High E String detunes when executing a pull off mostly on the 3rd fret

[jalexquijano]

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My 2004 Les Paul Standard has a problem on all frets. Whenever i accomplish pull offs on the high e-string, it gets a little bit stuck and causes a detuning sound from the note, more agravated in the 3rd fret of the string (G note) i.e imagine playing Back in Black, whenever you attempt the pull off on the third frert of the high E string, the note detunes at the end. Watching the frets closely i have noticed that there is a small gap between the metal fret and the white binding aound the fret. this is the gap where the string falls when doing the pull offs and detunes the note slightly. How can I fix this problem?? Will i need to refret the entire guitar?

The luthier could not fix the problem, even though he used some epoxy material to feel the gaps. He has suggested to refret the entire guitar, which i dont think is appropiate.

 

[Paul Verticchio]

A complete refret, including removing the "nibs" (the little bumps on the binding)  would give you about 1/32nd more room on each fret on each side of the neck. This would completely eliminate the gap and therefore, the issue. 

Actually, the nibs are only "cosmetic" and Gibson has done their bound necks like that forever. As far as I'm concerned, they serve no purpose other than to cause the exact problem you're experiencing.

The other thing you may wish to check (and no player likes to hear this) is your playing technique.  I've had to alter my technique dozens of times over the last 45 years to eliminate what I perceived to be problems with a guitar.  In each case, the problem was me (:  The net result each time was a marked improvement in my playing.

 

Best of luck & happy holidays.

[Bob Steinarsson]

As far as I  understand, the nibs are not even there for cosmetic reasons. They are there because the frets were installed first. Then came the binding, and the binding was scraped down with a scraper. Scraping the binding down to fretboard level with the frets installed, produced the small nibs at the end of each fret. Another thing is, that the frets in your guitar seem to have got a very flat bevel at the ends that makes the string glide down to the plastic nib. This bevelling and the crowning must have been done after the scraping, 

I am going to refret a Gibson SG Standard in January because of the same problem. That guitar is actually unplayable. It was built about ten years ago. Maybe this one and yours had the same Fret Man.

This said, there is another solution. If you can handle a very little string spacing, you can have a new, narrow nut made. This will, at least, help for the lower part of the neck, but may be of little help for the upper registers. This is actually not a goods idea. I think that a refret is the only good solution. 

When I refret a neck, I file the frets at about 90 degrees to the fretboard edge if the the owner doesn't have any special preferences. This leaves maximum width for the strings.

[Paul Verticchio]

Bob,

You are 100% correct on the production "how do they do that?".  Thanks for reminding me.  I just addressed the effect not the cause (:

 

Ned,

EXCELLENT reply on the "technique" side of the answer. 

 

Merry Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate) to you & yours gentlemen (:

[Ned Knepp]

Now that Paul has replied with a much more informed answer than I could have posted, I will say that I bend my pull offs towards the low E side of the neck and I don't think I could do it the other way. I noticed that you say "Whenever i accomplish ...." which makes me think that you have trouble actually doing it too. Bending the string "upward", as I think of it, is as easy as it can be once you learn to "flick" it  with you finger. To me it's actually easier to get a nice clear tone on a pull-off  than with a hammer-on which requires more energy (I play acoustics). In short, Paul's comments about changing technique sounds like good advice to me. Try "flicking" the string away from the side of the neck instead of toward it.

 

BTW,  To me the ends of the frets seem to fall off under your high E string which I would not like and I think that a refret and the extra 1/32 that it would give you would be worth while. 

 

Ned