Strings are not level

[Whit Love]

I have a Fessendon D10 that 'frets out' for lack of a better term. When I am barring below the 5th fret or so, the middle strings are not making contact with the tone bar unless i press down pretty firmly. Is there an easy solution to this problem?

[Austin Tripp]

I’m not too familiar with the rollers on a Fessenden but are they gauged for the correct string gauges? I have a Mullen that doesn’t have gauged rollers and I play a Uni 12 so the heavier gauged strings tend to keep the bar higher. If they are gauged rollers, they may have gotten mixed up somehow if they’ve ever been removed.

[Whit Love]

Interesting I had never noticed whether they are or not but I will probably change the strings this week and check on that

[Tucker Jackson]

I use to play a Fessenden 12 string, and it did not have gauged roller nuts. I don't think they were offered on that brand. If you don't have machining skills, I'm afraid "it is what it is."

On roller nuts that aren't gauged, it's somewhat normal to run into this situation where the middle strings aren't touching the bar without added pressure down near the nut. This is natural given that strings 1 & 2 are thicker than string 3. And for most people (who aren't Paul Franklin or use his preferred gauges), string 2 is also a little thicker than 4. This does tend to raise the tip of the bar higher than you would want for the middle strings.

One end-run solution is to not cover all of the strings with the bar. It's common to pull the bar back toward you to only cover (with the tip-half of the bar) those strings your are currently playing. So, if you're not currently playing the top two strings, maybe pull the bar back so that the highest string you're playing is the one touching the tip. Just pulling the bar back so that tiny string 3 is one on the tip should solve the problem, as long as you maintain a little downward pressure on the tip.

I'm sure you know that this "moving the bar away and toward you as you play" technique is also critical to blocking with the bar hand. The middle finger that extends just past the tip of the bar can block higher strings (as you strategically pull the bar back toward you on a descending run). And the thumb, resting on the strings in front of the bar, can block lower strings as you push the bar away from you on ascending runs.

[Bobby D. Jones]

If you did not buy the guitar new, It is hard to tell tell what has been done to the guitar. Some one may have put a set of gauged rollers on it.
If you have a dial caliper measure the grove diameter of the rollers. If you find a roller with larger grove diameter, Move it to the 3rd string position.

When you find a roller nut combination that works. When you need to clean and lube the Rollers, At a string change. Keep them in order.

[Rich Cottle]

Before jumping to conclusions , you must find the problem , take a square tool (straight edge)and put it first close to the bridge & see if there is a gap , then do the same with the roller nuts side , I'm pretty sure that in most cases the roller nuts are all the same size ,
12 string guitar fingers sometimes drupe in the middle , most 12 strings have supports (like the msa has two supports , the Mullen has a support for each string , carter's have a support every 4 strings , some guitars use a fatter axle for the 12 strings)if that's not the problem then it might be like these other guys are saying , it might be the strings , maybe the strings in the middle are smaller , or it could be just one string

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10 string guitars usually don't have that problem , but I could be wrong , call the manufacture

Either way you must find the problem before you go off half cocked
common sense says you must know what's wrong before you can fix it

Rich Cottle