Guitars with narrow-tall or jumbo frets as standard to try?

Mr_Claw

Hi all,

Wondering if you lot could help me please?

Thinking of getting a new neck built for my tele. I have med-jumbo frets on my strat and vintage frets on the (current) tele neck. I'd like to try some guitars with narrow-tall and jumbo frets so I can make a decision on what I want.

Are there any reasonably widely available guitars that ship with 6105 or 6100 (or equivalent) as standard?

I'm no longer in the UK - I moved to NZ in Oct. Although there appear to be quite a few guitar stores here, there is no distribution for a lot of brands and so we're often limited to the big and medium sized names (you might find a PRS, Guild, Godin or D'Angelico, but it's mostly Fender/Squier, Gibson/Epiphone, Gretsch, Ibanez, etc). There is one place that has distribution rights for Reverend, and you might find a few others, but best to stick to the biggies.

Thanks,
C

Blueingreen

The Fender American Pro 2 series has 6105 and the American Performer I believe has 6100 equivalents.

tony99

I had an american special strat ( the forerunner to the performer) and that had jumbos as standard, they felt fab too

Whitecat

Many/most Charvels have 6100 or nearest non-union Mexican equivalent. They are distributed by Fender so hopefully reasonably available. 

inewham

I think most Squier are narrow tall 6105 these days 
Definitely on my Jazzmaster CV

Mr_Claw

inewham said:

I think most Squier are narrow tall 6105 these days 
Definitely on my Jazzmaster CV

TBH I didn't believe you!. Just looked it up. You're absolutely right! I had no idea! 

Brize

6105 = Horrible
6100 = Heaven

ditchboy

Brize said:

6105 = Horrible
6100 = Heaven

If 6105s are on the pro ii I will have to disagree with this comment. It’s an awesome neck! 

fretfinder

Mr_Claw said: Thinking of getting a new neck built for my tele. I have med-jumbo frets on my strat and vintage frets on the (current) tele neck.

I can see why you would want to change the vintage frets. But what is that you don’t like about the medium jumbo frets on your Strat, I’m just interested why don’t you want them on the Tele. Also, if the Tele neck is all good apart from the skinny vintage frets, why not just get a refret rather than a whole new neck?

Philly_Q

Brize said:

6105 = Horrible
6100 = Heaven

I wouldn't go so extreme in either description, but yes I like 6100 and I'm not so keen on 6105.  I think basically I don't like narrow frets, whether they're tall or vintage-height.

Blueingreen

Not all fretwire supposed to be 6105 is the same.  I have fretwire supposed to be 6105 or generally accepted as a 6105 equivalent on a Gibson 339; on two Tom Andersons (called "medium"); and on a Fender Pro 2 Tele.  They are all slightly different - even the mediums on the two TAs are different.  The chunkiest, and the 6105 wire I like best, is on the Fender.

Likewise I had a Gibson 336 and Les Paul Axcess refretted with 6100 by different techs (I'm pretty sure with different brands of wire) and they are different from one another and from the 6100 that came as standard on a Suhr Pro Series.

As a general rule I prefer 6100 to 6105, but the somewhat chunkier 6105 on the Fender is probably my favourite wire.  IMO height matters more than width.

Lodious

PRS DGT would be worth trying, not sure what frets they are, but they are pretty substantial.

It did take me a while to get used to them though, just be careful you don’t dismiss them before your technique adjusts.

Mr_Claw

fretfinder said:

Mr_Claw said: Thinking of getting a new neck built for my tele. I have med-jumbo frets on my strat and vintage frets on the (current) tele neck.

I can see why you would want to change the vintage frets. But what is that you don’t like about the medium jumbo frets on your Strat, I’m just interested why don’t you want them on the Tele. Also, if the Tele neck is all good apart from the skinny vintage frets, why not just get a refret rather than a whole new neck?

No prob with the strat with the med-jumbos. More that while the neck's okay on the tele, it's a modern-c with vintage frets. I think I'd enjoy it more with a different neck. The strat is a 60s-c - so fatter than thr modern-c. I like it a lot more. 

Tbh I played a custom shop with a soft v and now I really want a soft-v! I'm intrigued by other fret sizes so just wanted to try before I make my mind up on the neck specs. 

fretfinder

Mr_Claw said:

fretfinder said:

Mr_Claw said: Thinking of getting a new neck built for my tele. I have med-jumbo frets on my strat and vintage frets on the (current) tele neck.

I can see why you would want to change the vintage frets. But what is that you don’t like about the medium jumbo frets on your Strat, I’m just interested why don’t you want them on the Tele. Also, if the Tele neck is all good apart from the skinny vintage frets, why not just get a refret rather than a whole new neck?

No prob with the strat with the med-jumbos. More that while the neck's okay on the tele, it's a modern-c with vintage frets. I think I'd enjoy it more with a different neck. The strat is a 60s-c - so fatter than thr modern-c. I like it a lot more. 

Tbh I played a custom shop with a soft v and now I really want a soft-v! I'm intrigued by other fret sizes so just wanted to try before I make my mind up on the neck specs. 

Fair enough. Hope you find the other options to try. 

Voxman

It's interesting, because although I have 13 electric guitars and been playing for well over 50 years I've never once thought about different fret types, I just play them as they come. I couldn't even tell you what frets are on each of my guitars or even know what the characteristics and differences are, or the pros and cons. 

So I'm definitely fret ignorant. Am I in the minority here? 
................... 
Since posting, I found an article that I found interesting, so I thought I'd post a link for any other fret 'challenged' folk like me! Lol

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/blogs/blog/understanding-different-fret-sizes-why-they-matter-ef-bb-bf

Whitecat

Voxman said:

It's interesting, because although I have 13 electric guitars and been playing for well over 50 years I've never once thought about different fret types, I just play them as they come. I couldn't even tell you what frets are on each of my guitars or even know what the characteristics and differences are, or the pros and cons. 

So I'm definitely fret ignorant. Am I in the minority here? 
................... 
Since posting, I found an article that I found interesting, so I thought I'd post a link for any other fret 'challenged' folk like me! Lol

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/blogs/blog/understanding-different-fret-sizes-why-they-matter-ef-bb-bf

I’m mostly fret-size agnostic too, however, I do notice when they are “vintage style” frets straightaway - I find playing the sorts of things I like to play a little trickier with those. Otherwise it’s definitely one of the last specs I care about on a guitar. 

Blueingreen

Whitecat said:

Voxman said:

It's interesting, because although I have 13 electric guitars and been playing for well over 50 years I've never once thought about different fret types, I just play them as they come. I couldn't even tell you what frets are on each of my guitars or even know what the characteristics and differences are, or the pros and cons. 

So I'm definitely fret ignorant. Am I in the minority here? 
................... 
Since posting, I found an article that I found interesting, so I thought I'd post a link for any other fret 'challenged' folk like me! Lol

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/blogs/blog/understanding-different-fret-sizes-why-they-matter-ef-bb-bf

I’m mostly fret-size agnostic too, however, I do notice when they are “vintage style” frets straightaway - I find playing the sorts of things I like to play a little trickier with those. Otherwise it’s definitely one of the last specs I care about on a guitar. 

I'm somewhat the opposite.  I like tall frets and have refretted a few guitars with bigger wire - even though the frets I was replacing were all some sort of "medium jumbo".  (I've replaced medium jumbo frets on two Gibsons and "heavy" frets on a Suhr). I've decided I'd prefer not to do that anymore. Which now means it's a deal breaker for me if a guitar I'm interested in buying doesn't already have chunky frets on it.