U.S. Peavey Club

[TinIndian]

Look like the frets on my 86 Foundation. They came wide and flat like that as well. Have to see if I can get a pic of them. Should show the same thing on the upper frets. Mine have never been touched.

 

[JEDI BASS]

Look like the frets on my 86 Foundation. They came wide and flat like that as well. Have to see if I can get a pic of them. Should show the same thing on the upper frets. Mine have never been touched.

Came?? As in came from factory? Or from previous owner?

There’s no way Peavey’s quality department was allowing new basses to ship with flat frets, right? And, there’s also no reason to have flat frets on a new bass. After fretting a neck, minor leveling is needed which would only flatten the tops of a very few frets, and only if your fretting process is lacking.

 

[bigtone23]

Gibson used to do low and flat frets. “school bus”

 

[kodiakblair]

There’s no way Peavey’s quality department was allowing new basses to ship with flat frets, right? And, there’s also no reason to have flat frets on a new bass.

Never had any high crown frets on any of my early Peaveys. Remember necks were machined by computer so had tighter specs. Fret slots were cut by machine and I'm pretty the wire was stamped in by a press.

Flat surface + flat profile wire + exact pressure fitting = little if any need for leveling.

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

Is flat frets really bad?
My b quad has em

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

And I’m use 50-110 Dunlop nickels

 

[kodiakblair]

Is flat frets really bad?
My b quad has em

Probably better than high crowned frets. Wear on a high crown has a knock on effect,so you end up fret leveling. There's not so wear on a flat surface.

 

[Jeff Siddall]

Is flat frets really bad?
My b quad has em

Are they actually flat -- like no curve at all? If so, that is a bit bad. But all Peavey basses I have seen come from the factory with curved fret tops. It's just a very subtle (large radius) curve. Those are great. The point is that the fret needs to be highest in the center to have proper intonation. As long as that centerline of the fret is where the string contacts, regardless of the exact radius of the curvature, the bass will be correctly intonated.

 

[JEDI BASS]

Are they actually flat -- like no curve at all? If so, that is a bit bad. But all Peavey basses I have seen come from the factory with curved fret tops. It's just a very subtle (large radius) curve. Those are great. The point is that the fret needs to be highest in the center to have proper intonation. As long as that centerline of the fret is where the string contacts, regardless of the exact radius of the curvature, the bass will be correctly intonated.

Exactly!

 

[JEDI BASS]

From this: About Fret Crowning
"The accurate fret placement is only effective if the top of the fret corresponds to the position of the slot itself. If the fret is round on top, the string makes contact in the middle of the fret, in line with the middle of the slot. Hog off the top of the fret so it's flat on top, and now the edge of the fret, where the string "breaks", is off from the centerline by up to .050". As you move up the fretboard, this error is compounded because the .050" (or whatever it is) becomes a larger and larger percentage of the remaining string length.

So it's important that the frets remain round on top."

 

[58kites]

My Guild Pilot has frets like that, they have a lower and flatter look than normal very round crowned frets.
Guild Pilots were all made that way and they play fantastic.
I have a buddy that has owned played his Guild Pilot in various bands since 1989 and it has the original frets.
Remember the Gibson Les Paul Custom "fretless wonder" "black beauty" guitars?...they had really, really low frets.
Don't think any of my Peavey basses have/had anything other than normal frets.

 

[JEDI BASS]

I won't drag this on... I'll just say that low frets are great! They're my favorite actually! You can get that close action that feels almost fretless-like. Lakland uses low and skinny "vintage" spec fret wire. Dingwall goes even smaller/lower with their banjo and mandolin sized fretwire. But, Dingwall, Lakland, my Classic series Stingray, my 70's P bass they all have crowned skinny and low frets. The fact that famous builders cut corners and still had success, doesn't mean it's the correct way to finish up some fretwork. I can drive 120mph to work every day with no accidents, but it's still very wrong!

If any of you ladies and gents are so inclined, I'd advise you to sell some gear and invest in the tools and supplies needed to do some refrets. Peaveys and Ibanez are what I cut my teeth on, before moving on to paying customers. It's very rewarding to make a $200 bass play as well as a $3000 bass.

 

[richntiff]

I think there is a much bigger existential
agument about flat vs very crowned frets than is actually important. Play your bass.

 

[TinIndian]

Came?? As in came from factory? Or from previous owner?

There’s no way Peavey’s quality department was allowing new basses to ship with flat frets, right? And, there’s also no reason to have flat frets on a new bass. After fretting a neck, minor leveling is needed which would only flatten the tops of a very few frets, and only if your fretting process is lacking.

As in I bought it new in 1986.

 

[kodiakblair]

The point is that the fret needs to be highest in the center to have proper intonation. As long as that centerline of the fret is where the string contacts, regardless of the exact radius of the curvature, the bass will be correctly intonated.

Jeff.
Frets are a compromise,fretted instruments are never truly intonated,not with set frets anyway.
True temperament frets are meant to be closer but come with their own set of problems.

 

[Runnerman]

If a bass was shipped from the factory with a truly "flat" fret, that would be considered to be bad fretwork in my opinion. Very difficult to see clearly in any picture whether a fret is truly flat or not. All frets come radiused from the factory of course and are filed down in the leveling process.....the amount taken off being hugely dependent on the original flatness of the fretboard before the frets are installed. A well made neck should have minimal level filing needed. A flattened fret should be re-crowned before leaving the factory.

 

[Jeff Siddall]

Jeff.
Frets are a compromise,fretted instruments are never truly intonated,not with set frets anyway.
True temperament frets are meant to be closer but come with their own set of problems.

Of course, when I say "correctly" it is in the context of 12TET and manufacturing tolerance of the fret slots themselves.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Another chiming in, my T40 has "flat" top frets. In actuality they have a shallow radii.

 

[Chuck M]

Were 5 string Super Ferrite Foundations ever made with a rosewood fingerboard?

 

[bigtone23]

Were 5 string Super Ferrite Foundations ever made with a rosewood fingerboard?

I would guess not. Fender started using Pau Ferro in the early 90s for 5 strings because there were no rosewood blanks wide enough.