So, what should I do about this?

What should I do about this? That first fret isn't seated right, never has been. Has always been visibly higher than the others and causes buzzing (I currently can't fit the smallest feeler gauge in the stack cleanly between the fret and the string .002"). I don't know if there's enough fret left there to recrown it. Pull the fret, clean out the slot and put a new fret in? Which may be a bit above my pay-grade?

Attachment 205718

I've had it for less than a year, haven't been playing it much because it's frustrating... probably just should have sent it back.

Tried just tapping it down a couple times with no success.

Also, sorry for the vague thread title.

When in doubt, go to a pro.

Any repairman who is good with frets can take care of that in 10 to 20 minutes by either pulling, radiusing, and re-driving the fret, or pulling it and installing a new one and levelling it.

There's also a press-and-glue technique, but in this case, it looks like it would be better to pull and replace it.

If pulling and replacing the fret is "above your pay grade", take it to someone adept at fret work.
Without examining the mandolin I can't say what it needs. Fret height, neck condition (straightness), fingerboard condition and other things can affect the repair decision.

The fret ends on the pic don't look like not just one fret is not seated optimally and may need more than just tweaking one fret to get best playability. I'd suggest go to a pro mandoln setup person and that mandolin will play better than ever.

Hard to tell but it also looks like the action is too low overall. As others have said, get it all fixed with a proper setup from a pro. What mandolin is this? It looks old.

Thanks for the input. That's my Silverangel. Trying to be nice, I guess. I bought this last March, sent it back to Ken last April to address this very issue. He said he re-leveled and crowned it, but it came back with the first fret stilly visibly higher. He also said that he thought the problem I was having was because of the trussrod adjustment, which seemed unlikely since I was mostly having a problem with the first two frets. I second-guessed myself and just let it go, or was just trying to be nice or something.

The action on the e course is about .042" measured at the 12th with about .008" of relief measured at the 7th.

When I say it's above my pay-grade, I mean marginally. I've done fret leveling and crowning before on guitars. But I've never removed a fret before, though I am familiar with the procedure.

I'm not aware of any luthiers or repair folk nearby that are well versed in mandolins. I live in Syracuse, there are a couple people I would mostly trust with my guitars an hour or so away.

Tomorrow I'll go to the hardware store, buy some thin CA glue, run some into the slot and then clamp it down to see if I can get it seated a bit better... I guess that's probably the first thing to try.

Clamp it first then wick the CA into the fret ends. Be careful, it doesn't wipe off like other glues.

If clamping, you may need to make some type of clamping caul to fit the contour of the back of the neck.

If it doesn’t tap down, as you wrote, and a straightedge says that the nearest few frets are level with it, then I’d consider that the nut’s a bit low. A paper shim (.002 or so) under the nut might suggest something. If the straightedge does indicate the fret’s high, then level it. I’m told that a little CA may reduce splintering if you do pull the fret. I would also want to make sure (clamping plus a caliper) that the end of the fretboard itself isn’t in process of curling up, which would obviate the other remedies.

The techniques for fretwork are the same for all fretted instruments. Any repair person who is competent at correcting fret problems on guitars can do the work. If you try to do this work yourself and don't know what you're doing, you risk raising the cost of your repair bill significantly.

Lyn Hardy is a repair person in Woodstock NY-- luthierlyn.com. If that's too far, you might check with Bernunzio Uptown Music or Bernie Lehmann in Rochester and see if they can recommend anyone closer to you.

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Originally Posted by Richard500

If it doesn’t tap down, as you wrote, and a straightedge says that the nearest few frets are level with it, then I’d consider that the nut’s a bit low. A paper shim (.002 or so) under the nut might suggest something. If the straightedge does indicate the fret’s high, then level it. I’m told that a little CA may reduce splintering if you do pull the fret. I would also want to make sure (clamping plus a caliper) that the end of the fretboard itself isn’t in process of curling up, which would obviate the other remedies.

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The nut may indeed be a bit low, but the fret is definitely not level with the others around it, as evidenced by the clear daylight showing under the second fret here (admittedly, this is taken under string tension):

Attachment 205737

I'll take a better look at it tomorrow when I have more time, but it has also always looked to me a bit like the fretboard ramps up to the nut, though it is securely glued, so it's not curling in the sense of coming loose.

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Originally Posted by pops1

Clamp it first then wick the CA into the fret ends. Be careful, it doesn't wipe off like other glues.

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Got it, thank you!

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Originally Posted by Caberguy

The nut may indeed be a bit low, but the fret is definitely not level with the others around it, as evidenced by the clear daylight showing under the second fret here (admittedly, this is taken under string tension):

Attachment 205737

I'll take a better look at it tomorrow when I have more time, but it has also always looked to me a bit like the fretboard ramps up to the nut, though it is securely glued, so it's not curling in the sense of coming loose.

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It looks to me like the fingerboard has a rise in the first fret area. The fret should be pulled and the board planed flat then reinstall the fret. Now you can level.

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Originally Posted by pops1

It looks to me like the fingerboard has a rise in the first fret area. The fret should be pulled and the board planed flat then reinstall the fret. Now you can level.

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After I posted that picture, I spent a bit more time looking at it, and it really does look like it ramps up.

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Originally Posted by sunburst

...Fret height, neck condition (straightness), fingerboard condition and other things can affect the repair decision.

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This is the kind of thing I meant.

Fun!

Well, I finally got around to spending some time on this. Pulled the strings off and tried clamping that fret, and it did seat it better, I was able to position the clamp so that it was applying pressure to that end of the fret only. I wicked some CA glue in there, and it seems to have helped. Strung it back up and can play the open E without buzzing (for the time being, at least).

I also put a straight edge on it while the strings were off, and other than that first fret, it seems pretty level.

Attachment 205894

You could level the first fret while the strings are off and it would make the mandolin play better on the second fret and up.

I wanted to see if it was going to stay put first.

The problem may be solved if you only consider the frets. The fretboard may never be level as that would require removing all (or some more of) the frets. And the nut could be higher. (Which is still an option.)