Fret size and ease of bending

[357mag]

Okay so I got two beautiful American Vintage 62's. One in Olympic White with medium jumbo frets and the other in Sunburst with smaller vintage frets. Don't know why they have different frets but they do.

I notice it's a little easier bending on the medium jumbos. So I'm toying with the idea of having my tech replace the vintage frets on my Sunburst with medium jumbos so it plays more like my Olympic White Strat.

Is the general rule that the smaller vintage frets are in fact harder to bend on than a bigger fret?

Bigger frets make bending easier?

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Of course taller frets make bending easier. You fingers are farther from the fretboard.

Vintage frets are tough to deal with for most modern playing. Some people love them, and some don't.

I can pretty much deal with anything down to medium jumbos, but smaller than that I have problems.

If I have my choice, I get stainless steel 6115 wire.

 

[kherman]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Stainless steel!!! +1
Your bends will have never felt so smooth.

 

[beandip]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

I hear a lot of talking about the smoothness of stainless steel for bending. In my opinion, highly polished nickle silver will do the same.

But you can't beat that wear time.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

I prefer bigger frets, because I constantly bend and do vibrato.
I also find you play a little faster with bigger frets because your fingers can release themselves faster from the fretboard since you've got less fretboard to pull away from as your fingers are in more contact with the string.

 

[Jessie Sammler]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

True dat. If your finger isn't dragging on the wood of the fretboard, bends and fast playing are easier, and you can do deeper vibrato just by pushing down on the string. An extreme of this is scalloping, which is really the equivalent of having enormously tall frets.

Whatever your fret size and material, having nicely polished frets also does make bends and vibrato easier. Plus, it makes the guitar look nicer.

 

[357mag]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

I may have to disagree with the notion of more speed with big frets. The impression I got when I played my Sunburst Strat with the vintage frets is that my fingers were gliding across the fretboard more easily than my Olympic White Strat.

I think it's because a smaller fret has less metal to impede your progress.

 

[beandip]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

I think it's all personal preference.

Listen to "Tin Pan Alley" by SRV. Vintage style fretwire is what's used on "Charley", the guitar. Doesn't seem to slow him down. Then again, he's just as fast on #1/First Wife.

If it slows you down, it slows you down. If you're able to move faster, then you're able to move faster. Some it poses intonation problems, others have no problem what so ever.

Go with what you like. With what feels right.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Another big factor is the fingerboard radius.

On a flatter radius I need bigger frets for the same bending control.

It is very likely that your two '62s also have different radius, they came with 7.5" and 9.5". Then you will not get the same bending feel out of them by installing the same frets.

 

[El CHupacabra]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Just remember that refrets are a bit on the pricey side. You could see if there are aftermarket necks with what you're looking for for cheaper than a refret, and you can sell the other neck for a bit of pocket cash.

 

[357mag]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

I think I will have him do a fret job with medium jumbos. Even if the radius is a bit different even he agreed with what most have said on this forum that the small vintage frets are more difficult to work with.

Besides he can easily dress the frets closer to a 9.5. Old luthiers trick.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

i hate small frets. theyre on my fender jaguar, and they piss me off.

i have a strat with those frets you say, and its a joy to play.

id say go for it bro, in the end youll only have a better playing axe!

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

I hear a lot of talking about the smoothness of stainless steel for bending. In my opinion, highly polished nickle silver will do the same.

But you can't beat that wear time.

i totally agree.

steel frets will wear way slower.

 

[B2D]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Bending IS easier with bigger frets. It just takes less effort overall.

Frank Falbo personally refretted my Music Man with Jumbo stainless wire earlier this year, and it was expensive but hooo boy was it worth it. I've got so much more control over bends and vibrato now it's ridiculous. The frets feel like they're greased or something, haha.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Bending IS easier with bigger frets. It just takes less effort overall.

Frank Falbo personally refretted my Music Man with Jumbo stainless wire earlier this year, and it was expensive but hooo boy was it worth it. I've got so much more control over bends and vibrato now it's ridiculous. The frets feel like they're greased or something, haha.

why do you guys think Malmsteen/vai/gilbert/other shreddy people use huge frets?

 

[Jessie Sammler]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Actually, Vai doesn't use hug frets. His JEMs use Dunlop 6105 fret wire, which is pretty tall but narrow. I've got a JEM, and the intonation is terrific on it; I guess that's partly because of the frets and how narrow the crown is on them.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

In my opinion the 6150 style frets (pretty tall and pretty wide but not huge) aren't that great at all, at least not on flatter or compound fretboards.

I like the 6105 style (narrow and tall) much better. Huge jumbos can be a pain because of intonation problems and I don't want to get a new nut, too. Huge jumbo frets also have twice the metal mass on top of the fretboard, I think you can expect that to change the sound considerably.

 

[El CHupacabra]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

Anyone know what the Satchurator uses on the JS100+ series? I would guess the wider as opposed to taller frets.

 

[357mag]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

I'm going with what StewMac calls Wide/High. It's what's in my Olympic White Strat. It's got a crown height of ".050" so it's right between a narrow tall and a jumbo.

Looking forward to it.

 

[scottish]

Re: Fret size and ease of bending

i like the stew mac low and wide. i have vintage style frets in most of my guitars. med jumbo is the absolute max i can deal with.