View Full Version : Frets
Just registered today so this may have already been asked before so bear with me.
How do you know if your mandolin needs NEW frets? My Gibson F5 is a 2003 model and played a LOT professionally until I purchased it this year and now not as much but the frets are very thin especially down near the tuners and about half way up! Some of them are grooved looking but mostly just thinner or maybe I should say shorter than the rest!
Thanks...
Ace
WOW 57 people to view this and NO answers! Do any of you know how or when to do this or do you JUST play? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Ace
Mike Buesseler
Oct-11-2007, 1:15pm
Don't despair, Ace. Occasionally you feel like the Lone Ranger around here, but people will eventually come to your rescue.
First off, I am not an expert or a luthier, but it sounds to me like you definitely need a fret job. I can't think of anything else that fits your description. You getting some buzzing when you play in the lower registers? Most likely new frets, at least the first 9, or so. Expect to pay around $250, give or take. Find someone who knows what they are doing! Good luck.
Now we're both hanging out here....see if someone else disagrees with me. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
bradeinhorn
Oct-11-2007, 1:25pm
sometimes this can be solved with a simpler grind and polish of the frets. buzzing caused by the frets are a good indicator of whether it needs work or not. the gibson will likely have thinner frets than most. if you aren't experiencing any buzz, i'd leave it be.
I heard or read somewhere that some people were using a larger fret. Is this something new to make for easier playing or is this just a myth? It's an 03 Gibson F5G and I want whatever is best for it!
Ace
You slipped in before me so I will say this. I am JUST starting to get a slight buzz when chording and some are very short almost down to the fret board and some are grooved as in looking like a saw blade but not that bad!
bradeinhorn
Oct-11-2007, 1:44pm
i'd just go ahead and take it to your repairman.
as to fret size, it's really whatever is more preferable to you. my daley has thin gibson frets and my new voight, which i'm lovng the playability on, btw, is thicker fret wire.
i don't think one is better for particular instruments or not. like a radius on the board, it is just an issue of preference. different folks here will lkely argue vehemently for one or the other, but really it is all about the right setup. sounds like you might need that, so i'll end with where i started. take it to a good luthier/instrument repairman you trust, get a good diagnosis and let him figure out if you need a refret or not. in the meanwhile, try out some mandolins with wider fretwire and seee if that is for you.
b
Fretbear
Oct-11-2007, 2:32pm
The Stewmac #147 "banjo" fretwire (or equivalent) is in common use by people who prefer a slightly larger fret.
Fretbear what is the reason that some prefer going to larger frets?
mando.player
Oct-11-2007, 3:01pm
Some people, including myself, find it easier to play.
bradeinhorn
Oct-11-2007, 3:01pm
i find slides a bit easier on the wider frets.
Fretbear
Oct-12-2007, 7:58am
It's only my opinion and lots of good players prefer the smaller frets, but for me, I could never go back to them. I find larger frets give me the big note with less effort as well as more sustain. They also last way longer and will stand up to numerous grindings and re-crownings before they have to be changed. I have burnt through a set of the small wire (on some of the frets, which is as good as all of them) in well under a year. I don't feel it's nearly as much of a sonic issue on round-hole mandolins, which have an entirely different sound. Skaggs was once quoted as saying that he preferred the small frets for bluegrass as they gave a nice pop and then died quickly, but I noticed in a recent FQMS ad that he definitely had the bigger wire installed in his mint Loar.
Rick Cadger
Oct-12-2007, 8:30am
What Fretbear said goes for me too.
The narrow frets on my Fullerton Gloucester are already quite seriously grooved. More so than mandos with thicker wire that I have owned much longer.
I will get it refretted soon, but with a heavier gauge of good wire. As it was a cheap mando the fret wire on it originally could be of low quality. Whatever, it has sure worn.
On the other hand it gets played much more and much harder than my older mandos do, or did.
Philip Halcomb
Oct-12-2007, 8:43am
I too have burned through the smaller frets in less than a year as well. The mandolin I play now had come with sort of medium width frets if you will, easily wider than the Gibson frets (maybe 2 or 3 times as wide) but still narrower than the weber type frets. I found I enjoy playing it a lot and they're holding up pretty well. They have a few little divits but still have plenty of life.
Local guy that builds instruments and is a weber dealer said bring it on in this morning so off I went! He said he could dress them up but would change them if I really wanted him to so I said sure let's do it! He only had to do six of them. He opted to put in the exact match of what was in it and said if and when the time comes for complete replacement that I could change them at that time!
Also getting a crack fixed and the fret board scooped all for 165 bucks!
Ken Bailey of Bailey Music located in Plant City Florida is the man that did the exceptional work! When I got it back, it played beautiful and a LOT easier! The notes are cleaner and I don't have to squeeze as hard if at all!o more cramping of the fingers and no more little grooves in the tips! I always had to use my thumb for support when fretting but not now. NO thumb needed! It's great! I can see my speed picking up just from this! He lowered the action a little but it but it never lost any tone or volume!
I'm a happy picker once again!