EJ 200 CE Frets 9-14 Suddenly Died (B and hi-E strings)

[Rivereyes]

Hi all!

 

I've had an EJ200CE for about 3 years now, been playing it for about half an hour to an hour every day, no issues, love it. Never had it set up professionally, as I am an amateur player.

 

I recently moved to Finland, the guitar was fine for the first 6 months or so and then I noticed that Frets 13-14 on the B and hi-E strings just produced a dead flat metal 'chink' sound when I tried to play them. I figured it might be the guitar's wood adjusting to the new conditions (dry air and a steady 22-24 Celsius in the house).

 

I thought that I'd need to adjust the truss rod, but no matter how much I turned, the effect remained. Depending on truss adjustments, it sometimes got so bad that all frets from 9-14 started producing that annoying dead 'chink' sound.

 

Any other ideas? Should I maybe be replacing the saddle bit on it?

 

Thanks for the taking the time to read through this!

[QuestionMark]

I believe when there is low humidity, the top of a guitar sinks and when there is high humidity, the top of the guitar swells. It sounds like the change in humidity caused your top to sink, causing the action on your upper frets to be too low. It you purchase a guitar humidifier and keep track of your guitar’s humidity to get it back in the mid range, the top should get back to the shape it previously was and the action on the upper frets will get higher to where it should be again. You might also want to try a higher saddle in the meanwhile, or cut a piece of an expired credit card or something similar the size of the bottom of your saddle and then place it under your guitar’s saddle to slightly raise the saddle until over time your guitar rehumidifies.

 

I hope this helps.

 

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

[Rivereyes]

My thanks Jeff, this helps quite a bit and sets my mind at ease!