Hi my fingers hurt

Double Scotch

I've enjoyed lurking on this forum for a while. This is my first post.
I started playing in April - not GJ guitar. Guitar. Mid-life crisis I suspect - it was either a guitar or a Triumph Bonneville. So I bought a Seagull S6.
Not sure how it got started but I've been downloading and soaking in GJ music for months. In October I drove to ****'s shop in Laguna because he had guitars to play and it was a drivable distance and after playing a few guitars I bought a Manouche Latcho Drom oval hole. It's probably the prettiest thing I've ever owned and I adore the personality of the sound.
But! The frets seem high. Not rough, and they're not sticking out over edges. They just seem high. (And they are certainly higher than the frets on my Seagull). It doesn't really bother me while I'm practicing, but afterward my fingertips are often, well, more sore than I think they ought to be (sniffle).
So I'm considering getting the frets filed to lower them. If anyone has thoughts, insights, advice for talking to the tech, etc. it would be much appreciated.
One other thing that may or may not be related: The winding has broken on Argentine G strings twice - the strings don't break, just the winding. Is that common?

AndrewUlle

The windings on GJ G strings are very thin, and the damage you describe is common (as I recently found out being a new player in this genre). I had similar damage after just a couple hours' playing; I replaced the G with 0.024W electric guitar string (all I could get my hands on here), and that held up. I guess the silver plated copper is softer than the nickel- steel electric strings. Search the forum for several threads on this very topic.

As far as fret size goes, I've found that the higher frets on my a Dell Arte make fretting easier, at least compared to the worn out frets on my Gibson J-45.

pickitjohn

@Double Scotch
Welcome glad your happy with your New Guitar...
Congratulations Enjoy

The windings of Argentine have been noted in several post as doing that. Some people have written and got Savarez to send some out.

You can also buy Extra Single strings here

http://www.djangobooks.com/Category/argentine_single

I Believe everyone has gone thru the

my fingers hurt

It Gets better and your fingers get use to it.

Keep it up, play some more:clap:

I'm here to testify...



:peace:

rgrice

Congrats on new guitar and pursuit of GJ. It's a really great journey and this forum I'd the place to be! Very typical of Argentines and going through feeling the difference in playing a GJ guitar. Frets could be high, actually likely is, as you probably know, and the scale is likely longer than your other guitar's. I felt the same way when I started. Maybe like I did, you could be pressing down too hard on frets. I have much less wear on strings after 2 years of playing this style than now, but they still wear as you describe, especially the G.
Folks here will be a tremendous asset so just ask!

Double Scotch

This is all rather reassuring (ha thanks for the pic, pickitjohn) because I really didn't want to mess with the guitar. And the bit about pressing down too hard on the frets sounds about right.
And I guess I'll order some single Gs.
Thanks for the responses and encouragement. I know there's no one quite as zealous as the new convert but jeepers this music is interesting. And fun.

AndrewUlle

Also try different brands, types, gauges of strings. The action should be around 3 mm or so; maybe you can lower it a little. Some strings are easier on the fingers, too, but may sound different also. Time to experiment. The good news is that with GJ guitars, you'll go through strings much faster so you get to try many different types in a shorter time span. I just bought some Philippe Bosset 11's to try (I haven't put them on yet) Then I want to try some 10s to hear the difference.

Jazzaferri

The upside to high frets is that with a light touch, it's really easy to get a clear clean sound....

The downside is if you push the string to the fretboard, which means you are pressing waaaayyyyy too hard,........ the intonation goes off and your fingers will get grooves and hurt.