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Thread: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

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    Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    Performer vs Professional
    per Regent Sounds website

    It indicates here the professional requires precision. Can anyone shed any light on this?
    I’ll be checking out both of them tomorrow but I am concerned about the statement here as I wouldn’t consider myself a player with precision. More an average player just starting to learn the fret board as I’ve spent years as a strummer.
    Thanks


    Both guitars have 9.5”-radius fingerboards, and 22 frets, with the Performer utilising Jumbo fretwire, where the Professional sports Fender’s new ‘Narrow-Tall’ frets. Those of you who want solidity under the finger, and easier bending, will undoubtedly prefer the Jumbo frets of the Performer. The Narrow-Tall frets on the Professional seem to have a slightly taller crown to the fret, where they offer the feeling of precision under your fingertips, but demand precision from the player, too. There is no room for sloppy technique with these frets.

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    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    Quote Originally Posted by Totalestai View Post
    Performer vs Professional
    per Regent Sounds website

    It indicates here the professional requires precision. Can anyone shed any light on this?
    I’ll be checking out both of them tomorrow but I am concerned about the statement here as I wouldn’t consider myself a player with precision. More an average player just starting to learn the fret board as I’ve spent years as a strummer.
    Thanks

    Both guitars have 9.5”-radius fingerboards, and 22 frets, with the Performer utilising Jumbo fretwire, where the Professional sports Fender’s new ‘Narrow-Tall’ frets. Those of you who want solidity under the finger, and easier bending, will undoubtedly prefer the Jumbo frets of the Performer. The Narrow-Tall frets on the Professional seem to have a slightly taller crown to the fret, where they offer the feeling of precision under your fingertips, but demand precision from the player, too. There is no room for sloppy technique with these frets.
    phew, that was weird. I read your post, went to reply to it and all this other stuff appeared on the white window. Whatever you copied and pasted from the vendor's site apparently was html for black, which doesn't show up too well against a black background here

    I think all they were saying is the guitar with higher frets will require a lighter touch to keep the notes from going sharp (pitch wise). But this is true of any guitar with taller frets. i wouldn't fret (pun intended) too much about it. Telecasters as a whole have a reputation for being less forgiving as far as playing goes. Why exactly is a debate that really has no resolution. It may be they are often used for cleaner sounds in country that give less room to hide behind distortion. Maybe they cut through the mix better, also highlighting mistakes when they're made. Again, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Frankly, I feel having a Tele made me a better player, and it translated to my other guitars as well.

    If you're worried about it, go with the performer. Either way, you'll be getting a Tele, which is an awesome guitar IMNSHO
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    Thank you, much appreciated

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    One of my buds plays an American Performer Tele, and it's one of the best sounding Teles I've heard. Plenty of twang but also able to do contemporary music of many genres.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    So I tried the Player, Performer, Professional, and Pro II today.
    I didn’t notice any fret difference as far as playing notes was concerned but I did notice higher sharper frets on the Player, followed by Performer, followed by butter smooth on the Pro models when sliding your hand down the neck. Appears it would be a quick setup fix to file them down a bit per the tech guy I talked to today.
    I didn’t choose my guitar yet. More Tele trials later next week :-)

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    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    that's the way to do it
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    Having never held an electric guitar and the first time holding one in the guitar shop was pretty embarrassing lol. Switching from an acoustic to electric is like holding a new instrument. Neck is so small and my arm usually sits on the jumbo body. I have no idea where to put it and my arm was getting tired. Sounded worse than I normally do lol. This is gonna be an adjustment for sure.

  8. #8
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    Don't give up! The transition must be weird considering you're just now playing an electric. Within a couple of weeks, you'll get used to the differences in how you play an acoustic and how you play an electric. Your arm will find its place and you'll figure out a way to hold the guitar that is most comfortable for you.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Re: Performer vs Professional Tele frets

    Quote Originally Posted by Totalestai View Post
    So I tried the Player, Performer, Professional, and Pro II today.
    I didn’t notice any fret difference as far as playing notes was concerned but I did notice higher sharper frets on the Player, followed by Performer, followed by butter smooth on the Pro models when sliding your hand down the neck. Appears it would be a quick setup fix to file them down a bit per the tech guy I talked to today.
    I didn’t choose my guitar yet. More Tele trials later next week :-)
    Happy Tele hunting, mate. "Higher sharper frets on the Player"? The Player series has medium jumbo, the smallest height wise of all the frets you mentioned. Perhaps the one you played had fret ends that needed a bit of dressing? The Performer has the biggest frets of them all: Dunlop 6100 style frets, both tall & wide. The Professional series has frets more akin to Dunlop 6105s, tall & more narrow. The Professional series indeed get more attention to fret dressing than the other models. File NOTHING down as a 1st option: a good, proper set up with a good polish job on the frets will make a "lesser than" feeling/playing guitar a dream machine. It's all in the setup.

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