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Onesound
Jan-21-2005, 11:52am
What are the play-ability pros and cons comparing skinny vs. fat fret guages (on a mandolin, of course)?

Is it my imagination or do fat frets require less finger pressure (assuming the same string height) to fret cleanly?

Thanks,
Brian

Flowerpot
Jan-21-2005, 1:08pm
Boxers or briefs?

I think it's a personal preference. To some players, big frets are easier to feel and might be better for playing hard without getting fret buzz. I think you do get a bit more clearance over the next higher fret with fat wires, because of the greater string "takeoff" angle. Others say that if the frets are too tall, your fingers hardly reach the fingerboard anymore, making it all too easy to press down too hard and stress the fingers. Some like to feel the wood under their fingertips, and say that the big frets feel too clubby. So the playability issue is very subjective.

But wide frets last a lot longer than skinny ones. More surface area for the wear to take place. Also, with big fret wire, you can plane them down and re-contour once or twice before having to re-fret, saving some work.

As for tone: After doing many refrets on one mandolin over the years, I'll go out on a limb here and say that I can tell a difference in tone with small frets vs large sized frets. Past a certain height, tall frets give a more metallic sound, and short frets sound more woody. The difference is very subtle, not noticable to the casual listener, but enough to tell if you've played the same instrument for years. I'm guessing that having the fingers contacting the fingerboard helps transfer a tiny fraction of the string vibration to the fingerboard, whereas with really tall frets that energy is lost, dissipated in the fingertips. I used to like guitar sized frets, but now I want to make sure I can get some purchase on the fingerboard surface with the fingertips. Don't know if this would hold true for every mandolin, or for every player.