Updating/Modernizing 1914 f2

[rodeoryan]

Hey all,

I have had my gibson f2 for about three years, and have been thinking as of late updating the frets to more modern sizes.

Has anyone else done this?

Would love to hear stories/opinions on the matter.

Cheers

Ryan

[pops1]

Lots of folks have done this. I don't mind the smaller frets, but if you like larger frets go for it.

[rcc56]

I've installed modern frets on dozens of old Gibson oval hole mandolins.
No one has ever complained about the results.

I get what I feel are the best results with wire with a crown of .080" wide x .040" high.
If you think you might prefer wire that's a bit smaller, I have also used wire that is .053" wide x .037" high and gotten good results.

Whichever you choose, either wire will make the mandolin much friendlier to play than it is now.

[Tavy]

I've installed modern frets on dozens of old Gibson oval hole mandolins.
No one has ever complained about the results.

I get what I feel are the best results with wire with a crown of .080" wide x .040" high.
If you think you might prefer wire that's a bit smaller, I have also used wire that is .053" wide x .037" high and gotten good results.

Whichever you choose, either wire will make the mandolin much friendlier to play than it is now.

+1 those are the two sizes most of use I think, the smaller of the 2 would look closer to the original, the larger is mostly (strictly IMO) easier to play on I think.

[rodeoryan]

I've installed modern frets on dozens of old Gibson oval hole mandolins.
No one has ever complained about the results.

I get what I feel are the best results with wire with a crown of .080" wide x .040" high.
If you think you might prefer wire that's a bit smaller, I have also used wire that is .053" wide x .037" high and gotten good results.

Whichever you choose, either wire will make the mandolin much friendlier to play than it is now.

Sounds like it could be a good choice then. Have you noticed any improvement on the sound of the mandolin after the new frets? Granted making something easier to play will in turn make it sound different ( better) because of its newfound playability. I found that the easier something is to play the better noise I make with it as compared to the inverse, the harder to play the worse sounding.

[rcc56]

There can be a small improvement in sound, but I attribute at least most of it to the improvement in playability.