Fret size confusion: medium jumbo?

Lebarque

I'm trying to decide on fret size for a new build. I tend to like 'medium jumbo' on Fenders and Gibsons, but what size is this really? There seem to be conflicting opinions.

I've tried 6130 (.106″ x .036″) which was too low for me and also 6125 (095″ x .047″) which was too high, thus excluding 6105 and 6150 too. Can anyone give recommendations, or what size Fender/Gibson medium jumbo is? Cheers.

soma1975

From Fender's site

6230: The smallest fret wire found on older Fender necks (.078″ x .043″).
6150: Vintage jumbo. Much wider but not as tall as 6230 (.102″ x .042″).
6105: Modern narrow and tall; currently very popular (.090″ x .055″).
6100: Jumbo. The largest fret wire available (.110″ x .055″).
6130: Medium jumbo (.106″ x .036″).

crunchman

As well as Dunlop, Jescar is good wire and comes in a range of different sizes.

These guys have a very good selection:

https://tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk/guitar-fret-wire.html/

fastonebaz

Be a man,  use barbed wire. 

Lebarque

Thanks, @soma1975 .

From that, 6150 looks good at .042 tall, however Warmoth says it's .047 tall, which would be too tall. Who to believe?!

soma1975

I think I'm going to go 6105 on a compound 7.25-9.5" compound radius neck I am going to order if I ever get paid again. 

Lebarque

soma1975 said:

I think I'm going to go 6105 on a compound 7.25-9.5" compound radius neck I am going to order if I ever get paid again. 

They're just too high for me. I like to slide around and they just feel like railroad tracks.

guitars4you

As @soma1975 has indicated, what Fender call medium jumbo is .106 x .36

However many use the phrase 'medium jumbo' as a guideline to indicate a whole host of fret sizes that are not vintage based - I know I tend to do this and many others do - I think in part as it is a quick and easy reference to many customers - If I said 6150 to a lot of customers they would not have a clue what I was on about - So rightly or wrongly medium jumbo is often just a guide line

But in the situation to spec'd the requirements for your custom build @Lebarque then obviously you will need the exact size 

My personal favourite is a 6150 which is pretty close measurement to what PRS utilise on many guitars

Speak to the potential builder and they should be able to help - And/or try a few guitars and when you find something you like then take a note accordingly

fretfinder

Lebarque said:

Thanks, @soma1975 .

From that, 6150 looks good at .042 tall, however Warmoth says it's .047 tall, which would be too tall. Who to believe?!

Man you can feel a 0.005” difference in fret height?! 

JayGee

Lebarque said:

Thanks, @soma1975 .

From that, 6150 looks good at .042 tall, however Warmoth says it's .047 tall, which would be too tall. Who to believe?!

Hmmm...

Possibly better to risk erring on the side of “too tall” than “too low” as getting frets dressed down a bit is a lot easier than having them all replaced...

soma1975

I have Fender Medium Jumbo on my current neck, a Classic Player 60s, and so I thought to go once step closer to  vintage without being tiny skinny things by choosing 6105. Now I'm having second thoughts. DAMMIT!

Danielsguitars

I really like jescar medium jumbo, it's around 2.3mm wide and 1.2mm tall when new

mburekenge

Chode fingers mean it has to be 6105 for me

Lebarque

fretfinder said:

Lebarque said:

Thanks, @soma1975 .

From that, 6150 looks good at .042 tall, however Warmoth says it's .047 tall, which would be too tall. Who to believe?!

Man you can feel a 0.005” difference in fret height?! 

Yep. I'm a fussy bugger!

Lebarque

guitars4you said:

As @soma1975 has indicated, what Fender call medium jumbo is .106 x .36

However many use the phrase 'medium jumbo' as a guideline to indicate a whole host of fret sizes that are not vintage based - I know I tend to do this and many others do - I think in part as it is a quick and easy reference to many customers - If I said 6150 to a lot of customers they would not have a clue what I was on about - So rightly or wrongly medium jumbo is often just a guide line

But in the situation to spec'd the requirements for your custom build @Lebarque then obviously you will need the exact size 

My personal favourite is a 6150 which is pretty close measurement to what PRS utilise on many guitars

Speak to the potential builder and they should be able to help - And/or try a few guitars and when you find something you like then take a note accordingly medium haven't

Thanks, Mark. It's weird - I'm sure that half the guitars that Fender class as medium jumbo haven't got .106 X .036 on them. It's just too short! More likely 6150 I would think. I think I just need to start ignoring all quoted measurements apart from those on Dunlop's and Jescar websites!

Lebarque

Danielsguitars said:

I really like jescar medium jumbo, it's around 2.3mm wide and 1.2mm tall when new

What's that in Imperial?

Lebarque

Wish I could pop down to Andertons and try every guitar under the sun to see what frets I like best. :0(

fastonebaz

Lebarque said:

Wish I could pop down to Andertons and try every guitar under the sun to see what frets I like best. :0(

When this is over hit me up for a road trip somewhere

SteveRobinson

Lebarque said:

fretfinder said:

Lebarque said:

Thanks, @soma1975 .

From that, 6150 looks good at .042 tall, however Warmoth says it's .047 tall, which would be too tall. Who to believe?!

Man you can feel a 0.005” difference in fret height?! 

Yep. I'm a fussy bugger!

Make sure you specify stainless wire as the first fret dress will take more than 5 thou off

oldfoxy

Lebarque said:

Danielsguitars said:

I really like jescar medium jumbo, it's around 2.3mm wide and 1.2mm tall when new

What's that in Imperial?

In round numbers 92 thou wide by 48 thou high

guitars4you

Lebarque said:

guitars4you said:

As @soma1975 has indicated, what Fender call medium jumbo is .106 x .36

However many use the phrase 'medium jumbo' as a guideline to indicate a whole host of fret sizes that are not vintage based - I know I tend to do this and many others do - I think in part as it is a quick and easy reference to many customers - If I said 6150 to a lot of customers they would not have a clue what I was on about - So rightly or wrongly medium jumbo is often just a guide line

But in the situation to spec'd the requirements for your custom build @Lebarque then obviously you will need the exact size 

My personal favourite is a 6150 which is pretty close measurement to what PRS utilise on many guitars

Speak to the potential builder and they should be able to help - And/or try a few guitars and when you find something you like then take a note accordingly medium haven't

Thanks, Mark. It's weird - I'm sure that half the guitars that Fender class as medium jumbo haven't got .106 X .036 on them. It's just too short! More likely 6150 I would think. I think I just need to start ignoring all quoted measurements apart from those on Dunlop's and Jescar websites!

I have not known many CS models with 6150's on them - In fact when I have ordered them I often get a clarification note from Fender as they think I meant 6105's and made a mistake - I order a few as I like them - Majority of CS builds favour 6105's and 6100 then MJ

Not a huge difference between 6150 frets and Fender's listing of MJ frets