Dead Spot on Neck

[Tele Fan]

What causes dead spots on a neck; or more to the point a rattle spot. I have a guitar that has one bad spot on the A string at the 3rd fred but the rest of the neck fine. What would cause this? Thanks gang.

[RotelliCaster]

My guess would be a high fret but it could be a number of things in conjunction with the high fret too. I have had them give me trouble on one string and not the one right next to it. a low saddle, improper relief...


A good, complete setup should take care of it but I have cursed guitars too.

[boris bubbanov]

Could be a loose fret, a fret that is sitting high.

Try the same neck on a different guitar, or a different string guage.

If the problem follows where ever the neck goes, securing that fret, then perhaps a level and polish would be in order.

[reddogbass]

The "rattle" is no doubt fret buzz. First thing I'd do, without changing anything else is change the string. If it's still there I'd suspect a high spot in that fret. If changing the saddle height will eliminate it, and you can live with the action, I might leave it. Otherwise I'd take a hammer (yeah- I know!) to that area only and maybe reseat the fret if that's the problem. If that didn't work I'd file and crown that fret slightly with most of the attention being given to the area under that string.

[PJ]

Go down to your local Home Dept and buy one of those hammers with the lucite head on it. That's what luthiers use as a "fret hammer." You can buy one from StewMac, as well. Just tap the fret down. If it doesn't seat properly, look for any irregularities in the wood near that fret. I have a Fender neck with some wierd grain running through one spot on the neck, and that knot (or whatever it is) swelled a bit and raised a couple of frets on the treble side of the neck. I had to have a luthier file those frets down - probably only a few thousandths, but it corrected the problem.