shaving frets down

uethanian · #1 11-01-2007, 11:07 PM

i recently bought a squire affinity j bass for pretty cheap (still working on the electronics at the moment) and i was wondering about levelling the frets. its not that they're unusually high, but im primarily a fretless player and i think it would feel better under my fingers to have low low frets. so whats about the limit for low fret height? would lowering the frets have any negative effect on slap (mostly what i use the bass for)?

NWF Bassist · #2 11-05-2007, 02:48 AM

I've always found that for slappin', it's good to have a nice arc over your frets. If you shave them down, don't take too much off, and remember to have an arc. As for how much to take off, I cheat, yearly I have my bass filed, I don't think he takes much off, just kinda makes 'em sound fresh again.

202dy · #3 11-05-2007, 07:11 AM

There is no limit to fret height other than making them so low that the fret tang is exposed. Tall frets can be as high as .055" and medium frets are typically in the ~.035" range. Some Les Pauls from the sixties and early seventies have fret heights in the .020" range, hence the nickname "Fretless Wonder".

It is time consuming to grind fifteen or twenty thousandths of fret height to say nothing of the difficulty in recrowning a fret that has been cut to this height. Figure an extra hour of luthiery time at your local professional tech's bench rate. BTW, this is not a job for the inexperienced. It is difficult to crown these low frets and the danger of gouging or otherwise damaging the fingerboard is great.

Another idea for the fretless player who likes to slap is the "thunder fret". One or two frets are added to the end of a fretless fingerboard in the proper position. These frets provide the metallic slapping and plucking sound and allows for smooth glissandos at the same time. The down side is that a couple of notes at the high end of the fingerboard will be lost due to the height of the thunder fret. There is no free lunch.

PilbaraBass · #4 11-05-2007, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 202dy

There is no free lunch.

Not true...I had one on Friday...

LOL

+10 on everything else, though