Zero Fret – Thoughts?

[treyhaislip]

Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Stumbled upon this article and was intrigued about zero frets. I've never even seen one in person yet alone play one. I like the idea behind it–open chords having the same material as the frets...but it doesn't seem to be a big deal in tone or else I would have expected to see quite a bit of artists with them.

Thoughts?

View attachment 69541

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

The new nuts on Gibson guitars are adjustable zero frets
Look closely
They are U shaped with guides on back and straight, fret like front

 

[regan]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

I have one on an old Gretsch the action is more conistent.
I like em

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

The new nuts on Gibson guitars are adjustable zero frets
Look closely
They are U shaped with guides on back and straight, fret like front

That is very interesting! I'm not really a Gibson guy, just prefer Strats lol But I will take a look the next time I'm at GC or some guitar store.

I have one on an old Gretsch the action is more conistent.
I like em

Hmm, more consistent...didn't think of that aspect, all of my electrics have very consistent action. Interesting!

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

I think the zero fret in part has a bad reputation because of its preponderance on so many low end guitars in bygone times.

It's placement can have a positive effect on intonation, as discussed by Greg Fryer, who restored Brian May's Red Special:

'...in December 2005 when the badly worn zero fret on the Red Special was replaced by Andrew Guyton, what Brian, Andrew and I found was very interesting. We first made a new zero fret from Brian's original unused fretwire (that he had kept from his dad's workshop), but we found that the Red Special then did not play quite as well in tune within itself compared to before with its worn zero fret. The new "original" zero fret was set at the correct height relative to the 1st fret's height so the problem wasn't due to incorrect height. We then measured how far the worn zero fret had allowed the "leading edge" point of contact with the string to creep towards the 1st fret. This overall effect of the worn zero fret had been discussed by Brian and myself as far back as 1998 when we talked about it with Neville Marten from Guitarist magazine and compared it humorously to the Buzz Feiten compensation system. To cut a long story short what we found that worked best, was a new zero fret (made by Andrew) which gave the same leading edge point of contact as on Brian's original worn zero fret.'

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

 

[regan]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Hmm, more consistent...didn't think of that aspect, all of my electrics have very consistent action. Interesting!

open strings have an inherently higher action than notes following a fretted note. Imagine playing a guitar with a capo at the second fret, The big F chord is a breeze, really simple concept to experience but hard as hell to verbalise.

I'm sure you get the gist

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

open strings have an inherently higher action than notes following a fretted note. Imagine playing a guitar with a capo at the second fret, The big F chord is a breeze, really simple concept to experience but hard as hell to verbalise.

I'm sure you get the gist

Dude! The capo analogy works perfect!

My Strat has a lower nut and playing an F chord is a breeze but I understand what you mean by the capo...great analogy man!

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

I like the idea of a zero fret. That's one of the changes to Gibson I actually wouldn't mind embracing. That piece made setting action at the nut a breeze, and I do believe zero frets help the intonation between open notes and fretted notes.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

The pic i posted is a good method because you can do it to any guitar with a gibson style nut. You could do it with a fender one i guess you would just need to use thinner stock.

I tried it on my full map build but got sick of ****ing around with it so i ditched the idea. Next time.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Stumbled upon this article and was intrigued about zero frets. I've never even seen one in person yet alone play one. I like the idea behind it–open chords having the same material as the frets...but it doesn't seem to be a big deal in tone or else I would have expected to see quite a bit of artists with them.

Thoughts?

View attachment 69541

This looks so cool, like a plastic/bone locking nut. I find this very interesting. Most LP-style guitar's tuning problems come from the nut.

 

[J E C]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

The zero fret did get a bad rep from being used on a lot of cheep guitars in years past, and because it was different from tradition. There have been a number of high end guitars in the past that used zero frets, the aluminum necked Kramers being one of them. It is quite common to use a slightly taller fret wire for the zero fret, this avoids the possibility of it being seated too low, and if slightly too high, can be dressed down to the proper height.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Think Vigier is one of the few who consistently use the zero fret these days. Seems kind of redundant on a Floyded guitar but I wouldn't say no!

 

[J E C]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Using a zero fret on a Floyded guitar might be a very good idea. You wouldn't have to be so precise with the depth and placement of the locking nut.

 

[vinta9e]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Not a fan at all but if it works for you, I can't argue with that.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Seems kind of redundant on a Floyded guitar but I wouldn't say no!

Logically thinking that is right. But if you count how many ppl here had sitar-sounding floyd/schaller/gotoh nuts, it makes sense. Maybe Vigier have seen the trend.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

It's on a lot of cheaper guitars, because it's easier to set and extra fret than it is to properly cut a nut.

 

[J E C]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

For a person that wants the open strings to sound like the fretted strings, a zero fret is a way to accomplish that.

 

[LLL]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

The Zero Fret is a rather necessary device; how else are we supposed to go beyond standard fare positive chordage and delve into the evil, negative chords found by fretting over the headstock? Em is fine and dandy, but -Em just sounds much more devilish.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

Re: Zero Fret – Thoughts?

I played an old 60s ibanez archtop that had one. I absolutely loved it. The action was fantastic on the first fret and the whole thing played great, even for such a wonky, out of shape guitar.