Mixed fret wire widths

breezytele

Does anybody have experience of using a wider fret wire on the first octave,
then  narrower wire -eg 6105-  above that ?  

This, instead of the standard, ie  uniform wire throughout.

Obviously, the heights would be the same.

 I’ve heard that it’s occasionally done, the rationale being that you’ll get less ‘railroad sleeper feel’ over the wider fret spaces, whilst preserving good intonation , and room, in the upper register.

Any thoughts would be most welcome !

DLM

@FelineGuitars sometimes does this, as does Siggi Braun. I'd love a try of either.

Maynehead

The problem with narrower frets on the higher registers is that because they are closer together, they create this "steep-sided valley" feel, making sliding over them more difficult as your fingers will catch on them more easily. Wider frets have less steep sides, which makes playing smoother.

That's the only potential issue I can think of. They will of course also wear faster, but that's not really a problem with higher frets.

FelineGuitars

I used to fit Dunlop 6100 frets 1-14 and 6105 15 and up.

Both have a 0.055" height but the 6105 is narrower than the 6100

In fact Stewmac wrote about me doing that in their trade secrets  section back in 1996

mbe

Jake E. Lee's ESP signature strat had extra jumbo frets 1-12 and normal 13-22 to give more fretting room higher up the 24.75" scale length fretboard. 

drwiddly

I used to own an Overwater custom guitar that I had made in 1982. One of the features was what they referred to as 'Graduated Fretting' which was thicker fretwire (think Gibson) up to about the 15th fret and thinner (think Rickenbacker) from then on.

I think it did make playing at the top of the neck a little bit easier but I've never owned another guitar like that and don't have a problem with the standard frets so I wouldn't bother.

octatonic

breezytele said:

Does anybody have experience of using a wider fret wire on the first octave,
then  narrower wire -eg 6105-  above that ?  

This, instead of the standard, ie  uniform wire throughout.

Obviously, the heights would be the same.

 I’ve heard that it’s occasionally done, the rationale being that you’ll get less ‘railroad sleeper feel’ over the wider fret spaces, whilst preserving good intonation , and room, in the upper register.

Any thoughts would be most welcome !

One of my guitars has this.
I have jumbo up to 12th fret and slightly smaller from 13th and up, I forget which exactly.
Works fine.