Are small frets a bad thing?

Not necessarily. My Dingwall (and most of them) come with banjo fret wire, although if that's too big for you, he'll do mando wire for even more precision.

 

Fret shape and height is one of those "personal preference" things. If properly positioned, installed, leveled, crowned and polished - they're all equally good - and will get the job done.

If you like what you've got, don't worry about someone else's opinion of it. Because that's all it is. An opinion.

 

If you're a person who doesn't like small frets, then small frets are a bad thing.

 

Fret sizes vary. Fenders come (or came) with different sizes. "Vintage" frets are usually smaller and most "modern" basses come with medium jumbo size frets. It doesn't matter. Play what feels good to you.

 

Early Precisions came with small wire. I'm not sure when they changed, but my '72's have fatter wire.
I like the skinnier vintage frets, myself.

 

I play both large and small frets and I really don't notice any difference especially when playing music as opposed to when I'm focused on whether I like the size of the frets or not.

 

No, that's not what I meant at all. Merely stating that when I'm playing in a band I hardly even notice which bass I'm playing other than if it's a 4 or 5 string.

 

I have 2 Foderas and one has jumbo and the other has very thin fret wire. I don't really notice a difference unless I think about it.

 

Some players like Lee Sklar use very small mandolin frets for more precise intonation and woodier tone.

Mandolin frets on a bass ??

 

Don't suffer from fret height envy! Demand tall jumbo frets on all of your basses!

Seriously, I think small low frets wear out faster. That doesn't amount to dealing with fretwear more, in the long run. Tall frets don't wear out as often, but they also don't wear out evenly, and that creates a different class of maintenance headache that little frets don't really have. YMMV. I've also read arguments that low frets means more board wear between frets. I don't know about that...

 

My Lakland has less-than-jumbo frets but like the Ric player previously said it makes the neck much smoother.

 

A lot depends on the string type. Stainless steel round wounds like Rotosounds are hard on frets, while nickel round wounds and flats cause much less wear. My 63 P Bass has had flats on it all its life, and the original frets are perfect despite fifty years of hard playing.

 

I prefer smaller fret wire.

 

One of the problems with getting your frets re-crowned is the flattening of the frets causes the string to have more contact with the fret which can be bad for sustain. I would imagine its the same for the big frets vs skinny vintage frets.

 

My first bass had jumbo frets. Then I got my 62RI Jazz, with vintage style fret wire. This was one of several reasons I quickly developed a preference for my Jazz, and then my Rick that followed. Eventually, the bass w/ jumbos got sold. I much prefer smaller fret wire.

 

I don't know if they still use the same fret material, but the frets on my 79' 4001 were all but worn out when I sold it after 4 years steady but not abusive playing. I used roundwounds, like everybody else I knew with a Ric, and it just chewed the frets up bad. Re-fretting a Ric is a fair amount of work because the fingerboard is heavily laquered, so removing the frets often requires refinishing the FB. The neck binding has "nibs" of plastic that cover the ends of the frets which often get filed off during refret unless done by an expert, or the neck is re-bound. I think Gibson is one of the few makers that also does this. Its a subtle, lovely little detail, but a PITA for refret. I haven't heard too many complaints about current 4003 frets, so maybe they changed to a harder alloy. If you want a lifetime fret, jumbo stainless is the way to go. They just don't seem to wear out in anything approaching normal use.