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A customer dropped this "tele" off at the music store in town for some help with the fretboard. He gets frustrated playing in the higher register because the strings keep slipping off the fretboard on the high E string. My first thought was an adjustment of his technique might be the real solution as the strings seem well aligned with the fretboard and when I played the guitar conscious of his issue I couldn't get the string to slide off the frets. But with a little more time spent just playing the guitar I found the string was occasionally doing the same thing to me, and I'd have to constantly adjust my technique to mitigate the issue.

Initially I thought maybe it had to do with how the fret ends were bevelled, and that perhaps dressing and re-crowning the fretboard would be a good solution, but upon closer inspection it looks like whoever did this fret job last has either filed or cut the fret ends quite short on the treble side. It seems there's about .100" between the edge of the fretboard and the high e string, but the fret ends at about .025" from the edge of the fretboard. So to my eye it seems the only real solution is to pull these frets (at least the short ones) and reinstall ones that are the correct length. But it would be nice to have some other options to suggest to the customer if there are any.

The strings are too close to the treble side of the fretboard and too far from the bass side. This is likely the result of an off-center neck. You might be able to loosen the screws holding the neck and shift the neck back to a centered position.

Agree with Barry, the neck is not centered. Lay a straightedge on each side of the neck and see where it falls at the bridge. Also make sure there isn't something wonky with the saddles.

It seems like a thorough set up including loosening the neck and pulling it back to center a bit helped. Thanks guys.

Here's what I used to do when the client was still in the shop. I would grasp the guitar firmly, and then direct my client's gaze to the purple elephant that just walked in the shop. As he turned away, I would hold the guitar body to my chest (parallel to the floor), and pull the neck back until it moved a smidge. It usually made a cracking noise. Client would turn back to me, and the guitar would be back on the bench like nothing happened. Get used to practicing your poker face. Totally not kidding.

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

Hahahahahaha

Remember about me harping on checking everything, including the neck geometry, on every single guitar I touch. Also, for what it is worth, I have seen a number of screw on neck guitars (I refuse to call them bolt on if they don't have bolts) with slightly loose screws. When you can do this you know the geometry isn't going to be right

Wow, yeah that's pretty bad. I try to check everything as much as I'm able without pulling the whole thing apart. I like to talk to the customer before I get into a job, to let them know what I'm thinking and what they can expect and I don't like starting something they may not be interested in paying for. With the music store as middle man communication between when the client drops the guitar off and I pick it up can get a little muddled. With this one, my initial eyeball/rough measuring said everything was close to normal other than the bad fret job, which seemed like the obvious culprit. But now I know. Thanks guys!