Jumbo Frets?

[Light]

If you are a chord guy, that uses every string when you play a chord then Ill bet youll like the medium or small frets. It makes it easier on your hand and fingers to play the higher strings like on a bar chord and puts less stress on your wrist and hands. you dont have to put as much pressure down to get the strings to fret.

I use both. when i do leads, i prefer jumbos, when i am playing a beetles song with odd chords, or bar chords, then i like smaller frets. My hand will tire easily if i chord(real chords) all night with jumbo frets.

hope I helped.
peace.

Well, I gotta disagree with you there. If you play jumbo frets with the proper amount of pressure, they are much EASIER to play just about anything on. The trick is to get used to the idea that you don't need to touch the fingerboard. You just have to make the string touch the fret, and you want to put no more pressure on the string than is needed to make it fret cleanly.

For the most part, what I notice is that the better the player, the more they like big frets, but there are MANY exceptions to that rule (both great players who like little frets, and shitty players who like big frets). In the end, the only way to know if you like jumbo frets is to try them for yourself, and see what you think.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[muttley600]

ALLRIGHT ALREADY ENOUGH WITH THE SCIENCE LESSON FOR GOD SAKES

Yeh sorry bout that. I just started by saying you ain't gonna get more sustain by putting more fret there!!! Got a bit carried away after that

Gotta agree with Light again tho! Jumbos can be a lot easier if you get used to em. As it happens I'm moving the other way these days because I'm spending more time up the dusty end of the neck than I used to.... Little uns seem to suit me better up there.

 

[metalj]

Well, I gotta disagree with you there. If you play jumbo frets with the proper amount of pressure, they are much EASIER to play just about anything on. The trick is to get used to the idea that you don't need to touch the fingerboard. You just have to make the string touch the fret, and you want to put no more pressure on the string than is needed to make it fret

Play a full Fminor or F#minor cord using all 6 strings. I gaurantee medium frets will make it easier to play. I've done it with both kinds.

I would normally say its all up to each individual player, but these are a bitch to get every string to ring clearly for alot of players at the top of the neck.

Easier with medium frets. Its not even debatable.

Dont make me get out my beaker and bunts and burner and saftey goggles to prove it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Light]

Play a full Fminor or F#minor cord using all 6 strings. I gaurantee medium frets will make it easier to play. I've done it with both kinds.

Again, I disagree. I find that I use a lot less pressure when I am playing a guitar with jumbos for that kind of stuff. (Not that I play many of those kinds of chords, but when I do...) Certainly, it takes less pressure to get the strings to fret cleanly, because my fingers are not touching the fingerboard. With smaller frets, I hit the fingerboard before the note frets cleanly, and once that happens I am fighting both the string AND the fingerboard. With big frets, I just have to fight the string.

What you are talking about is what works for YOU, and that is fine, but please don't mistake it for a universal truth. I MUCH prefer big frets on electric guitars, and I almost never play any lead lines, and a fairly limited number of power chords. I play fairly intricate and open voiced chords (not to be confused with open string chords, though there are a lot of open strings in some of the voicings I use). For ME, I like bigger frets (not huge, I usually use Dunlop 6150s or a stainless equivilent), and that is what works for me. Different people like different things, and it is all to do with the particular geomety of their bodies.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Milnoque]

Most of the playing properties discussed in this thread are the result of the height, not width of the fret. Medium, jumbo, and to a lesser extent, small frets come in various heights as well as the widths listed earlier. It is the height of the fret that determines the amount of contact the finger has with the fretboard. Wide frets wear longer because more material must be removed to make a groove.

A person choosing to change frets should realize that there are more than three options. If you are going to invest in new frets, spend some time with the luthier. Let him/her watch you play the instrument the way you intend to play it (not just your coolest riffs). Talk about what you want the instrument to do differently. Make your choice in partnership.

My personal preference is for meduim width, medium height frets. I'm a ham handed player who covers a wide variety of material badly. I find if I play a chord that really spreads my fingers, it is difficult to get even pressure on all strings. The intonation suffers with tall frets allowing the strings to bend from uneven downward force. I recognize that this is bad technique but "oh well". They still bend strings easily and wear well. Anyway, medium frets seem to me the most versatile.

 

[Treeline]

I'm in the medium / jumbo fret camp. I've played instruments with narrow frets and find them uncomfortable. I think the problem was not the fret or its design, but was rather that I am used to playing on instruments with larger frets and my playing / fretting style developed to accommodate that feel.

 

[Light]

Most of the playing properties discussed in this thread are the result of the height, not width of the fret. Medium, jumbo, and to a lesser extent, small frets come in various heights as well as the widths listed earlier. It is the height of the fret that determines the amount of contact the finger has with the fretboard. Wide frets wear longer because more material must be removed to make a groove.

A person choosing to change frets should realize that there are more than three options. If you are going to invest in new frets, spend some time with the luthier. Let him/her watch you play the instrument the way you intend to play it (not just your coolest riffs). Talk about what you want the instrument to do differently. Make your choice in partnership.

Most players, however, seem to find tall narrow frets much less comfortable to play, because no matter how you dress the fret ends, they tend to feel "bumpy" on the edges of the fingerboard. I like to roll the edges of my frets and fingerboards quite a lot to give them a "played-in" feel, but with narrow frets it can still fell weird.

Then there is the wide/narrow idea that one of the parts companies (either USA Custom Guitars or Warmoth) has put out. Wide frets down below the twelfth or fourteenth fret, but narrow frets up above, while keeping them all the same size. Supposedly good for those of use with chubby fingers, though I haven't actually tried it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[mshilarious]

I like weensy frets But I wouldn't bother with a refret just to get 'em.

 

[Light]

I like weensy frets But I wouldn't bother with a refret just to get 'em.

Well, my friend who did that probably spends mour hours everyday with his guitar in his hands than he does without it (and I'm including sleeping). He feels every little detail or change in his guitars, and he is VERY particular about every detail being perfect. I swear, he can tell if his neck moves even just a few thousanths of an inch. He is also, by the way, probably the best guitar player I know (and I know a lot of guitar players). Probably something to do with playing as much as he does.

But anybody involved with building or repairing guitars can tell you stories about guys as particular as this guy. Some of them can play, some can't, but in the end, if it is an issue for them, it is our job to fix it. Some of them are really fucking anoying, but this particular guy is also one of the nicest and funniest guys you will ever meet.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi