help id fender neck/fret/string issue

[bigtimeweb]

Hi All

I'm in the process of checking off "Learn how to play the guitar" off my bucket list.

Ive spent the past week crawling town looking for a guitar that I like and came across a Fender Malibu SCT (new old stock) at a pawn shop that I am smitten with. I love its small size

When I first found it, I noticed it had a lot of ping in both E strings and the one on the bottom - the smallest string - it was actually RESTING on TOP of the frets all the way down to about the 4th or so. What I noticed was the nut was profoundly sloping downwards towards that last string. It was high on the upper string and got shorter and shorter towards the smallest string. Ive looked at a couple others and I see thats a bit normal, but the slope on this one seemed defective. It was impossible to play it open without a ping, and it pinged all the way down to about the 5th fret playing it down, the got clean further down. The action on all other strings was REALLY nice to me. I put it aside because of the issue, but I cant stop thinking about it.

I went back today to feel it again and someone had done some work to it - the upper E was no longer pinging, but the lower E was still resting on the fret. The action was a tighter than the first time I saw it as well.

When I questioned an employee about it he looked down the neck and said he saw a small warp somewhere around the 8th fret I cant remember exactly, and said it just needed a truss rod adjustment. He was so quick to explain it, and almost dismissive of it, that Im leary of that explanation. The action was low, but now obscene. Why would just this ONE string be sitting on the fret while the rest were fine? And could a simple truss rod adjustment REALLY be all thats needed?

So this is my question to all of you much smarter people :)

It has a dual action truss (Im not sure what that means). How likely is it that a simple truss rod adjustment can lift this one single string up. Wouldnt that mean that its going to lift ALL the strings? The action on this string is ALWAYS going to be lower than the rest?

Also there is a little metal thing on the Fender head that holds the last two strings. What is this for??? Could this be the issue??



You can see the normal slope of the guitars nut in this picture. The one I was looking at was almost level with the fretboard at the bottom.

I dont want to buy my first guitar and have it end up having a twisted neck or something else that could potentially require a lot of money to fix. Is there some way that a novice like me can verify its neck is true? Im okay with having to replace the nut. Not okay with ending up with a lemon!!

If I DO have to replace the nut right out of the store, what would I be looking to spend approximately?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!!!

[rjes]

Also there is a little metal thing on the Fender head that holds the last two strings. What is this for?

They are there to seperate the the strings so they don't get in contact with each other...It's because of the shape of the Headstock...My grandson has an American made early 90's PEAVEY with the same thing ...The headstock is also flat !! not sloped..

[RickG501]

My advice is to steer clear of that Fender. I don't know how much you can buy it for but it's not worth the effort. They are $380 new at MF, I'm sure you can find a used one in better shape without the issues for around 200-250.

That is a string tree. I not only spaces those last two strings but it provides tension to pull those last to string tight across the nut because unlike most guitars the Fender head stock is straight(parallel with the neck) and most are angled back.