Are guitar necks getting worse?

Is there any way to get a guitar that doesn't have neck problems? Let's find out.

A common complaint these days across many new guitars regardless of price or brand is neck problems. Specifically, the nut and the frets.

And when I say "regardless of price or brand", I'm not kidding. Whether you spend $200 or $2,000 on a guitar these days, you're almost guaranteed to find one or more of the following issues:

1. High frets (uneven)
2. Sharp fret ends
3. Improperly cut nut

It's almost required these days to know how to fix high frets, level frets, file sharp fret ends and install a new nut yourself just to have a decent guitar worth playing.

But why?

The answer is the elimination of inspections by both the guitar manufacturers and the guitar retailers.

What is supposed to happen is that every guitar should be inspected three times. First by the factory themselves, second by the warehouse that receives it, and third by the retailer when they get it before it's finally sold to you. Sometimes the second inspection doesn't happen if the factory ships direct to retailers. But at bare minimum, the guitar should be inspected at least twice.

These days, the total amount of inspections that happens for the vast majority of guitars is once. It's done at the factory, only the factory, and done poorly. After that, the guitar is packaged and then shipped to a warehouse where during transit it's jostled around, then placed in storage. After that it's shipped to the retailer where again it's jostled around and placed in storage.

By the time you get the guitar, its box hasn't been opened since it left the factory.

"That's good, right?" No, that's bad.

That guitar has been through hundreds if not thousands of miles of transit, banged around, and subjected to temperature changes both hot and cold. NO WONDER it's screwed up by the time you get it.

You can't treat a mass-produced guitar like an iPhone and expect it to work...

...but that's how most guitar manufacturers treat their guitars.

A new iPhone is never opened after it leaves the factory after it has been sealed until you get it. This is normal.

Treating guitars the same way where there are no quality inspections after it leaves the factory is seriously stupid. But that's the norm.

What can do you to avoid this?

You have options.

Option 1: Buy Schecter.

Every Schecter guitar sold in the USA is inspected by a real live human in the United States for quality issues before being shipped to the retailer. Whether you get a USA or Asian built Schecter, they all get the same proper treatment. Every guitar is inspected at least twice, even for their low-cost models.

Option 2: Get tools and learn how to use them.

Get a fret rocker, notched straight edge, sandpaper, watch a bunch of YouTube videos and learn how to level frets, file sharp edges and so on.

Option 3: Source a professional grade neck

It won't be cheap, and the neck you want will probably cost at least $300. But it will be as perfect as it gets.

"You're saying neck issues are a QA/QC problem?"

Yes.

Quality Control and Quality Assurance are standard procedures in the manufacturing of anything. Lose the QA/QC or cut corners so only the bare minimum of standard is met, and your product suffers for it.

What I personally believe is that necks are good at the factory when they come off the production line, even for the cheap guitars. It's the transit and storage afterward that wrecks them. All that banging around and wild temperature changes make frets and nuts pop and sprout like crazy.

The fix for this issue would be making two inspections mandatory instead of just one. Factory inspection alone obviously isn't cutting it. I'd ask for three inspections but that will never happen, so I'd be happy with two. Someone who knows how a guitar works is supposed to cut that box open and inspect the product before it goes to the retailer.

I don't care whether the second inspection is done by the manufacturer or by the retailer directly. It just needs to happen.

Nobody wants to spend over $500 on a guitar to find high frets, sharp fret ends and bad nut slots. That shouldn't happen. But it is happening and something needs to be done about it.

If you spend over $500 on a guitar and encounter neck issues like this, TELL THE MANUFACTURER

This only way this crapola will ever get fixed is if guitar players start communicating directly with the manufacturers more.

DON'T go on a forum or social media and complain. That obviously doesn't work. Go to the guitar manufacturer's web site and TELL THEM DIRECTLY.

If enough people write in, then better guitars will be delivered to the retailers. These neck issues are on a manufacturer QA/QC level and the problem has to be taken care of there. So if you're going to complain - which you should - do so to the people that matter.

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Published 2020 Mar 3