Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello Everyone! It's finally time to jump over to the dark side. I've wanted to build some electrics and finally created the opportunity to build a couple. I don't really play them much so, even though I own a decent Strat, so I'm sure I'll have a few questions. I've teamed up with a couple local young players and we will somewhat work together. We are going with the timeless and proven Tele and LesPaul. I leaning towards the Tele will be a Mahogany back with Quilt Maple cap and a Maple neck and the Les Paul a Cypress or Yellow Cedar back with some lamination down the middle, a Curly Maple drop top ands possibly a Sapele neck. It's all stuff I have kicking around the shop.

My question du jour is regarding frets. I never noticed before but now that I look it appears most electrics use a wider fret than the .080 wide by .043 high stuff I use on my acoustics. Why is that? Is there a foreseeable problem to use medium fret wire? I don't own a wide crowning file and I'm guessing I would need one if I use wider wire? I didn't really want to by one if I can avoid it.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Danny

It's a player feel thing. Guys who like to really bend generally like the really wide frets while thinner frets are generally preferred by guys looking for that country twang. Height is important as well for feel and there are many combinations of width, height and crown shape that will yield subtly different touch and feel for the player. Best advice would be to stick close to what is offered on the models you are copying unless you are making them for a specific player with a specific taste. That way when someone plays your guitar it will have the familiar feel of the name brand one it is modeled after.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

More sustain with a wider fret? I kind of doubt that.
Stew Mac medium/medium is a poular choice.
I've use it many times.
I'm using a Stew Mac wide-low fret on a current build.
Love the feel of the strings close to the fretboard.
The wide ones were more difficult to crown and dress, at least for me.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Thanks guys. I do appreciate it. Looking around some here's what Warmoth has to say. http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/FretSizePop.aspx I could see where a taller fret would make it a little easier to grab on to bend. They seem to think that width is more of a "more material, less wear" thing. I mostly use Evo Gold. I might go with that.

I'll try to get some photos up along the way.

Danny

Make a fret crowning tool out of wood. It's easy. Then use it with sand paper,

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Make it out of wood! Geez. What kind of a bad attitude is that. We have to keep our good friends at Stew Mac in business.

First the obvious stuff.
A proper fret board prep will greatly reduce the amount of work needed on the fret crowns.
Good fret installation technique also helps a lot.

In my opinion there is little difference fret width has on the life of a fret.
You see that when a fret gets a divot, the crown is flattened and is no longer in an optimum condition to play in tune or vibrate cleanly. Width has almost no part in the ideal crown shape, meaning the contact area should be very close to the same no matter what width fret is used.
Contact area should be less than .020", any more and you start shifting the fret location and ability to play in tune well.
I only said .020" because the fret slot width is close to that, but I believe that a .005"or less contact area is what to shoot for.

Think about it, the string works best when it is as close to tangent as possible to a fret,and we all know a properly crowned fret plays better in every way.
One other cool aspect of a proper crown and polish is the point of contact with a string gets burnished a bit and starts to "work harden" the metal, making it less prone to wear.

I like Jescar fret wire because it is very well made,accurate and of good alloy.Tried many brands, but Jescar rules.
That is my $0.02, I hope it helps.

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How long is that in luthyears?