Beedster Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Hi all Lots of questions at the moment Can anyone explain the rationale behind different gauge fretwire? Is it simply a preferance thing or are there tone/intonation factors also? Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_K Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 IMHO: The different fret sizes only have advantages if you are wanting to change your playing style. For instance, a jumbo fret wire will inherently give you increased ease of playability; because your fingers aren't bottoming out on the fingerboard, you don't have to press as hard to fret a note or chord. The downside is that you need to adjust your playing style especially if you are used to playing on smaller frets, you'll tend to be heavy handed at the outset so your notes will be sharp and out of tune. The action will also feel a bit higher because you're used to feeling the fingerboard as you play, but as you get used to the wire you will notice the ease and speed in which you play. I'm sure sustain and attack come into it somewhere as well, as with narrow frets - there is more of a 'knife edge' surface, a more clearly defined node at the end of the string - so probably better sustain and more punchy attack would be obtained with narrow frets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 [quote name='Steve_K' post='48676' date='Aug 22 2007, 01:50 AM']IMHO: The different fret sizes only have advantages if you are wanting to change your playing style. For instance, a jumbo fret wire will inherently give you increased ease of playability; because your fingers aren't bottoming out on the fingerboard, you don't have to press as hard to fret a note or chord. The downside is that you need to adjust your playing style especially if you are used to playing on smaller frets, you'll tend to be heavy handed at the outset so your notes will be sharp and out of tune. The action will also feel a bit higher because you're used to feeling the fingerboard as you play, but as you get used to the wire you will notice the ease and speed in which you play. I'm sure sustain and attack come into it somewhere as well, as with narrow frets - there is more of a 'knife edge' surface, a more clearly defined node at the end of the string - so probably better sustain and more punchy attack would be obtained with narrow frets.[/quote] Thanks very much Steve. The frets on my new Precision are, I assume, not original. They are quite wide but also quite low. Although the bass has a lovely tone, I do think the intonation is a little off and suspect that, given the width of the frets, this is perhaps not surprising. I assumed that the frets were 'jumbo', but I'm guessing from the post above that jumbo means high as well as wide? I duess they could be worn jumbo? So, I have wide and flat frets - is there to anyone's mind any advantage of these over more conventional narrower/higher frets? If not, I think I'll be getting a refret Thanks Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_C Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 [quote name='Beedster' post='48714' date='Aug 22 2007, 08:50 AM']Thanks very much Steve. The frets on my new Precision are, I assume, not original. They are quite wide but also quite low. Although the bass has a lovely tone, I do think the intonation is a little off and suspect that, given the width of the frets, this is perhaps not surprising. I assumed that the frets were 'jumbo', but I'm guessing from the post above that jumbo means high as well as wide? I duess they could be worn jumbo? So, I have wide and flat frets - is there to anyone's mind any advantage of these over more conventional narrower/higher frets? If not, I think I'll be getting a refret Thanks Chris[/quote] If the top of the fret is flat and wide, then the point the string vibrates from will be moved toward the bridge, sharpening the note slightly. I had that problem with a Les Paul, and had to reshape the frets before I could get it to play certain chords, especially an open G, in tune. (I never quite had confidence in it after that, so it got sold) Normally the difference would be so slight as to be unnoticeable, but if the frets are very wide, I can certainly imagine it being enough to become an issue. If there's not enough left of the frets to re-profile them, then a refret would be the only realistic solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 [quote name='Paul_C' post='48754' date='Aug 22 2007, 10:21 AM']If the top of the fret is flat and wide, then the point the string vibrates from will be moved toward the bridge, sharpening the note slightly. I had that problem with a Les Paul, and had to reshape the frets before I could get it to play certain chords, especially an open G, in tune. (I never quite had confidence in it after that, so it got sold) Normally the difference would be so slight as to be unnoticeable, but if the frets are very wide, I can certainly imagine it being enough to become an issue. If there's not enough left of the frets to re-profile them, then a refret would be the only realistic solution.[/quote] Thanks very much Paul, that's what I suspected. It seems that for perfect intonation the narrower the fret the better. Having said that, I just saw a lovely '68 Jazz with (allegedly) original frets and they are exactly the same as mine, i.e., wide and flat, so perhaps mine are original and people weren't so fussy about intonation back then! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_C Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 [quote name='Beedster' post='48777' date='Aug 22 2007, 10:46 AM']Thanks very much Paul, that's what I suspected. It seems that for perfect intonation the narrower the fret the better. Having said that, I just saw a lovely '68 Jazz with (allegedly) original frets and they are exactly the same as mine, i.e., wide and flat, so perhaps mine are original and people weren't so fussy about intonation back then! Chris[/quote] the fret can be wide and relatively flat, as long as there's enough shape to it that the point of vibration is above the fret slot - you might find that you can shape your frets enough to solve your problem while leaving them pretty much as they are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 [quote name='Paul_C' post='48814' date='Aug 22 2007, 11:36 AM']the fret can be wide and relatively flat, as long as there's enough shape to it that the point of vibration is above the fret slot - you might find that you can shape your frets enough to solve your problem while leaving them pretty much as they are[/quote] Thanks very much Paul, I'll look into it. Given that with a wide fret, the same probelm will reoccur at some stage, in your opinion is it best to simply opt for narrower frets at this stage? Chris Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_C Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 if the fret is narrower to begin with, then things won't change quite so dramatically as the frets wear, it depends on how hard you grip the neck when you play as to how quickly they wear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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