Have you seen this fret problem before?

[Dave Bagwill]

A friend of mine dropped off his friend's 1971 Martin nylon-string.

It's in pretty good shape, except that each and every fret is pulled up at both ends, giving the appearance of a bowed fretboard. But it is just the frets, and just their ends sticking up out of the slot. Weird.

What would cause that, do you suppose? I'm going to re-fret it but would want to fix the underlying problem first if there is one.
Thanks.

[ken cierp]

Finger board shrunk -- surprised it does not have cracks. Is it a N20 like Willie's?

[Dave Bagwill]

This is an N-10 model. It is a sound instrument from all I can tell, other than the fret poppage,

Do you think it is safe to replace the frets? The fretboard is very scratched up but not really cracked in a visible manner at least. It plays in tune and the intonation is pretty good, the action is about right etc.

If money were no object, what would be the best approach? Just a fret replacement?

[ken cierp]

Any pictures of the problem? What's the string height (E&E) at the 12th fret?

[Dave Bagwill]

Here's a pic - shows that the frets are all lifted on both sides, but seated well across the fb in the middle - fb is flat.

About .112" on both e's

[ken cierp]

Are the tangs seated to the bottom of the slots or are there a gaps?

[Dave Bagwill]

There are gaps.