Which would you have on a maple necked tele - vintage or medium jumbo frets. Give the pros and cons of each.
Which would you have on a maple necked tele - vintage or medium jumbo frets. Give the pros and cons of each.
On a maple neck/board, I prefer medium jumbo. I actually prefer medium jumbo on everything, but on a rosewood board, vintage frets don't bother me, at all.
I like 6105s; tall- but narrower than, say, 6100s. Nice to bend on, but yet they don't crowd your fingers in the upper register. I can't stand those tiny vintage "nail" frets. My fat fingers can't even feel the strings when I press on them, they're so close to the fretboard.
How does the maple vs. rosewood (vs. pao ferro etc) affect the size of the frets!?
I prefer the medium jumbos on my Fender Strat to the Allparts medium jumbos on my tele clone. The strat frets are flatter (the guitars older too), but both are wider than vintage. Both RW boards, though I have nothing against maple.
Last edited by weelie; 02-27-2004 at 02:59 AM.
Tiny frets on maple can be more difficult to play because your fingers make more contact with the fretboard due to the low height of the frets. Finger tips tend to slide a bit easier over raw wood than they do over a glossy, finished surface. That's why some will say that vintage frets work better on roasewood, ebony, pao ferro and such.
Vintage frets are really great for playing rythm and chord comping. It can become challanging to play single notes solos though because it is often harder to do bends and play your notes clean with little frets.
That said, I'm way over in the medium fret category. Smooth chording and clean articualte single note soloing.
As pointed out, 6105 is very nice for single note stuff and chord comping with lots of trills, but if you're a "slider", than 6130 or 6150 fret will will serve you well. It's medium height, but wider. It makes the neck feel more slick. (to me)
If you're bored, you're not groovin'.
Two days ago, I went and played a CS 57 strat, and a CS 60 strat. The bigger frets on rosewood definitely felt smoother and faster than the tiny frets on the 57. So, guess what I'm saying is; Tele-Bob is right....again.
Thanks for the input.
Frequently, especially on Fender vintage or vintage reissues, the maple fretboards have the lacquer applied after the frets are seated. This tends to shorten the effective height of the frets. Rosewood boards have no finish added, so the frets feel high enough -- for me, of course.
I have an Am. Dlx. Fat Strat with the MJ's and a Tele 52 RI with the Vintage.
At times I struggle with the 7" Radius on the Tele, but saying that it is the guitar I use most.
Lots of pros and cons about ease of chording vrs. bending with each, but one thing I have noticed.
The 52RI frets just DON'T WEAR. There is barely a mark on them. This guitar has easily twice the hours as my Strat. The Strat has some fairly deep ruts in the first 5 frets. The Tele looks new.
FYI.
brianf
Oh Man!!! I never knew Fender made amps too!!!
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