View Full Version : Zero frets
mad dawg
Sep-24-2004, 10:10am
It is a rare mandolin that I see a zero fret on, but it seems to me that using them would help open notes ring more like fretted notes. Are they rare because of Gibson's lack of zero frets, and because Big Mon's popularity and playing style made the F5 the standard BG mandolin? And why aren't zero frets more popular on instruments made for other genres where open notes are employed more frequently?
Interesting question.
I have an old "cheap" 1960s electric mandolin/dola that has a zero fret and it really compensates for a poorly fitted nut. It seems to me a zero fret would minimize those type problems, but that's probably why I wouldn't make it as an instrument builder.
krishna
Sep-24-2004, 9:02pm
This IS a very good question. I agree with Hoyt, but I don't think thats the only reason.It used to be WAY more common on guitars from the 60s, . not on mandos of any kind. I also have a Kent mandola with one.(AND a radiused fretboard! Back in '69 yet!)..This is just the type of thing I could obsess about for a whole evening... Let's just go with cheaper for now.Plus you only have to worry about getting the strings seprated...and you always have half decent action right from the factory,allthough some makers used to use a larger fretwire for the zerofret...Kerry This thing is one of the reasons I love this site.Something I never would have thought about.Good one buddy!
Michael Lewis
Sep-24-2004, 10:07pm
You guys need to pay closer attention, as there have been a couple of threads on this subject in the not too distant past.
Zero frets are a good idea if you like them and do a good job of fitting them. Good work is good work, and shoddy work isn't. Many inexpensive instruments imported from the Pacific rim in the 60s and 70s had zero frets, which led to the idea that they were just a cheap way of dealing with the nut. Before the 60s and these cheap imports there were some highly regarded instruments that used the idea, Selmer for example used this on their jazz guitars that Django Reinhardt played. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif