Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

[Ray 911S]

I'm a bass player who's been trying his hand on guitar. As a bass player with both fretted and fretless basses, I am used to pressing pretty hard on the strings.

My experience so far has been on a Fender Strat, but now I have a couple guitars with jumbo frets and am having a hard time playing them. The frets are so tall that pressing the string all the way to the fretboard changes the intonation. It seems like playing a Les must be very different from playing a Strat or PRS with very low fretwire. Do you guys fret them differently? Am I doing something improperly when I play the jumbos?

 

[Curly]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

if you're changing the intonation, you're pressing too hard

lots of players try for as light of a touch as possible, in order to avoid that problem as well as increase speed

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

you get used to it.

And who needs big frets

 

[H8Red442]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

Just press hard enough to make the note ring without buzz. It really is quite a light touch.

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

I know what you mean, it can be qquite a change when going from bass to guitar and vice versa, but you get used to it.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

I love electrics with huge massive frets.. but ya it does require a lighter touch... i really think a scalloped neck would work for me.... Oddly i find that since i use a really light touch on my guitars that when i switch to an acoustic it feels like weight lifting after using an electric lightly....

I hate feeling wood under my fingers.... mini fender frets bug me... i just want to contact the string to fret and feel no board wood at all... i have no idea how Dave from Megadeth uses mini frets!

feather touch for guitar....

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

I played bass for five years before I ever picked up a guitar, yet I didn't really have this difficulty. Basses don't really require extreme fretting force, either...

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

lighter touch and /or heavier strings

 

[Ray 911S]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

Good! I'm glad I asked. I occasionally heard sour notes from my ES137 and thought my guitar was messed up. Then when I heard the same from my TC-90 I began to suspect it was an "operator error." Glad to know my two newest guitars are not lemons.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

I love electrics with huge massive frets.. but ya it does require a lighter touch... i really think a scalloped neck would work for me.... Oddly i find that since i use a really light touch on my guitars that when i switch to an acoustic it feels like weight lifting after using an electric lightly....

I hate feeling wood under my fingers.... mini fender frets bug me... i just want to contact the string to fret and feel no board wood at all... i have no idea how Dave from Megadeth uses mini frets!

feather touch for guitar....

Aren't Dave's guitars 24 3/4" scale? The strings are looser on the shorther scale so you need less finger pressure to fret a note

 

[Ray 911S]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

I had to give it up. :no: Even after working on developing a light touch, in a fit of passion I would squeeze just a little bit send everything off key. Just too touchy. I went to the store to check - all Fender made in Korea have the same set up. The Fender specifications call them "medium jumbo" frets - same description as a USA Strat or Tele, but they are definitely much, much, much bigger.

So I had to send the guitar back. Very sad - hte guitar was excellent in every other way. Ya' know - except I couldn't play it. :11:

So - back to my search for the perfect guitar with P-90s.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Care to help a real NOOB? Jumbo frets

There's a reason that guitar come in different specs.

I used to have the same problem going from acoustic to electric, especially on a Parker. Sometimes, I still do it. But I have to consciously decide to adjust.

My bass has jumbo frets and is fairly easy to play. So I really don't have a problem making that switch.