Big frets or little frets, and why?

[LtDave32]

Just wondering.

Do you like wide frets over thin?

Low over tall?

Wide and tall?

But tell me why, as best you can.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

Medium Jumbo

I don't really want to feel the fretboard,..I want to fly


the only issue I have with my lovely, amazing and beautiful CS LP is the frets are 58 style? Low.

..and I'm scared to even think of refretting because it's a 2012 and what if the board is layered? It plays just fine and sounds great,..but I feel the friction of my fingertips scraping the board.

Big frets. Love em.

One day I'll probably get it refretted with bigger frets. It's a great guitar.

 

[ReWind James]

Malk - have you tried stainless? Seems right up your alley.

I tend to like moderately fat frets but not so much really tall frets. I don't like the drag of the fingerboard, but I don't like to pull every note sharp just by fretting it firmly either.

 

[sk8rat]

wide and low. it makes it a lot more effortless to slide. though sometimes I find it too easy and I end up sliding down a fret too much.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

nah CJ haven't tried stainless on a personal git,..but I've played gits I was told had stainless frets. They were nice and polished,..but I didn't notice anything unusual about them. Just nice polished frets.

I like the Epi frets that I think are medium jumbo...plus bigger strings.

...almost scalloped? where the string doesn't touch the wood when pressing down on a note,..but almost touches.

I like Epi frets but I wore mine down so now I'm having buzz issues. ..kind of annoying and I'm in no rush to get another guitar so I'm just dealing with it.

 

[Marshallow]

The bigger the better. I can't stand, well, can't play small frets, bends are impossible on those. In recent years the Custom Shop has sometimes used frets slightly too low, it's often my main reason to sell a guitar.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

yeah bends have friction, moving around has friction,..all this friction slows you down and increases the effort needed to do things.

I'll never understand how 'wide and low' were considered the fast frets of the old Customs.

 

[LtDave32]

This is interesting.

Guys love nice fret boards, but they seem to provide some friction.

Some like feeling that, and it suits their playing style.

Others want nothing but fret. to touch the fret board hinders their playing style.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

very much so,...or at least a large part of it.

I can play blues and rock just fine on the low frets.

metal and shredding is more effort. ..and since it's already more effort to do that stuff...

but I can only speak for me

 

[DRF]

Tall frets, I don't like my fingertips touching the fret board. I can play any guitar comfortably cause I have a soft touch. I sometimes wonder just how hard some guys are pressing/playing.

 

[lespauldawg]

low, wide frets for me!!

 

[ReWind James]

I can deal with soft dry rosewood fretboards, and I really like the sound they provide so that's generally my preference. Ebony and, even worse for me, finished glossy maple fretboards with smaller frets "grab" my fingertips as I play, though. Could just be my personal chemical composition.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

Tall frets, I don't like my fingertips touching the fret board. I can play any guitar comfortably cause I have a soft touch. I sometimes wonder just how hard some guys are pressing/playing.

hard enough to wear down the frets.

I can't really dig in with a soft touch.

 

[EDS1275]

never thought about that. i buy a guitar i like and enjoy it for its own personality.

 

[Drew224]

My touch has gotten a bit softer over the years, but I've never liked "shredder" necks. I'm sure I could play a guitar with jumbo, or extra jumbo frets now and sound about the same. But the feel isn't for me. Much as I like to enjoy some of the speed I've built up over the years, my style is still littered with bends and vibrato. Mediums and medium jumbos for me.

 

[ReWind James]

hard enough to wear down the frets.

I can't really dig in with a soft touch.

That's why I thought you might like SS frets. You shouldn't notice a difference. ...until one day 10 years later you realize you've refretted all your other guitars twice.

 

[parts]

..if I knew I'd live this long..I would've taken better care of my hair...

PS..

I have a fretless wonder 66 355 Custom a 71/2 LPC with those low flat wide frets.. My 65 ES 175 has larger mid size..and my 65 J-200 Custom has flat lower..while my 68 Dove has taller..

Like them all..

 

[S_G_D]

I go back and forth between 6105 and 6150s. If I had the money Id love to order a USACG neck with 6125... Sounds like a happy place between fender and gibson.

I did discover a fretless wonder and coated strings does not work well.

 

[DRF]

hard enough to wear down the frets.

I can't really dig in with a soft touch.

Amount of time played and fret wire quality maybe?. I was thinking of guys with scalloped boards like Malmsteen and Blackmore, never heard of them going sharp enough where it's problem...and they ain't no wilting flowers so to speak. I *think* in an interview Blackmore has said he had fret jobs done on his #1 from worn frets.

 

[sonar1]

I prefer vintage (smallish) frets, and 7.25" fretboard radius, just as Leo Fender intended mere mortal man to play on.

Comfy for chord work, and I have not had trouble with bends (fretting out, etc.) on such necks (usually).

That said, I have Gibsons that feel fine, and one Les Paul that was refretted by a previous owner with largish (nicely polished) frets. It's fine and really seems to "flow" for speed work, but that's not necessarily my preference for FEEL. I mean I don't seek that out: it just works on that guitar fine, though that's not something that draws me to it.

I tend to like slick maple necks, or ebony with polished frets, for bending. But resistance never bothered me. I like that Fenders "fight" me a little.

I played a guy's Steinberger once strung with nines, and that was an experience like playing an entirely different instrument. Awesome in a way, but ultimately "not for me."