Fret Size Prefference?

Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 818 Location: Canada

Hey guys, just want to get some opinions on the different fret sizes.

I have only ever had Extra Jumbo frets on my guitars and have always heard they are better for metal and shredding.

I am looking for your opinion in regards to my Edwards Alexi Scythe that will be getting worked on very soon. It is sitting at at technicians house right now and I am to phone him tomorrow to verify the work to be done.

Some of the frets have very deep wear on them. I wish I had pictures of it to show you guys but I don't have the guitar with me. My concern is that some of the frets are so bad that they will require replacing. I am worried the technician will just do a fret dressing/leveling and grind all the frets down. This technician doesn't deal with fret replacement so this is why I am worried he will just level all the frets down and leave me with frets far from extra jumbo size. The guitar can be sent to another city over and I can pay more for a technician that does deal with fret replacements. I'm just wondering if this is something I should worry about or not. How badly worn do the frets have to be to justify replacement?

I was just looking at some pics of frets and I would say the wear on the frets is close to the amount of wear on these ones.

Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 3199 Location: UK

It's kinda a personal taste kind of question, unless it gets to a point where the frets are just too worn in parts it's up to you how far down you go. If you do that kind of denting on your frets and you do get them replaced i'd certainly look into getting the hardest frets possible just for the longevity.

even with the photo it's hard to tell just what the end result would be like, if the technician says it's got another fret level in it, i would do that before replacing them fully. That will give you time to look for the best fret wire for you.

Jescar fret wire and dunlop stainless steel fret wire are a good starting point.

Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 818 Location: Canada

If there are only 4-5 frets that are really bad would it not be better/cheaper in the long run to get those replaced and then leveled off to all the other frets. If he does a fret level on all the frets and I don't like how low they are, then there is no going back unless all the frets are replaced.

Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 3199 Location: UK

sure that's probably the best thing to do if that kind of wear is only on the fight five or so frets.

Joined: 08 Nov 2012 Posts: 2 Location: Nashville, TN

Dan, you will know when you need to replace your guitar frets when you start getting new buzzing in areas of the neck that you've never had before. A fret job is fairly pricey, so I would avoid it unless you are truly having issues.

Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 818 Location: Canada

Hey Erich, I haven't played the guitar for more than 10 minutes since I bought it because it does buzz really bad. I got the guitar for pretty cheap and am okay with putting some money into it considering it's a Japanese made guitar (neck thru, original Floyd, etc.).

The frets were definitely pretty bad. My tech said he could get some more use out of them but we decided to go for a re-fret on 8-10 of the really badly worn frets. The main reason being that I didn't want to loose too much fret and be left with a fret that is far from the Extra Jumbo frets I have and had on all my guitars.

And welcome to the fourms Very Happy

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 12:48 pm

Damn, talk about a crushing grip on the neck, thats ridiculous Shocked

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:26 pm

dan_plus_o wrote:

If there are only 4-5 frets that are really bad.

Is playing around the good frets until they are all worn an option..., then you can get em all done "one shot"! Very Happy