Fret-height-and-width Preferences - What're Yours and Why?

  • I got to play one of the satins and I was very impressed. From what John Suhr said a Basswood with maple top and maple neck can get close to a les paul tone. The first Jems had a nice sound sort of les paulish tone. My Anderson is a mahog body maple top with maple/rosewood neck and the tone is aggressive but not overly brite. I still have an old Jem with basswood and it has a smooth tone compared to Ibanez nowadays.

  • Yeah, the Satin is miraculous to me in that I'd not expect such a balanced sound based on my experience using mahogany for bodies alone (custom jobs in the '90s), let alone for the neck as well. In fact, it should sound way-too muddy and beefy based on this, but it doesn't.


    Let's not risk having the thread closed by turning it into a guitar discussion, if that's alright by you all, 'cause I for one really appreciate hearing different members' thoughts on fret sizes and how how they affect their playing. I only brought the GG guitar up in the context that it looks like it could be a "simpler" solution for me 'cause the frets are already SS and apparently sized to minimise fretboard interference. It needed to fit the role of complimenting the Suhr's sound, hence the brief discussion thereof. Sorry for the distraction.


    Thank you so much again for the insights on fret sizes, guys, especially WRT height. Anyway, back to frets and how they affect our playing...

  • For ease of playing let's not forget the more practical solution that will immediately be felt.


    You can go down to a light string tension like .08 and make a custom set of even lighter gauges for the wound strings. I'm not sure what you play now, but this honestly should really make no difference once you get adjusted to the lighter strings. If Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page used these light gauges, this should be no issue of getting good tones.

  • I like the highest frets I can get. Had both a Strat and an old SG re-fretted with 6100s, huge improvement in playability.


    I play with a light touch. High frets mean the left hand fingers don't have to touch the fretboard - less friction.



    I don't recall who said it: good playing technique means that playing guitar is actually relaxing for the hands, rather than putting any strain on them. I found that good technique varies from individual to individual - everyone is anatomically different. Finding appropriate good technique requires exploration, not necessarily listening to teachers.

  • I have a bit hard left hand and like low frets best.. low and wide is the best for my style, and i like to feel the fretboards.
    I would never buy an electric whitout SS steel frets! I play Tom Andersons electrics. have experience
    i have experience with heavy, medium and lowrise. Lowrise is my favourite..


    here you can see messurements and curve[Blocked Image: https://www.andersonguitarworks.com/frets/]https://www.andersonguitarworks.com/frets/