nursery chymes
TDPRI Member
Is it true if you have sprouts and you have shrinkage in the neck, humidifying it is gonna resolve its sprout problem within a matter of a few weeks? Or it's just gonna stop it from getting any worse?
Fret Sprouts : Myth or Fact?
- Thread starter nursery chymes
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BritishBluesBoy
Former Member
Depends how bad it is. Fret sprout is caused by lack of moisture but humidifying may not completely cure it. Worth trying before doing anything else though.
Big John
RIP
I always thought it was bull p**p but after we had some reno work done on our house we had one or two electric 'storage' heaters put in and sure enough - I noticed on one or two guitars that I was suffering the dreaded 'fret sprout' !!, luckily a small, portable room humidifier solved our problem.
Papa Joe
Friend of Leo's
I've found fret sprout is a good time to dress the ends.Ya don't need to remove as much then humidifing pulls them back in real nice.
JPanichella
Tele-Meister
Do you just run a fine file down the neck longways a few times just to get those ends down?
tboy
Friend of Leo's
I dress 'em to stop it from happening again, but some humidity will solve the problem till things get dry again.
You can run a file down the neck, but that raises the possibility of rashing the fretboard side. I use a rectangular no-cut file (short edges ground smooth), and work each fret end till it's down.
You can run a file down the neck, but that raises the possibility of rashing the fretboard side. I use a rectangular no-cut file (short edges ground smooth), and work each fret end till it's down.
guitarzan13
Friend of Leo's
I traded necks with a member in Colorado, in the late winter. OMG!! The horror!
Bad fret sprout. So, I filed and sanded it away. After a few weeks here in Georgia...(higher humidity) ...I had to put wood filler in the sides of the fret slots. The wood had swelled THAT much!!
Bad fret sprout. So, I filed and sanded it away. After a few weeks here in Georgia...(higher humidity) ...I had to put wood filler in the sides of the fret slots. The wood had swelled THAT much!!
Fret sprout is the bane of my existence. Here in C-town, we get pretty humid summers, followed by cold winters with forced-air heat. The house gets DRY in the winter. Even with a humidifier running 24/7. It gets really, really, dry. And so the frets sprout. And so I file them. I have never experienced a neck swelling to the point where it will cure fret sprout when the humidity comes back though. Never. I've tried to wait it out, only to file in the summer because it's still there.
I think neck wood has a lot to do with it though. My t-style sprouts pretty much every year, although less and less as time goes on. My Carvin has now been through last winter, last summer, and now this winter and into this spring, and has not sprouted even a little bit. The neck has only a tung oil finish, but it's extremely stable. I've had it over a year now and have not even had to touch the truss rod since I intially set it up.
My old Charvel is the same way. It never moves, regardless of climate or conditions.
My Gibby sprouted so bad it cracked the binding at every fret, all the way up the neck, both sides.
I think neck wood has a lot to do with it though. My t-style sprouts pretty much every year, although less and less as time goes on. My Carvin has now been through last winter, last summer, and now this winter and into this spring, and has not sprouted even a little bit. The neck has only a tung oil finish, but it's extremely stable. I've had it over a year now and have not even had to touch the truss rod since I intially set it up.
My old Charvel is the same way. It never moves, regardless of climate or conditions.
My Gibby sprouted so bad it cracked the binding at every fret, all the way up the neck, both sides.
+1
In the Deep South we just don't see much of it; I'd buy a guitar from out of state and it'd arrive in need of help. I'd just let it sit for 2 weeks and by then all was well. So, we've got our travails with oil platforms blowing up and killer tornadoes but fret sprout is a function of the climate outside and inside, where-ever you keep your instruments.
smitty54017
Tele-Holic
I had sprout, bought a cheap humidifier and got the humidity up to about 40% and the necks went back to normal in a couple of weeks.
Joe-Bob
Doctor of Teleocity
I think it's due to using green wood to make guitars. JMHO
nursery chymes
TDPRI Member
You never really hear anyone from AZ have a problem with weathering. Seems like a perfect place to store your gears.
Myth...
I'm wondering how much the type of wood pertains ... I've experienced worse sprout with rosewood than maple, but don't know if that was peculiar to the particular guitars or if it's a general trend. The purpleheart neck I've been playing the last two years hasn't showed much sprout at all.
bluesfordan
Friend of Leo's
i had fret sprout real bad on my '65 closet classic strat. (rosewood fingerboard). Put the guitar in a highly regulated environment for 6 weeks, dimished it a bit, but not cured it. Filed the fret ends, and started humidifying my house during the winter. No more sprout. Plus I kept the guitar in its case during the winter as well.
sigh, I miss that guitar.
sigh, I miss that guitar.
popthree
Poster Extraordinaire
big-daddy-59
Tele-Holic
Myth...
But that's a carbon fiber neck!!
ThermionicScott
Poster Extraordinaire
Another way to combat this would be to trim the frets to length and the tangs short before installing them, so only the fret crown would protrude when it's dry. But that would be more labor-intensive than the usual way.
- Scott
- Scott
rbrienzo
Tele-Meister
I hear ya! Same here, hot humid summers and cold dry winters. I believe it comes from improperly dried wood. I have had some guitars sprout enough to cut fingers off and others not at all. The humidifier only helps a little, you need to get those bad boys filed down when it's nice and dry out.
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