jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

[Shibby]

Anyone could explain me the main difference beetween vintage and jumbo or medium jumbo? I know that is the dimmensions , mass of material used...
but how it response to tone and overall feel?
is it objective or subjective?
i hear people talking about medium-jumbos that you can bend more easily etc.
but on my MIM strat i have skinny litlle vintage frets and I DO NOT notice any problems with bending, and IMHO the feel is better with them.
Is something wrong with me to like vintage frets more than larger ones?

Oh ,yeah and what are you for? vintage or bigger?

 

[danglybanger]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

probably no effect on tone.

no effect on action either...

For some reason some people can't bend with small frets and I don't see why...

I bend fine on either and have no problem with vintage frets.

I don't understand how it's harder to bend with small frets... apparently some people have fat fingers that will smack into the fretboard before they get the string down at all :laugh2:

I like small frets because they get in the way less when you go up and down the neck... big frets always feel clunky

 

[Shibby]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

I like small frets because they get in the way less when you go up and down the neck... big frets always feel clunky

Yeah , I Feel exactly the same like you.
BTW I like your guitar taste, all those Mustangs and Jaguars:32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32: :32:
:yourock:


However I got terrible G.A.S. for Tele nowadays:smokin:

 

[firebirdV]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

I'll third it, I can barely feel the difference between my dad's vintage correct '52 tele and my lp fretwise and bendwise. Maybe it's because I usually play a cheap acoustic with 13s and really high action.

 

[danglybanger]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

heh, thanks

I've been thinking a bit about teles lately... can't have too much twang :smokin:

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

It's all personal preference. The advantage many people feel big frets have is that you can play faster, because you can fret the note with a lighter touch...almost like playing on a scalloped fretboard.

But again, it's all personal preference and what you get used to. I have had a guitar with vintage frets, and I have several with jumbo and two with medium jumbo. I can live with the med jumbo, but I prefer the jumbo...if they are polished and smooth. The one type of fretwire I have grown to dislike very much is the standard fretwire on a Les Paul. Compared to others, it is square on the edges, and feels bumpy and not smooth. Nothing a re-fret won't cure, but just a pain in the neck and an added expense.

Anyhow, whatever you like is fine. I would recommend going to a music store and getting a nice high end guitar with larger, well done frets and trying it out. You may like it, and you may not, but you should at least experience the difference so you know.

 

[danglybanger]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

It's all personal preference. The advantage many people feel big frets have is that you can play faster, because you can fret the note with a lighter touch...almost like playing on a scalloped fretboard.

it's not that you can necessarily... more like you're forced to, or else you might pull the guitar out of tune...

It's good training for that, but you can play the same way on a guitar with small frets. Or am I the only one here with ****ed up fingers that somehow allow me to

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

Well, you are screwed up Slade, but you're not the only one. It's all in what you get used to, and lots of guys made great music with vintage frets....Hendrix, Clapton, Blackmore, Beck, Johnson, Gallagher...just to name a few. None of them had any trouble bending, playing fast, fretting....or changing the sound of rock and roll.

 

[thunderlung]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

Well, you are screwed up Slade, but you're not the only one. It's all in what you get used to, and lots of guys made great music with vintage frets....Hendrix, Clapton, Blackmore, Beck, Johnson, Gallagher...just to name a few. None of them had any trouble bending, playing fast, fretting....or changing the sound of rock and roll.

The Rory Gallagher strat does not have vintage frets but it might have started out with smaller ones....not sure...but at some point old Rory must have liked bigger ones. Just checked the website......JUMBOS.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

i prefer large frets but i play some strats with the small wire too... Best frets for me are the ones in my older imported Jackson Dinky..... and my 87 Charvel...

The main reason i hate small frets is my fingertips touch the fingerboard..... My older MIM strat has smaller wire and i still use it a hell of a lot.. It's my most used guitar out of 20 solid bodies... but my brand new MIM has larger frets that feel nice... I hate feeling the fingerboard when i fret.... It feels like the fingerboard just gets in the way a bit with small frets...

Once you get used to one way or the other you are set... but things changed... 15 years ago i prefered small wire... today i prefer large-the biggest

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

I like jumbo frets, strictly because of feel. My *main* guitars are typically shredders (Ibanez, Kramer), but I've always got a revolving door of borrowed vintage stuff from my dad (old Gibsons, Fenders), and I have no problem switching between an Ibanez RG and an old Gibson Les Paul.

 

[D-EJ915]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

Might just be my 3 guitars, but I've found tapping easier on my XJ guitar because it's easier to do the "snap off" if you know what I mean. My other 2 guitars have smaller frets and I love them too, but it's just a bit easier with XJs imo.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

it's not that you can necessarily... more like you're forced to, or else you might pull the guitar out of tune...

It's good training for that, but you can play the same way on a guitar with small frets. Or am I the only one here with ****ed up fingers that somehow allow me to

I hear you on the smaller frets . . . I think that jumbos are a little over rated. I prefer small wide frets on anything that I play. Mediums are tolerable, but jumbos are very uncomfortable to me. I don't think that fret size has anything to do with how fast your hands move when you're playing either.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: jumbo or vintage frets, difference?

There are:
Vintage (small)
Medium Jumbo which are wide and pretty short
You have thin jumbo frets and wider jumbo frets(the jumbo-jumbo).
And then you go into all sorts of huge frets like YJM and, for a period, Blackmore used.

There are techniques that wotk better with big frets, you still can play fast on small frets though (country players on Teles). Vibrato is easier with taller frets for example...
I think I handle all sizes but I do prefer wider frets, they can be short or tall... but it feels smoother under my fingers. The thinner Jumbos are very popular but I'm not crazy about them...

As for bends, I can't think of a difference and many blues guys played small frets (with smaller radius necks, which is more important for pushing the string up) and made some wild bends...

You have to remmember- there are many factors that make the neck playble, like fretboard radius, the shape of the back, the action and of course- the way it fits to your hand and fingers...