What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various fret sizes?

[ninja of love]

Hmmm?

[Edward]

Aren't bigger frets meant to be easier to bend over?

[linthat22]

Originally posted by Edward Aren't bigger frets meant to be easier to bend over?

 

Only if they're gay, lol

[Ancient Mariner]

Vintage/narrow - precise, crisper brighter tone. Possibly easier to use for picked arpeggios. Less chance of pushing strings out of tune if you grip chords hard.

 

Apparently harder with bends, slurs less easy, don't suit tapping so well and extreme vibrato technique difficult.

 

 

Jumbo frets - easy bending, easy slurring and slides, good for tapping and vibrato.

 

May cause a properly intonated guitar to play out of tune, lack of crispness in clean tones.

 

 

I rather like vintage style frets for chord work, both clean and overdriven. Jumbos are nicer for lead playing.

[GAS Man]

I prefer big fat frets because I find it easier to chord cleanly. They are more forgiving if you are a little off on your finger placement within the fret.

 

Guitars w big frets also tend to have flatter radius necks, so the bends are also easier with less chance of deadening out on wide bends.

 

But the one argument I've heard for vintage style frets, which makes sense to me, is that with a vintage or medium fret it is better for sliding up and down the neck. i.e. less metal to stub your finger tips on.

 

But I believe there's still just a lot of personal pref in the subject.

 

I have a MIK Ibanez JS (Joe Satriani) -100 and it maybe has medium jumbos on it. So huge frets aren't that necessary for even a blazing shredder, but I find they help my limited playing skills.