I once played a friends guitar from a German Luthier, Siggi Braun Fine Young Guitars, which had a mixed set of frets. Regular Jumbos (6100) on frets 1 through 11 and narrow Jumbos (6105) on frets 12 through 24.
While having the same crown height the 6100s have a wider width than the 6105s and the playability and feel, especially high up the fretboard was awesome.
Now my latest RGR620 came with a fret dress but them frets (being 21 years old) were already way down.
I found a young luthier here in Tokyo who just opened his own guitar shop and we discussed the mixing frets option and I let him refret the RGR620 with Jescar EVO fretwire (which I prefer over Stainless Steel) with the mixing frets option....I couldn't be any happier!!!!
Left of the 12th: 6100 size - Right of the 12th: 6105 size
(http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af41/MagnusBausW/2C587E68-4F16-47B1-A28B-464C3608065B_zpss3o6ebo9.jpg)
BTW, we're talking lowest possible action, a flatout straight neck (no relief) and absolutely no string buzz at all!!!
And check out that Rosewood.....almost black!!!
That is pretty dang awesome!! I love the concept
I also love that I can see the reflections of your strings in the frets & they're VERY close to each other = low action. NOICE
Very cool SC :thumb-up: :whoohoo!: .
Quote from: Dante on March 08, 2017, 08:47:11 PM
That is pretty dang awesome!! I love the concept
I also love that I can see the reflections of your strings in the frets & they're VERY close to each other = low action. NOICE
+1
I would do that on a guitar I'm working on...
It has vintage small frets...and I was thinking about 6100 or 6105...and now I have the solution: MIX THEM! :waving-banana-smiley-emoticon
Nice SC :thumb-up:
That is what Jake E. Lee had on his signature Charvel Strat. The new one he has is an identical copy of that old guitar, but with a mahogany, (I think), neck on it.
Harley 8)
Its beautiful! :bow:
And it's bugging me that I can't touch it :facepalm:
Wauw great idea, never even thought of mixing fret wire.
now I'm not saying I invented this idea :crazy:, but I discussed the exact same thing with my local luthier one time also because I found with my fat fingers it's very difficult to fret the same way on frets past the 12. It really is a good idea. Did I trust my local luthier to do this? Well lets just say I haven't bit the bullet yet! I have other issues to worry about with guitars before I start asking for custom fret jobs! I also played around with the idea of different levels of frets to create a more even feel up the neck.
Frets anger me most than any other thing with guitars, probably because that and wood work are the two areas I cannot fix or deal with myself.
I've never heard of this before but it sure does seem like an interesting idea.
SC, may I ask about how much that cost to have done?
While I wouldn't care for having the string action quite that low, I like the possibility of a little less fat-fingering up on the higher frets.
Quote from: Kim on March 09, 2017, 03:36:21 PM
I've never heard of this before but it sure does seem like an interesting idea.
SC, may I ask about how much that cost to have done?
While I wouldn't care for having the string action quite that low, I like the possibility of a little less fat-fingering up on the higher frets.
Kim,
the job itself is no big deal for a luthier, just a refret with 2 different fretwires which do not need a different treatment in terms of work involved (same crown height).
I paid ~250$ for the job including all material and work. The going price for a complete refret is generally 200$~300$, depends on whether you have a neck with binding (slight upcharge) and the fret material you wanna have (Stainless Steel also commands an upcharge since it's more difficult to work with).
Most important: I'd only let a trustworthy luthier perform a refret.
If done correct, a refret (or a good fret job in general) takes the playability and feel of a guitar to another level.
I have two more RGs whose frets are way past their prime which will get the same treatment in the near future.
Hey Magnus....can you let me know Jescar EVO models matching Dunlop 6100 and 6105?
I've a project where I would love those mixed frets...
Can you ask your luthier? Since it's not easy for me to identify the right fretwires here:
https://www.jescar.com/product-category/fretwire/wirealloy/evo-gold/
Thanks a lot in advance! :banana:
Yup, mixing frets isn't that uncommon, though I guess most never even heard of it.
It absolutely makes a lot of sense, leaving more playable fretting space up there where it tightens up.
While talking about fret width, I never liked jumbo frets, preferring medium.
This changed with my Vintage V6 Fillmore stratcat, outfitted with hard-alloy old-school slim frets.
They do feel a touch too low for my taste, so I'd prefer medium fat frets combined with quite slim ones on the high part. German hard-alloy (SiCuO) wire, of course ;)