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Hey thought I would ask the experts before I buy new strings or send the guitar back.

Yamaha Pacifica PAC611HFM came in the mail today, everything seems fine except when I bend any string I hear this grinding sound between the fret and the string. Any idea whats going on? It might be the strings are old but I wanted to know before I waste money putting new strings on it if it needs to be sent back. The have probably been on there 3 years since I bought it new and its a 2015 model. Thanks in advance

3 year old strings, sure spend the $20. Other than that the frets may need to be polished. If the guitar has just set for a few years there may be a bit of corrosion on them. A lot of guitar shops (the kind you walk into and are not big box) will go over each new guitar and clean up the setup or any other kind of minor "dealer prep" required.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Sounds good, thanks man

Well put new strings on it and its still grinding/scratching though not quite as bad, an household materials I might have around the house that might polish the frets so they dont grind? Thx

You can clean the frets and fretboard with 0000 steel wool, altho I like to go finer than that (using something called Micro Mesh). Put painters tape on the body next to the fretboard and over the pickups, the magnets will attract little metal filings. However if it is making that much noise can you see grooves or filing marks on the frets? It sounds like maybe someone had filed the frets (putting little grooves that run in the direction of the neck) and haven't carried the operation to its completion (polishing)) Also, be careful using anything more aggressive than steel wool, you don't want to change the shape of the frets (unless you intend to of course).

Thanks freeman that worked, I also did some research and polished the frets while I was at it. Its definitely playable now. I think your right that it does have some grooves on a few frets but its not so bad now that I notice it. The polish took tons of black stuff off the frets so I am guessing they were really corrodeded. Also Sam Ash, who I bought it from, gave me a partial refund $70 because of the bad frets so that was nice. Now on to oil and wax neck finish!

Don't use steel wool on any guitar that has electronics. Use Scotchbrite. It's non-magnetic, doesn't conduct electricity, and doesn't hurt your fingers when it breaks down into crumbs.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That's very good advice. I use steel wool on acoustics and generally only use the Micro Mess on electrics, but the OP asked for something he might have and thats all I could think of.