his guitar and the frets are smaller and this issue doesn't happen. I can't afford a refret right now, so I'll try filing them down a little bit to relieve this frustrating issue.

Anyone else experience anything like this?

Sounds like its almost like having a scalloped fretboard...bummer

camdenlp wrote:Sounds like its almost like having a scalloped fretboard...bummer

That's why I don't scallop any of my necks! I played a scalloped guitar at a pawn shop once and my grip definitely messed up the pitch of the notes.

I'm sure that leveling the frets will resolve things. I want to swap out the neck with a maple fingerboard anyway, so eventually I'll order a neck from Warmoth and have small frets put in.

Paul Wolfe wrote:

camdenlp wrote:Sounds like its almost like having a scalloped fretboard...bummer

That's why I don't scallop any of my necks! I played a scalloped guitar at a pawn shop once and my grip definitely messed up the pitch of the notes.

I'm sure that leveling the frets will resolve things. I want to swap out the neck with a maple fingerboard anyway, so eventually I'll order a neck from Warmoth and have small frets put in.

what about relaxing your hand and try to lighten your touch

sytharnia wrote:what about relaxing your hand and try to lighten your touch

Yeah, I talked to a guy who plays Les Paul's exclusively and he said he had exactly the same issue when he switched from Strats. He said lightening up takes time, but can be done.

I've been playing since 1981, so this'll be 'teaching the old dog a new trick' for darn sure! I'm going to try this and if it proves to much of a challenge I'll work on the frets... I'm definitely buying a new neck in the next 6 months, though, so it won't be an issue for long.

camdenlp wrote:Sounds like its almost like having a scalloped fretboard...bummer

Yngwie style and he's never out of pitch