Which frets are best for you?

Which frets are best for you?

Are you refretting your guitar or bass? Or even when you are looking for a new guitar; ask yourself “which kind of frets are best for me?”

Choosing fret wire can seem daunting. There are many different types of wire on the market, and they all differ slightly.
It’s a personal choice and some guitarists prefer certain frets because they play better.

Jumbo frets are ideal for fast, modern playing and easy bending, while medium or low/narrow ones offer a traditional feel, better intonation, and warmer tone.

Terms

Choosing the best fret wire for you is easy if you know what to look for.
There are a few terms you should understand before choosing wire.

Crown Width and Crown Height

The crown is the head of the fret. The image below shows a cross-section of it. The width and height of the crown are important factors in choosing frets.

Crown Thickness/Width, what is the best of size

Narrow Frets

Narrow frets are primarily used on ukuleles and banjos etc. And on guitars made before World War II.
These are no longer common on guitars today.

Narrow frets have a crown thickness between 1.35mm and 2.0mm.

Medium Frets

Medium frets are the ideal choice for many guitarists. They provide a comfortable playing feel and have sufficient mass for good sustain.

Mediumshave a crown thickness between 2.0mm and 2.4mm.

Wide Frets

If you’re a heavy metal shredder or rock player, you’ll probably get the most out of wide frets. They provide plenty of sustain and are ideal for string bending and tapping.

Wide frets (also Jumbos) are often used on electric guitars and basses. When flattened properly, the intonation with new frets should be just as good as with medium frets.

Mediums have a crown thickness between 2.55mm and 3.0mm.

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Crown Height

Low Frets

Low frets are generally used when replacing old ones. In most cases where the existing frets are already worn and need to be leveled with the new.

These may be perfect for those whose don’t bend their strings too much. In this case think of jazz guitarists, who in most cases, use extremely thick guitar strings; 0.13” and up.

Usually low ones have a crown height of 0.9mm or lower.

In between or Medium Frets

For many guitarists, medium-height frets are the ideal choice. They provide enough material for several polishings and allow for comfortable playing. They are high enough that your fingers don’t touch the fretboard when pressing down on strings.

Medium frets have a crown height between 1mm and 1.15mm.

High Frets

High frets are higher and therefore offer the most material for leveling and polishing. Some guitarists prefer higher because they believe it requires less pressure to produce a clear tone, as their fingers touch the fretboard less.

Highs have a crown height of 1.15mm or higher.

Tang (and stud)

The tang is the part of the fret wire that is inserted into the slots in the fretboard. It should fit snugly in the fret slot and not easily pull out. The tang consists of the tang itself and the “studs” to grab into the fretboard.

Tang height

Anchorage

The tang has studs (also barbs) that attach to the wood. The height partly determines how firmly the fret sits in the slot.

Depth of the slot

The depth of the fretboard slot should be greater than the height of the tang to prevent it from “bouncing” (not sitting properly on the fingerboard).

Glue clearance

The slot is usually slightly deeper than the tang, allowing room for excess glue under the fret, which helps ensure a tight fit.

Important about the tang

Always use the exact same wire tang as before, because you can really damage your guitar when using a different thickness or height.

Different Fret Wire Materials

Nickel (Silver)

Nickel (also called nickel silver) is a popular choice for guitarists because of their durability and sound quality. Most guitars and basses come standard with nickel frets. They are prone to pitting and denting, so it’s important to be careful when playing and perform regular maintenance. These frets are easiest to maintain with a fret polishing kit or fret polishing rubbers.

Some guitarists prefer nickel silver over other materials like stainless steel because of their more “vintage” look and traditional playing feel. Nickel silver frets are a reliable and popular choice for guitarists seeking a bright tone and durability.

These are made of 18% nickel alloy that delivers a clear tone. No real silver involved anyway.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel frets are becoming increasingly popular among guitarists because of their durability and bright tone. These are made of a steel and chrome alloy, making them resistant to wear and corrosion.

The main advantage of stainless-steel is that they last much longer than other materials.

Phosphor bronze

Phosphor bronze fret wire is known for its durability and resistance to wear and corrosion.

They also offer a balance between sustain and brightness.

Phosphor bronze is generally harder and more durable than traditional nickel-silver, which can make it more difficult to work with when installing or leveling frets.

EVO Gold

Actually, there’s no gold at all involved in these. It’s a tin copper-, titanium- and iron alloy. These are perfect for people with nickel allergy. The material is harder than nickel btw. So the sound may be somewhere between nickel- and stainless-steel frets

True temperament frets

True Temperament frets are designed to solve intonation problems. Recognizable by their “snaky” or wavy appearance.

The main advantages of True Temperament (TT) are:

Superior intonation (better tuning): The biggest advantage is that the guitar sounds much clearer across the entire neck. The TT correct the inherent inaccuracies of traditional straight frets, making chords and notes sound much more harmonious, similar to a piano or orchestral instrument.

With TT intonation is correct, because each fret’s position is calculated per string. Not only at the 12th position, but anywhere.

True Temperament frets are often made of stainless steel. These are more durable because they’re mostly made out of stainless-steel.

What should a refret with True Temperament cost?

A refret of TT is significant more expensive that a “standard” refret.
Where a standard refret may be between let’s say $ 300 – $500, a refret of a True Temperament guitar may easily cost $ 800 or more.

Thanks to Thatguitarlover.com for the beautiful image of this Strandberg True Temperament fret guitar.
For deeper diving into TT, please visit their website.

What more to look after for creating great sound

Please note that many things are important for creating your favorite guitar sounds. We cannot mention everything, but besides a good guitar with the right frets and lacquer it could be as follows;

What guitar amp do you need?

A good guitar amp, whether it is a solid-state or tube amplifier and why an attenuator can help you in certain situations.
Want to know more about how tube amps work? And when you always wanted to know what “headroom” means, please read the Headroom special.

Guitar effects pedals explained

Not only the brand or type of pedals (buffered pedal or true-bypass), but the way you place them in the guitar effects pedals chain is important as well. As an example; Did you know this about compressor pedals?

Open- or closed back guitar speaker

Read about the advantages of those 2 types of guitar speakers. Both have a huge impact on guitar sound, whether it’s an FRFR or analog speaker cabinet system.

The right guitar picks

Many people think that a guitar pick is just a simple piece of plastic; the thinner & cheaper the better.
I thought exactly the same for probably 10 years since I started playing guitar. Until a certain moment I went experimenting with different materials and thicknesses.

Well, guitar picks make a huge difference on your sound and on your playing style.
Thicker picks have more mass and definitely sound different than thin flexible picks.
When using extra thick picks, you might want beveled edges for gliding on and off strings with less effort.

You may read the story of ChickenPicks guitar picks at the About page on our website and there you will also find information on all of our different models.

What others say about ChickenPicks guitar picks

Musikhaus Thomann
Chicago Music Exchange
Guitarpickreviews.com
Anatomy of guitar tone

Product descriptions:

1. Bermuda XL:
2. Bermuda III-P:
3. Badazz III:
4. Bermuda III:
5. Light:
6. Regular:
7. Shredder:

Guitar essentials:

In guitar essentials we write about interesting things every guitarist should know a bit of, especially when you’re new to (electric) guitar.
But we definitely don’t dig deep into theories or technical aspects, as you will find many scientific documents about anything somewhere on the internet.