Larrivee fret size

[Steve]

Is anyone else spoiled by Larrivee's frets?  They are much taller than my other guitars.  Martin's frets seem so flat compared to Larrivee's.  I find it much easier to get the string fretted on some of the stretched out chords I play.  Playing the taller frets for awhile and then going back to a lower fret gives me trouble, lots of buzzing.  Seems like I never noticed this problem that much before?  I used to switch around more with my guitars but lately I'm all Larrivee.  It must be spoiling me or ruining my technique!  I either need to switch it up or play only Larrivee frets.  If I do the latter I may as well sell or re-fret my other guitars.

Same thing happened to me with Elixir strings and the squeak sound.  I started using coated strings and got used to them.  When I went back to regular strings I had lots of string noise.  My fingers got lazy from them Elixirs!

[bluesman67]

I hadn't noticed, except that my Larrivee frets are new and my Strat frets are boarderline needing replacement.  I do know that if frets are set too high (obviously not yours), then there's intonnation problems because the addtional pressing down onto the fretboard will send the note out of pitch.

My advise:

Buy yourself more Larrys!

[maxferry]

The thing that really drives me to distraction is how all the modern strings are made from steel that's harder than most stock frets, causing the frets to wear out too fast on the treble side. I just had my Taylor 412K refretted a couple years ago and they're showing significant wear already. Bonehead move...I should've gone with stainless steel frets, but I wanted to save a little money...a dime holding up a dollar in this case.

At least the Larrivee frets are tall enough that they can be crowned a few times before they need replacing.

[unclrob]

2 things.....
Your not suppose to push yhe string down to the fingerboard,all you need to do istouch them to the frets



Stainless steel frets are wonderful I've done 4 so far and the only problem is it take's a while to get used to the new fret{like any other fret job}most people have a hard time adjusting to the new fret height.

[Steve]

I only have a problem when I'm reaching on a hard chord.  So my finger is a long way from the back of the fret.  In this instance I end up pushing the string down further because I can't get my finger close to the fret.  It's the only way I can get it clean.

[jeremy3220]

Stainless steel frets are wonderful I've done 4 so far and the only problem is it take's a while to get used to the new fret{like any other fret job}most people have a hard time adjusting to the new fret height.

Do the stainless steel frets sound different?

[maxferry]

With all due respect,I have to disagree with unclrob; while it is true that all that's required  and even desireable, is a light touch to make a note sound, it's vital to certain styles to be able to choke, pinch, shake, vibrate and otherwise dig in to drive the sound. Lots of guitar styles play hell on the wear of frets and bodies (using a capo, for example) Take a good look at pictures of Tommy Immanuel's Maton guitars sometime...man beats the crap out of them, and he's far from being alone in this.

[unclrob]

jeremy3220 I've found no tonal difference.There is a feel difference but after an hour or so 3 out of 4 didn't notice it anymore.


maxferry I do all that with a lite touch,but everyone is different.Which is cool thats why I like to hear and watch how a guitar player plays before doing work on there guitar.

[bluesman67]

2 things.....
Your not suppose to push yhe string down to the fingerboard,all you need to do istouch them to the frets



Stainless steel frets are wonderful I've done 4 so far and the only problem is it take's a while to get used to the new fret{like any other fret job}most people have a hard time adjusting to the new fret height.

I hear ya, point well taken...but, doing bends, vibratos, and hammer ons, especially on the 1,2, and 3 strings...I'm just not technically competent enough to just touch the strings to the frets 100% of the time.  Mostly the vibratos.  hammer ons aren't too big a deal, and bends are to pitch by ear anyways so I shouldn't matter now that I think of it.

[davidsowk]

I love the Larrivee frets.  I recently disposed of a beautiful, custom made OOO guitar because of the vintage style frets.  I just could not get used to the feel.  The 'vintage' frets were too low, too narrow and it always felt like the strings were sticking to the fret, making bends difficult.  I'm sure that with time I could get used to the vintage frets but I am truly spoiled by the smooth Larrivee feel.

David