Rough frets?

Picker Jon

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I've not been playing ukulele long but I've inevitably collected a few cheapish ones already. One thing strikes that me as odd, is that all of them, without exception, have rough, slightly abrasive frets, which I would have thought wasn't a good idea in conjunction with with soft nylon strings and indeed the strings do seem to get pitted above the frets quite quickly.

In contrast, I've been playing guitar for years and I think every guitar I played has shiny polished frets.

I'm in the process of giving all my ukes a thorough fret polish but I was wondering if it's just that I've been unlucky with my purchases or if anyone else has noticed this on their ukes and why it might be the case?
 
I have a few relatively inexpensive ukes, but none that required I polish the frets. Had to smooth a few fret ends however.
 
My son's first uke, a Mahalo, had some pretty heinous frets. Other than that, I've had no real problem. I agree with Phil, that fret ends have been pokey and I've had to have those sanded.
 
it is common . as a ukulele ages , the woos sometimes shrinks, even on expensive ukes,and it doesn't take much for the fret ends to stick out. just CAREFULLY sand or file them.
 
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