mosriteforum.com

Hi all,
I think I have a problem with my zero fret and am wondering if anyone has any advice. The issue was that my guitar was setup wrong with too much relief and the strings were digging in the grooves they made in the zero fret over the years. This resulted in a pinging noise when the trem would be used and came from either the zero fret or string guide.

I foolishly decided to tackle the issue myself and probably made it worse. I decided to smooth out the string grooves in the zero fret with some sandpaper and steel wool. It helped some but when I took out the relief the pinging noise was gone but now my zero fret is too low. The strings feel really loose, which is can be kinda cool in feel but my 66' vintage and 64' reissue feel much better to play as the strings are much firmer, resulting in a better attack to the note, as well as playing feel.

I have been trying to figure it out but can't see any solution other than refretting the zero fret. I've read that the zero fret doesn't need to be bigger than the rest of the frets, but it looks like it does. Any other way to bring back Mo' feel in my Mosrite? It's a beautiful Ink Blue 63' sidejack reissue that looks too nice to sell.

Thanks!

It sounds to me like you only needed lubrication under the strings to make them slide easier.
Jim

What you can do is, take the strings off or move them to the side. Then take a chisel and carefully put the edge so it is against the bottom of the zero fret. Then lightly tap the chisel and lift the fret ever so slightly. When you have it to the desired height again (you can put the strings back on tune it up to check) run a small line of glue under the fretwire let dry and clean. You will not notice that is has been lifted because it is so minimal and you can keep the original zero fret.

Bob