Restorig my Strad-o-line hit a slight snag

[Elliot Luber]

My mandolin is all oiled and set-up, it looks good and my tuners are now working well and facing in the right direction... BUT, there is one note -- and only one note -- on the entire fretboard that won't play correctly. When I play a C on the E course, I get the C+ note instead or a dead note.

Will replacing that fret likely remedy the situation? Does this indicate a deeper problem? Thanks. I played the mandolin at rehearsal with the orchestra last night and it sounded pretty good overall -- maybe better than my Eastman on the lowest notes. Nice and loud.

Of course we spent a lot of time working on Bolero. You guessed it, key of C!

[EdHanrahan]

It seems that either the C# fret (9) is too high or the C fret (8) is too low, causing the C# note to sound when you fret on C. Try sighting down the fretboard along the treble edge - a break in the light reflection pattern should show where there's inconsistency.

Most likely, the C# fret is too high. Check that it's seated all the way down on the treble end. Some folks have filed the top down first, then found that the fret wasn't fully seated, ending up with a fret that was too low.

Will replacing that fret likely remedy the situation?

Assuming "that fret" means the C note iteslf, replacing would help only if it's lower than it should be, maybe as a resuilt of the "file first" approach noted above!

[pops1]

Take a small straight edge that will only touch 3 frets and see if the C# is high. It may be it just need a slight tap to reseat it. I would do this first before filing anything.