Jumbo frets. Anyone try them? (Page 1 of 2)

Hello Logan,
As a player AND a luthier, i have all sorts of run-ins with all sorts of fret sizes and string guages. In my personal opinion/experience it really is all up to what kind of feel you desire. For my playing style I tend to like to use 11's on my standard tuned guitars, and i like to dig in. Ive tried out all different fret sizes and they all have a different feel. But, if you like alot of "meat" under your fingers the bigger frets are nice, not to mention they tend to last longer. I have had a few experiences doing re-frets on customers guitars where the customer wanted the absolute biggest, most gigantic frewire i could find. Personally i felt it was too much, but the customers loved it.
      I tend to use a, what i'd call, medium-jumbo fret wire on my guitars. They have enough meat on them to feel comfortable when "digging in" But it dosent feel unnessasarily chunky under my fingers. Also, if you do end up going with super jumbo fretwire and you dont like the height, they can always be filed down a bit more to relieve some of that. But not much you will be able to do about the width of the wire after installed.

But you will never really truly know what you like till you try it. Maybe also try going to a guitar shop and asking if they have any examples of guitars with super jumbo frets to try out.

-Steve Balkun

I think I have 6105 frets on my Explorer. The old 1979 E2 had pretty flat ones on it, so I had it refretted in 1997. It was WELL worth it, and it actually felt like a different guitar, in a good way. The old frets were really keeping it from blossoming. I think this same way when I play my brother's "fretless wonder" Les Paul Custom 25th anniversary black guitar. The frets are so low on the thing, I think to myself, if it was mine I'd have it refretted!

In the studio, I like using frets that aren't so high. If you get a rush of adrenaline, you can push down harder on the string and make the note go shart. so I use my guitars that don't have as high of frets.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

I have an '85 strat with factory medium jumbos - it is great.

Logan, Don't forget that whilst Philip uses 11's, he tunes down to E-flat too, which will reduce the string tension and give an overall more sonorous tone.

I've played a few guitars with big frets, but they are not my preference.  I didn't like the 'washboard' feel when I did glissandos etc. up and down the neck.  My favourite frets are the 6150's which I have in a couple of my newer guitars.

He's not doing anything Stevie Ray Vaughan didn't do in the 80's.  SRV would use .013 with the biggest fret wire he could find then tune down a half step.  I'm sure it made playing acoustics easy.

Hey dude, super big/tall frets are going to have a similar (not exact) effect as scalloping your fretboard. So if you're not into that, extra tall frets might not be for you. It will almost feels like you string action is higher because your fingers aren't going to make as much if any contact with the wood. Overall; the guitar will be a bit more difficult to play.

I had both of my strats "lightly" scalloped. The frets are a normal size and I prefer that combination but I doubt you'll want to scallop what is to be a specific year replica guitar. I had one board with a deep scallop and extra tall frets put on to boot... awful.

I think unless you're left hand is more on the aggressive side, you'll prefer more of a normal size fret.

Helrazr- the only scalloped guitar that I've played was an Yngwie strat. That was several years ago and I don't think I liked it, but those scallops are pretty extreme. I need to find a guitar in my area that is set up like that. I played one with jumbo frets yesterday, but it was an Ibanez with a super thin neck and thin strings.

Logan

I guess another problem is that I don't really know if I have a heavy or light touch... I don't really know how to compare it. I don't really have a set preference when it comes to necks because I just pick it up and play it. Being to thick or too thin is about the most that I even really notice.