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Thread: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

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    Mojo's Minions Andrew Lamprecht's Avatar
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    Default Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    I spent a couple hours today playing a guitar with almost no frets, short and narrow. You couldn't really feel them under your fingers, it was a little awkward to bend but it was so comfortable and sliding up and down the neck was a breeze! Loved it! I've always heard people say that it is horrible, etc etc. I came home to play my strat and the neck just isn't as comfortable with the bigger frets. I wish it had those thin narrow frets.
    Henry David Thoreau - "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

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    Fuzzy Guitars the guy who invented fire's Avatar
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Those are just vintage style frets...

    A fretless wonder is done by taking normal MJ frets and filling them down VERY low and flat on top...

    This is a LPC "fretless wonder"


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    Mojo's Minions Andrew Lamprecht's Avatar
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    These were the smallest frets I have ever played on and I loved them! They had a little height but were shorter than anything I have ever used, very small frets.
    Henry David Thoreau - "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

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    Fuzzy Guitars the guy who invented fire's Avatar
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew Lamprecht View Post
    These were the smallest frets I have ever played on and I loved them! They had a little height but were shorter than anything I have ever used, very small frets.
    The small "vintage" wire is small but I was just letting you know that if you refer to something as fretless wonder that means a jumbo fret that has been dressed FLAT and very short like the pic I posted.

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    Mojo's Minions Andrew Lamprecht's Avatar
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Quote Originally Posted by the guy who invented fire View Post
    The small "vintage" wire is small but I was just letting you know that if you refer to something as fretless wonder that means a jumbo fret that has been dressed FLAT and very short like the pic I posted.
    ah, sorry. I thought it was just when you couldn't feel the frets much.
    Henry David Thoreau - "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

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    SmoothCriminalologist JOLLY's Avatar
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    The EVH Wolfgangs have the small vintage frets like you're talking about.

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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    I...... Like big frets and I cannot lie... you other brothers cant deny.........

    Glad that trips your trigger Bro! I like jumbos tho.. Not really the feel even, but I guess Im so A retentive about my gear that I figure small frets will wear away faster..
    Believe me when I say that some of the most amazing music in history was made on equipment that's not as good as what you own right now.

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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Im one of those people who like smaller frets too. Not necessarily Vintage small but not jumbo neither.
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    I'm a fan of big frets. I would even have big frets on an acoustic if I could.
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Eh...them are horrible things
    Like them medium and well rounded!
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    I can play them, but I prefer the opposite end of the spectrum, Dunlop 6100 on guitars and 6000 on bass.

    Quote Originally Posted by youngthrasher9 View Post
    I'm a fan of big frets. I would even have big frets on an acoustic if I could.
    What`s to stop you? I use Dunlop 6105 on mine
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    call me kooky, call me crazy, but I looooooove tiny frets.
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Quote Originally Posted by CTN View Post
    call me kooky, call me crazy, but I looooooove tiny frets.
    Stainless steel 6230 frets is the dream come true. For me, anyway. Dressed by a highly skilled luthier, of course.

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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    That's pretty neat! I'd love to try one some day.

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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Quote Originally Posted by CTN View Post
    call me kooky, call me crazy, but I looooooove tiny frets.
    Henry David Thoreau - "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    love me some vintage frets
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Hmm, the lack of height makes them good only for styles that don't require much bending, i.e. not for me. I imagine the fretless wonder types were intended for super slick playing of all those flighty jazzy licks, rather than r'n'r with lots of bends and vibrato.

    Small frets on an acoustic/classical are fine because I'm not bending and vibrato is moving finger side to side, but on an electric for the way I play, I prefer slightly bigger frets. Well, it's the height that I find more important - makes it easier to bend.
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    I used to play for years with those superlow frets but now I'm using superjumbo's exclusively. I won't say the larger the better, but I do like big ones. Polished till they shine like crazy, and I'm a happy man. It's just faster (for me!). Dunlop 6105's are fine, too. I rarely like those small, narrow, low frets but I do own a few necks with those. The problem is that those guitars need .009 strings for me to play them and enjoy playing them. 009's aren't bad or something (I love 9's on strats and les pauls and stuff!) but sometimes a guitar simply sounds better with thicker strings (but those guitars are rare, for me anyway).

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    SmoothCriminalologist JOLLY's Avatar
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    Default Re: Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Quote Originally Posted by Ashurbanipal View Post
    Hmm, the lack of height makes them good only for styles that don't require much bending.
    I completely disagree. I have vintage frets on my EVH Wolfgang and I bend like hell on it just like I do any other guitar.

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    John Mayer's Mankini ImmortalSix's Avatar
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    Default Man! I love fretless wonders! (small, narrow frets)

    Yep; fretless wonder means WIDE n low, not narrow and low.

    Squier '51s have tiny narrow low frets - FYI. If you want to try them out in a guitar with great resale upside.
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